That first day when a woman realizes she is going to be a mother is probably the most exciting day of her life. She daydreams of the sweet moments she is set to spend with her child and in all those daydreams, it ends with her and the cuddly, chubby baby lying on the couch watching Bugs Bunny and sipping some milk.

No-one ever tells these new mothers-to-be that motherhood is hard. Very hard. We are told that newborns sleep more than twenty hours a day! Lies. Newborns sleep for two or three hours for the nice ones, and only if they are dry. When they wake up, they need to be changed, cuddled and fed before they can go back to sleep. This cycle is repeated 24/7.

Enjoy the newborns though, because once the toddler starts to crawl, it is another session of rushing after the baby and consoling them after several bumps and scrapes. It is not all doom and gloom though, that child will give you lots of hugs and kisses and the adorable smiles will melt even the hardest of hearts. When you see the joy exhibited on that tiny tyrant's face when he sees you, the dirty diapers and snotty noses are all worth it.

Motherhood is hard, but missing those precocious moments as the toddler goes through those milestones is even harder, and not just for us mere mortals. Even the celebrities find it hard to leave home and come find that ‘Johnny’ said ‘mama’ for the first time. Most of them give up everything to experience motherhood and take care of their bundles of joy. Here are 15 celebrities whose pregnancies got them kicked out of Hollywood, unofficially of course.

15 The Baby Tracer Poppy Montgomery

The beautiful actress who starred in the CBSs series Without a Trace gave up on Hollywood to take care of her son. Even though she tried very hard to keep the balance between work and home life, she felt she was still not able to fully care for her infant child and felt left out of her son's life.

To counter this, she left Hollywood behind to take care of her son and watch him grow.

You would think that for her, working and taking care of her baby would be a walk in the park. But for the actress, who had 20 grueling hour days on set looking for clues on the whereabouts of people missing, admits that motherhood is quite intense. However, she says she would not trade it for anything as she loves being around her babies. After four years, and after her kids went on to kindergarten, she was ready to go back and rebuild her budding career.

14 The Lullaby Crooner Christina Aguilera

It is hard to picture this gorgeous crooner handling a dirty diaper. Popularly known for her song Genie in a Bottle, the tiny singer with a big voice has come a long way. She was in Star Search and The Mickey Mouse club in her teens before moving on to a solo career. Much like one of her Mickey Mouse Club co-stars, Britney Spears. Christina was at the height of her career as a judge on The Voice when she decided to go on hiatus to raise her child.

She enjoyed every minute of it and she seems to be enjoying the perks that come with motherhood, even losing a pound or two. Responding to People raving about her slimmed-down body, she said was quick to let her fans know that it is not the gym that made her look that good. She said if she had to choose between spending time with her son and hitting the gym, she would choose her son hands down.

13 Slay Mom Rhea Wahlberg

Looking at this gorgeous beauty who has appeared in several fashion magazines notably Vogue, ELLE, Marie Claire and graced the Victoria Secret catwalk in 2000 and 2001, it would be very hard to believe that this slay queen has had four babies.

The supermodel, who dated and then married actor Mark Wahlberg, for more than a decade, lived an enviable, glamorous life that most would have a hard time leaving.

According to Parents.com, when she got married, Rhea decided she had had enough and in 2006, this supermodel gave up her thriving career to become a stay at home mom. Where she previously walked in stilettos and slinky dresses, the queen chose sneakers and pajamas and a wet nappy. She is now the enviable super mom who can be seen at soccer games, music recitals and family vacations taking selfies and visibly enjoying her new role.

12 It’s A Full House For Candace Cameron Bure

Everyone loved her and teenagers wanted to be her. Candace Cameron Bure or D.J. Tanner-Fuller as she was known in the popular sitcom Full House. The star, who doesn’t seem a day older than when she left the show, has been married for over twenty years to Valeri Bure, a former hockey player.

Having one kid can drive a person insane, having two keeps you up there and having three just makes you want to scream into a pillow. This super mom doesn’t seem frazzled by any of it. It seems she relishes the midnight feeds and the screams that come with kids, which graduate to countless soccer games and music recitals. Not only is she a mom, she is the proud owner of a vineyard and even has time left over from her very busy schedule to write books! According to TinseltownMom.com, she authored the book Balancing It All: My Story of Juggling Priorities and Purpose. Which is largely about her decision to leave the spotlight.

11 Teenage Mom Jamie Lynn Spears

While most teenagers worry about the next outfit they will wear to school or the best earphones and music videos and which boy smiled at them or bought them a bar of chocolate, Jamie Lynn Spears was going through the toughest thing any teenager could go through. She was pregnant.

Jamie, who debuted her acting career on the children network Nickelodeon when she featured in Zoey 101. For three years was a darling of many and she was riding the waves. However, when she was 16 she got pregnant and made the tough decision to quit Hollywood and raise her child. Being pregnant and a teen made her want to just be out of the limelight and rediscover herself, as well as raise her beautiful baby girl.

Its tough enough being a teenager, but it's tougher being one and having to raise a child.

But this teenage mom seems to have found the formula and she did a superb job. Seeing them together, they look incredibly adorable and we say kudos to this amazing mom.

10 Deputy Chief Kyra Sedgwick

We all loved her Texan drawl on the famous series The Closer, which ran for seven seasons. The witty no-nonsense deputy chief earned her a Golden Globe award and an Emmy. She also has a lot of movies under her belt and a career that has spanned over a decade. When she married husband Kevin Bacon, the beautiful actress decided to take some time off to raise her two kids, a boy, and a girl.

Once they were in school she went back to work, looking just as gorgeous doing it as she was on set. According to WebMD, she loved her role as a mom, but wasn’t so hot about the empty nest syndrome. She said her kids were the first thing she thought about when waking up and the last before going to sleep. They were her most engaging job, but then suddenly she woke up and she was fired. I guess that is what happens when they grow up and that is what we all look forward to, although it is difficult. Seems like this deputy needs to go solve some more crimes now.

9 Old School Phoebe Cates

She is from the old school when movies had meaning and they touched the core of your soul. Seeing her act, one was inclined to believe what was on the screen. That was when movies were movies. She is famously known for her role in Ridgemont High and Gremlins which aired in the 80s. She left it all to raise her two kids with actor Kevin Kline; Greta Simone and Owen Joseph.

According to TinseltownMom.com, she briefly returned to Hollywood as a favor to a friend and former co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was directing the film Anniversary Party. Even though she and her husband had an agreement to alternate jobs so that both of them were not working at the same time, Phoebe always chose to stay with her kids and forfeit her chance. She did a good job though and now that the kids are older, she has become a successful entrepreneur with her own upscale boutique called Blue Tree on Madison Avenue.

8 The Queen Of Country Pop Shania Twain

When she croons the song From this Moment, one just becomes one with her song and we believe that life has truly begun and for her, life was meant to begin when she decided to move to Switzerland with her then-husband Robert ‘ Mutt' Lange, looking for a quieter place to raise their son, Eja. According to Suggest.com, in the cold country surrounded by ice and in the company of the sexiest woman alive, one would think the guy would be content. However, for him, Shania’s best friend was the icing on the cake and the guy left her there for Marie-Anne Thiebaud.

Sometimes one wonders what men want and looking at her and thinking of that betrayal, there really seems to be no hope for us plain Janes. But for Shania, fate smiled on her and she married again a year later. She continues to live in Switzerland and raise her son.

Even though she popped back into the limelight for her farewell tour, Shania seems to be enjoying her stint at motherhood.

Her life has truly begun even after the slight detour.

7 Beautiful Mama Jessica Alba

Let's be honest, the lady is quite attractive and doesn’t look like she is anyone's mom. According to TheRichest.com, the actress has featured in several movies, namely Into the Blue, Fantastic Four, Good Luck Chuck and The Eye and The Love Guru. Her skills as an actress are debatable, as most people feel she gets her roles due to the way she looks. Married to Cash Warren since 2008, the actress is the mother of three.

She may have left Hollywood, but it is unlikely that anyone misses her acting as she was good to look at, but not engaging enough to look at for the two-hour span of a movie. Many people feel she chose the right career as a mom as her acting skills are a bit lackluster and she is better off as a super mom than an actress.

6 Teen Idol Hilary Duff

She was quite sensational as Lizzie Mcguire and every teenager who watched her was quite envious. At the height of her career, according to Parents.com, Hilary had her first son quite young at the tender age of 24 and took a little break to raise her child. At that time, she was married to Luca Cruz Comrie, whom she later divorced.

Even though they raise their child as co-parents, she is the hands-on mom who wants to monitor her child's growth and is involved in every aspect of his life.

She has hinted at wanting more children, saying that the fact that she had her son so young gives her leeway to have more children, as opposed to starting late.

With the zeal at which she took to raising her son, it would appear that the midnight feeds were a breeze for this super lady and even though she says she is not in a hurry to add to her brood, we would not be surprised to hear she is expecting one, since she appears to have fallen in love with the experience.

5 Pretty Mom Julia Roberts

When she appeared in Pretty Woman alongside Richard Gere, we all fell in love with this beautiful actress. We love her even more now as a phenomenal mom. She has chosen to raise her kids outside the limelight. According to The List, the famous actress says her fame notwithstanding, she is just an ordinary mom with three lovely kids. Married to husband Danny Moder, the two seem to have found that elusive work-life balance. Julia put her career in the backseat and traded in her slinky expensive dresses for an apron as she raised her three kids.

Julia says that her kids are not sure what she does for a living as they are busy just being kids. She keeps the limelight far from her cozy home. She is happy with the fact that she has kept the media out of her life and that she can sneak into Disneyland without being noticed.

4 Diva Mom Demi Moore

It’s a rare family that realizes that the kids belong to the father as well as the mother. It is not often that the man makes sacrifices for the kids, but in this family, both Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, both at the height of their careers, chose to give it all up and move to Idaho to raise their kids.

According to The List, Moore was quite the diva, demanding two choppers for an entourage but she gave it all up because she wanted to build a relationship that was warm and loving in preparation for her children’s adulthood.

She hoped her efforts would make them want to share their lives with her. She does seem to have done a superb job and even though her kids are now enjoying the limelight on their own merit, she did manage to at least keep them away from the Hollywood lifestyle as they grew up and the job she did was superb and clearly visible.

3 Princess Mom Robin Wright

This actress is pretty low key and even though her achievements resonate far and wide, she has chosen to keep under the radar since she became a mom. Famous for her role in Wonder Woman and House of Cards, Robin Wright is an amazing woman who was even more amazing when she starred in The Princess Bride.

The actress, who has been married to Sean Penn for twenty years with two kids Dylan and Hopper, she left it all to go and raise her kids in San Francisco. According to The List.com, her decision to do so was because she did not want to raise her kids in the sycophantic, weird Hollywood society. Citing Brad and Angelina, she said that that world was not any good for kids and anyone for that matter. We agree with her reasoning and if anyone can raise their kids away from that glitz, it can only be beneficial for the child.

2 A-Lister Mom Jessica Biel

She is married to an A-lister music mogul Justin Timberlake. With their combined worth, the power couple can live the high life if they so desire. The couple, however, seemed to reevaluate their life when their son Silas was born. They chose to relocate to New York city, a place they call their stable home.

According to The List, the beautiful actress, when gushing about her baby, says she leaves her work at work and comes home where she is a mom.

She says she gets exhausted but having a two-year-old who requires attention and playtime is the most important thing in her existence right now. Even that glass of wine to unwind has now taken a back burner as she settles into her role as mom and caregiver. She may have nannies, but for Jessica, being a hands-on mom is worth it.

1 Musical Mom Jessica Simpson

Popularly known for her singing career, this siren signed her first recording contract at age 16. She is a sensational singer who made quite a bundle in her singing career before branching into acting. She appeared in movies such as The Dukes of Hazard and Employee of the Month. She is married to Eric Johnson and has two kids, Maxwell and Ace. With all this under her belt, she also has time for philanthropy and business. Riding on this golden horse, the singer has reportedly decided to take some time off from her busy singing and acting schedule to spend time with her family and her husband.

Motherhood is not easy and it's not for the faint-hearted. It is more than a full-time job where the pay isn’t nearly commensurate with the work. Woe unto you if your child is colicky. This is when you know that giving birth is not the most painful part of childbirth. With her experience in the Hollywood world, we are confident this actress can handle it like a pro.

References: TheRichest, Parents, TheList, DeseretNews, FoxNews