The Parent Bloggers Network's blogging blast this week is sponsored by these guys. I love Discovery Health because I am currently obsessed with the television show Jon & Kate + 8. I like to watch and remind myself that I'm just really pretty happy with only two children in my home. As it is, I think if they ever manage to sway the cat over to their side, we may lose control of the house.

But I digress. The subject at hand is "motherhood truths"... specifically:
We want to hear your truth: What is it about pregnancy, parenting, and motherhood in general that only a girlfriend will tell you? Tell us what you wished you knew before becoming a mom.
I've been pretty lucky in my profession to be exposed to a myriad of different approaches and techniques that can be carried over into parenthood. I've edited books about such subjects as premature infants, special education, and mental health. So like many people I assume, before becoming a parent I thought I had some pretty good ideas and many of the answers to parenting's greatest questions.

I'm familiar with Dr. Sears, Dr. Spock, and Dr. Seuss.

I've read Pushed, What to Expect When You're Expecting, and Pregnancy Sucks.

I've worked alongside doulas, midwives, obstetricians, teachers, and psychologists.

I know theories about vaccinations that would scare the pants off you, have experienced the power of positive thinking and can tell you where every homeopathic medicine shop is within a fifty mile radius. I even own a nice selection of crystals and gem stones.

In my professional circle, I know massage therapists, chiropractors, dance therapists, acupuncturists, reiki masters, psychodramatists, art therapists, and energy therapists. After putting all that into practice with my own children, I think I've learned a thing or two. Those are my credentials.

So after searching the world over and gathering all the information at my disposal, I've decided to share what I've learned. Get ready. I am about to impart to you, the Interweb, the greatest, overwhelming, universal truth about motherhood.

The greatest, overwhelming, universal truth about motherhood is: There is no greatest, overwhelming, universal truth about motherhood.

*sound of needle scratching on vinyl record*

Yeah, you heard me right. Between all my studies and education, now combined with three pregnancies and four kids worth of experience, here's the great truth about motherhood I've learned: What works for you, works for you. And what works for you does not necessarily work for someone else. And guess what? You are the only one who can figure out what works for you. Guess what else? What works for you once with one kid might not even work for you again with another kid.

The truth about motherhood is there's no one right way to do it.

Seriously, if there were only one way to do child birth, discipline or medical care, there wouldn't be so many options to try. People would have tried a method, figured out it doesn't work and moved onto another one that does. God would have made each baby with a hollow place in its bottom where the manual is stored. But all these methods and theories must be working for somebody.

The only useful truth about motherhood worth knowing is that if you can't have an open mind and be flexible, you're pretty much making your existence much harder. That and you should try to have a sense of humor about it because otherwise there's an awful lot of hand wringing to be done. I'm guessing that's true about life in general too, but I'll have to check the manual.