Imagine building a building.

You need supplies, the equipment, the manual labour…

A man drops off one brick. A woman does absolutely everything else. In the end, a building is finished.

That’s kind of how babies are made.

Mammals have internal fertilization. Once a male has deposited his seed, one cell, that’s all that he needs to do.

Males have tens of millions of sperms per ejaculate. Females ovulate just one egg per month. Just one. Female mammals are very selective about when that egg will be fertilized and by whom.

I don’t ever want to come down on dads who take on a big role and really do help with their offspring and their partner. However, it’s rare in the mammalian world, and it doesn’t always happen in our own species either.

The advent of medical technology, especially in the context of motherhood, is really changing the game. Our large brains have allowed us to develop ways that facilitate dads providing more help. Things like formula, bottles, strollers, and baby carriers.

Modern dads can help in so many ways, but this doesn’t negate the fact that moms undergo a complete biological transformation.

Females are no longer the same animals after they have gestated and given birth to an offspring, nor will they ever return to their pre-maternal selves. This is something that rarely makes the headlines, but it’s a major part of a females’ life that has never been aptly regarded as the holistic process that it is. Which is annoying.