As you prepare to become a mother, you face an experience\nunlike any other in your life. Having a baby will redirect your\npreferences and pleasures and, most likely, will realign some of\nyour values.As you undergo this unique psychological\ntransformation, you will be guided by new hopes, fears, and\npriorities. In a most startling way, having a child will influence\nall of your closest relationships and redefine your role in your\nfamily’s history. The charting of this remarkable, new realm is the\nsubject of this compelling book.Renowned psychiatrist Daniel N.\nStern has joined forces with pediatrician and child psychiatrist\nNadia Bruschweiler-Stern and journalist Alison Freeland to paint a\nwonderfully evocative picture of the psychology of motherhood. At\nthe heart of_The Birth of a Mother_is an arresting premise:\nJust as a baby develops physically in utero and after birth, so a\nmother is born psychologically in the many months that precede and\nfollow the birth of her baby.The recognition of this inner\ntransformation emerges from hundreds of interviews with new mothers\nand decades of clinical experience. Filled with revealing case\nstudies and personal comments from women who have shared this\nexperience, this book will serve as an invaluable sourcebook for\nnew mothers, validating the often confusing emotions that accompany\nthe development of this new identity. In addition to providing\ninsight into the unique state of motherhood, the authors touch on\nrelated topics such as going back to work, fatherhood, adoption,\nand premature birth.During pregnancy, mothers-to-be talk about\nmorning sickness and their changing bodies, and new mothers talk\nabout their exhaustion, the benefits of nursing or bottle-feeding,\nand the dilemma of whether or when they should return to work. And\nyet, they can be strangely mute about the dramatic and often\noverwhelming changes going on in their inner lives. Finally,\nwith_The Birth of a Mother_, these powerful feelings are\neloquently put into words.\n\n