Are you Expecting Your First Baby?

Do you…
- Believe that your mother’s intuition will “kick in” after you give birth and tell you everything you need to know to take care of your new baby?
- Fantasize about months of maternal bliss after the birth of your baby?
- Expect that your baby will be an “easy” baby who rarely cries and sleeps through the night almost immediately?
- Expect that you will receive all the help you need after you have your baby?
- Imagine you will live your life the same way you did before the birth?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions you are not alone. Romantic myths abound of what it feels like to become a mother for the very first time. The first months following the birth of a woman’s first baby is perceived as an eternally blissful period—a maternal symbiosis in which a woman croons to her newborn while breastfeeding him each day and basks in the joy of being a new mother. As a result, women have come to expect a fairy tale experience of the transition into motherhood. The real experience is rarely discussed openly among mothers for fear they will burst the “bubble” of this symbiotic fantasy. Many women feel guilty if they complain about how difficult this period is and assume that there must be something wrong with them.


Original post at New Mom Central.