Celebrities may seem out of reach to us, but when it comes to pregnancy and parenting, they face the same struggles we do. From the Duchess of Cambridge to Kim Kardashian, there are just some things we *all* go through. Will I lose my identity after baby? Am I the only person in the universe who thinks breastfeeding is *this* painful? Is it normal to get this big this quick?

While social media feeds can make motherhood look simple and make us feel like we’re the only mama struggling, that’s far from the reality.

In 2017, celebrity mamas got *real* about hardships, challenges and how tough it is to raise our children. Here were some of our favorite quotes from the year.

“Can someone just be honest with me and tell me if it’s normal to get bigger, faster with second baby? Because I am getting big, fast, and everyone’s go-to is ‘it’s that second baby!’ but they’re lying. I know it. I can handle the truth just tell me. It’s not normal is it?”—Chrissy Teigen

“Anyone that says or thinks it [surrogacy] is just the easy way out is just completely wrong. I think it is so much harder to go through it this way, because you are not really in control.”—Kim Kardashian

“Because if I’m talking to the 2½-year-old, and I’m done, I’ll just be like, ‘We’ve got to switch. I don’t want to talk to this kid anymore.’”—Kristen Bell

“As a mother, just getting used to leaving my own child at the school gates, it is clear to me that it takes a whole community to help raise a child.”—Kate Middleton

“The most important thing we can do as women to empower our daughters is to do the homework on ourselves. What we do is more important than what we say. You can say to a child they have to love themselves. But until you can embody that truth and live it, what you’re saying is much less important.”—Kerry Washington

“The one thing I really want is an epidural, which I know a lot of people are against, but I’ve had surgeries galore, and I don’t need to experience any more pain if I can avoid it.”—Serena Williams

“Yeah, I just cut it off. Honestly, it’s more of a time saver. I have to blow dry my hair while my son is napping and it doesn’t always last that long so less hair is less time. I don’t have time for a lot of hair.”—Lauren Conrad

“We’re doing one month of silence. Just the three of us, no visitors, and we’re turning off our phones too, so there’s no expectation for us to communicate. Otherwise, every five minutes it would be, ‘How are you feeling? Can we have a picture?’ You don’t get those first 30 days back, and we want to be fully present.”—Nikki Reed

“Gaining the weight was really hard for me. It did not make me feel good about myself.”—Whitney Port

“I love breastfeeding and you’re going to love it, too. And when your nipples get really bloody, you know put a little Vaseline, you’ll be fine.”—Jessie James Decker

“I feared I would lose my sense of self in becoming a mom, but it’s actually made me more true to who I am.”—Jessica Alba

“Because this kind of loss is not openly talked about nearly as much as it should be, there really is no template for how to process these emotions. You’re not necessarily going to a funeral or taking time off from work to mourn, but that doesn’t change the fact that something precious has been unexpectedly taken from your life.”—Melissa Rauch

“I have a lot of control over a lot of aspects of my life and this is one where I’m like, ‘okay, it’s out of my hands,’ which is kind of a fun feeling.”—Mindy Kaling

“Teething—aka the devil—is so hard. Poor Alexis Olympia has been so uncomfortable. She cried so much (she never cries) I had to hold her until she fell asleep. It’s breaking my heart. I almost need my mom to come and hold me to sleep cause I’m so stressed. Help? Anyone??”—Serena Williams

“I love being pregnant. I like it more than not being pregnant. But the headaches, my god the headaches. Someone… please help. Don’t say water. Or Tylenol. Or iron. Or magnesium. I need witchcraft.”—Chrissy Teigen

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“I just hit a breaking point and [I] said, ‘I can’t do this. It feels as though someone is slicing my nipples with glass.’”—Whitney Port

“I usually feel sort of like Humpty Dumpty, slothing around and hormonal, and nothing fits the same.”—Jessica Alba