Nobody Told Me About ‘Mom Feet’

One night in July, a few weeks after my son was born, I lay awake, desperately scrolling through photos of injured feet. The mounting pain from an ingrown toenail in my right foot had become excruciating, and the internet promised to help. I could no longer deny the fact that the exorbitantly expensive Hoka sneakers I’d bought just months before—to prevent pregnancy-related foot pain—had become too small. To my horror, my feet had grown half a size. Permanently.

Pregnancy books had informed me about the less rosy aspects of new motherhood, such as shedding hair (the baby’s and mine) and uncontrollable crying (the baby’s and mine). I was even prepared for my feet to temporarily swell through the trimesters. But