When did you become a mommy?

I just read a great thread on facebook that a page I'm following posted as a contest. It was all about when you became a mommy (or daddy, I suppose). Most people said the expected; "When I got my positive pregnancy test", "WHen I first felt baby kick", "When I first held my baby"... but there were a few interesting ones; "When the fertility clinic called to give us our transfer time", "When I grew up saying I can't wait to be a mommy", or, my favourite "When we were rear-ended and all I could think of was checking on my baby in the back seat".

For me, I think the moment I first thought "I'm a mommy now" was when I learned I had to protect myself because it wasn't all about me anymore.

I haven't gone into a lot of detail about some things that were happening when I was pregnant. But, the short version (and I might go into more detail eventually) is that I was in an abusive relationship. My son's father is very paranoid, and he was sure I was cheating on him, and every late call or funny noise in the background was just fueling this fire. After I got pregnant, things got worse, and one day I remember laying on the floor and apologizing to my baby that I had just found out about, and promising that I would be strong for both of us and make sure things were different when he (or she) was born.

When I first realized that all of a sudden it was about protecting the baby instead of just trying to protect myself. Not only did I grow a baby in those nine months, I also grew courage and a backbone.

That's when I knew I was a mommy.