Season 1, Episode 1
September 22, 2026
About This Episode
I prepared for pregnancy. I prepared for birth. I prepared for breastfeeding, newborn sleep, diapers, and all of the things I thought I needed to know before bringing a baby home. What I wasn’t prepared for was how much becoming a mother would change me.
In the first full episode of Since I Became a Mother, I’m sharing the story behind this podcast and the identity shift that became one of the defining experiences of my first year of motherhood. I talk about the difficult early postpartum months, postpartum depression and anxiety, severe sleep deprivation, exclusive breastfeeding, and the strange experience of loving my new life while simultaneously grieving parts of the person I had been before.
Motherhood changed my body, my marriage, my friendships, my work, my ambition, my priorities, and the way I understood myself. For a while, I thought the goal was to somehow “get back” to who I was before having my son. Eventually, I started to understand that motherhood wasn’t asking me to go backward. I was becoming someone new.
This episode is for the mother who loves her child deeply and still misses parts of her old life. The mother who wonders why she doesn’t quite recognize herself anymore. And the mother who is still figuring out who she is now.
In This Episode
Who I was before becoming a mother
What I expected motherhood to feel like versus what it actually felt like
The emotional reality of the early postpartum months
My experience with postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety
Severe sleep deprivation and the effect it had on my mental health
Exclusive breastfeeding and how it shaped my first year of motherhood
The grief that can exist alongside immense love
How motherhood changed my body, marriage, friendships, work, and ambition
Mom guilt, hypervigilance, and feeling like I was never fully “off”
Losing parts of myself while discovering entirely new ones
Why I stopped trying to “get back” to the woman I was before
How becoming a mother changed the way I understand my own mother
Learning to ask for help
Why I created Since I Became a Mother
What I hope this show becomes for other mothers
About Since I Became a Mother
Since I Became a Mother is a podcast about who we were before motherhood, who we are now, and who we’re still becoming.
Through honest conversations and personal stories, we explore the ways motherhood reshapes our identity, relationships, ambition, mental health, bodies, friendships, and the way we understand ourselves.
New episodes every Tuesday.
Before I was a mother, I barely noticed mothers. And now they’re all I see.
I see you.
Listen to Episode 1
Since I Became a Mother: The Identity Shift No One Prepared Me For
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/since-i-became-a-mother/id1724264667
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4i5QiWoXeiZ1N6dRvGzLZZ?si=eb40a87dec5a448b
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaylorRaeRoman
About Taylor Rae Roman
Taylor Rae Roman is the host of Since I Became a Mother, a writer, content creator, and mother exploring the identity shifts, relationships, mental health, ambition, and everyday realities that come with becoming a mother.
Instagram: @taylorraeroman
Podcast Instagram: @sinceibecameamother
TikTok: @taylorraeroman
YouTube: Taylor Rae Roman
