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A writer by trade and always quick to turn a phrase, Norine grabbed a pen and scribbled some words:

"Newton's First Law of Parenting: A child at rest will remain at rest ... until you need your iPad back."

And just like that, she started creating "The Science of Parenthood," a series that names and identifies hilarious, universal parenting struggles. She put in a quick call to her friend Jessica Ziegler, a visual and graphics expert, and together the two set out to bring the project to life.

Here are some of their discoveries:

I'm trying desperately to be respectful of the person speaking to me, but my husband keeps texting me.

First he sends me a selfie of him with Rafi*, then it's an account of who stopped him on his way into the NICU. Then he suggests I take a selfie with Jillian* so he can post them side-by-side on Facebook and boast that we finally have two babies.

People will ask if they're twins, I'm sure. But they're not twins. In fact, the babies aren't even ours.

"When are you guys going to start having kids?"

Like many couples, Carrie Jansen and her husband Nic had heard this question a million different ways, a million different times.

The pressure really started to mount when the pair, who've been together for eight years, got married three years ago. While Carrie loves kids (she's an elementary school teacher, after all), she and Nic simply aren't interested in having kids of their own. Now or ever.

Birth is intense. It's also beautiful.

This article originally appeared on 06.30.16

When San Francisco photographer Lisa Robinson was about to have her second child, she was both excited and nervous.

Sure, those are the feelings most moms-to-be experience before giving birth, but Lisa's nerves were tied to something different.

Photo by Ian Waldie/Getty Images.

She and her husband already had a 9-year-old son but desperately wanted another baby. They spent years trying to get pregnant again, but after countless failed attempts and two miscarriages, they decided to stop trying.

Of course, that's when Lisa ended up becoming pregnant with her daughter, Anora. Since it was such a miraculous pregnancy, Lisa wanted to do something special to commemorate her daughter's birth.

So she turned to her craft — photography — as a way to both commemorate the special day, and keep herself calm and focused throughout the birthing process.

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Norine Dworkin-McDaniel's son came home from school one day talking about Newton's first law of motion.

A writer by trade and always quick to turn a phrase, Norine grabbed a pen and scribbled some words:

1. Newton's first law of parenting

2. The sleep geometry theorem

3. The baby fluids effusion rule

4. The carnival arc

5. The Archimedes bath-time principle

6. Schrödinger's backpack

7. The naptime disruption theorem

8. Calculation disintegration

9. Chuck e-conomics

10. Plate tectonics

11. Silicaphobia

12. Delusions of launder

13. The Costco contradiction

Norine and Jessica's work struck a nerve with parents everywhere.

This is what it's like to be an 'interim parent.'

I'm trying desperately to be respectful of the person speaking to me, but my husband keeps texting me.

I take care of these babies because I'm what's known as an "interim parent."

The program I'm part of is rare; there are very few like it in the United States.

I became an interim parent when a local mom posted about it on our neighborhood Yahoo! group.

The hope with the interim boarding care program is that biological parents have time to gain clarity about their decisions without pressure.

People often ask me what the experience of interim parenting is like, but there's no rule: Each case is different.

I am often blown away by the biological parents' gratitude.

When I wave goodbye to the social workers at the agency after introducing each baby to their forever family, I always wonder how long it will be before I get to hold another baby.

But even as the adrenaline calms down and the sleepless nights begin to take their toll, the experience of caring for each baby proves to be more than enough motivation for me to keep going.

Choosing to have kids or not have kids is no one else's decision but yours.

"When are you guys going to start having kids?"

Rather than continue to deflect the question over and over, Carrie decided to do something a little bit different.

Her pictures went insanely viral, with many of the commenters giving her props for hilariously addressing the dreaded "kids " question.

Carrie is hardly alone in not wanting to have kids — in fact, a record number of women are choosing not to have kids today.

Whether you want to have one kid, five kids, no kids, or a puppy, the choice should be yours and no one else's.

Birth is intense. It's also beautiful.

When San Francisco photographer Lisa Robinson was about to have her second child, she was both excited and nervous.

Normally, Lisa takes portraits and does wedding photography, so she knew the logistics of being her own birth photographer would be a somewhat precarious new adventure — to say the least.

In the hospital, she realized it was a lot harder to hold her camera steady than she initially thought it would be.

The shots she ended up getting speak for themselves:

In the end, Lisa was so glad she went through with her experiment. She got incredible pictures — and it actually did make her labor easier.

Lisa's mom took this last one.