Discovering Motherhood

Discovering Motherhood is a warm, friendly, profound account of the mundane and the mystical in the life of a mother. Somehow, amid the dirty tube socks, the trail of Legos and the baby's mashed bananas, God is present. Annemarie Scobey takes us on a daunting journey that has no map. It is a high-energy trek with ups and downs and bumps in the road. The price of admission is three a.m. feedings, endless diapers changes and lost sleep. But the payoff comes in the profound relationships of mother and children, and in the love that gives life its luster. Scobey has recorded the journey with insight, humor and a sure sense of the Divine in the turmoil, troubles and triumphs of everyday life.

Written, edited, illustrated & published by mothers, this book explores the transitions, realities, & rewards of motherhood. Carefully selected personal essays, informative articles, humor, & poetry offer support & information to women in their first years of motherhood. The book is organized into five sections: Redefining Ourselves, Choosing Home, Taking Care of Ourselves, Living With Changes, & Growing in Unexpected Ways. The publisher, MOTHERS AT HOME, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1984 to offer support to mothers who choose (or would like to choose) to be at home with their children. For nine years, they have been publishing WELCOME HOME, a journal for these mothers, & they have heard from thousands of women. DISCOVERING MOTHERHOOD was created especially to help new mothers, who are faced with significant physical, emotional, & social changes. It affirms the critical importance of nurturing, notes the subtle, daily interactions out of which trusting relationships are built, & explores the potential for personal growth to be realized through mothering. More than fifty mothers contributed to this effort & delicate illustrations by artist & at-home mother Susan Somerfield Stoffle enhance the warm & supportive tone. Contact: Catherine H. Myers, 1-703-827-5903 or 1-703-698-8383.

A lawyer with a well-stamped passport and a passion for human rights, Lisa-Jo Baker never wanted to be a mom. And then she had kids. Having lost her own mother to cancer as a teenager, Lisa-Jo felt lost on her journey to womanhood and wholly unprepared to raise children.Surprised by Motherhoodis Lisa-Jo's story of becoming and being a mom, and in the process, discovering that all the "what to expect" and "how to" books in the world can never truly prepare you for the sheer exhilaration, joy, and terrifying love that accompanies motherhood.Set partly in South Africa and partly in the US (with a slight detour to Ukraine along the way), Surprised by Motherhoodis a poignant memoir of one woman's dawning realization that being a mom isn't about being perfect--it's about being present.

There is no denying it: motherhood splits a woman’s life forever, into a before and an after. To this doubled life Lisa Catherine Harper brings a wealth of feeling and a wry sense of humor, a will to understand the emotional and biological transformations that motherhood entails, and a narrative gift that any reader will enjoy. Harper documents her own journey across this great divide as a seasoned explorer might, observing, researching, relating anecdotes and critical information. From late-night Lindy Hop dancing to crippling sciatica, morning sickness to indulgent meals, graduate seminars to sophisticated ultrasounds, Harper marries scientific details with intimate insights as she uncovers the fascinating strangeness of this remarkably familiar territory. Following Harper’s first pregnancy from conception to her daughter’s first word, A Double Life looks at how the biological facts of motherhood give rise to life-altering emotional and psychological changes. It shows us how motherhood transforms the female body, hijacks a woman’s mind, and splits her life in two, creating an identity both brand new and as old as time. It charts the passage from individual to incubator, from pregnancy, labor, and nursing to language acquisition, from coupledom to the complex reality of family life. Harper’s carefully researched story reminds us that motherhood’s central joys are also its most essential transformations. Watch a book trailer.

Are you struggling to figure out who you are now that you're a mama? Do you feel like you're coming last in your own life? Do you feel guilty for not loving every moment of this motherhood gig? As someone who used to put themselves last-doing everything she thought was 'right' for her children and family, but not really listening to what her body and her spirit was begging for-Amy understands first-hand the overwhelm and complex range of emotions that mothers face. Amy's background as a journalist set her on the path to uncover all that she could about the latest research on matrescence, the transition a woman undergoes when she becomes a mother. She now shares what she's learned in the hope that it will help you navigate this stage of your life. Happy Mama includes interviews with experts, case studies and Amy's own tried-and-tested advice on how to reconnect with the woman you are underneath all that washing, cleaning and caring. Full of useful and empowering insights that will help you change the way you feel about motherhood-and yourself-so you and your whole family can flourish.

"Swan Mothers" guides parents through the experience of raising autistic, ADHD, highly-sensitive, and otherwise uniquely magnificent children. The book relays stories of real mothers parenting not-what-I-expected children, and shares fresh tools and techniques for moving from frazzled and frustrated to living a fabulous life. Before children, Natalia Erehnah laid the groundwork for what she believed would be perfect parenting. Her children, being their magnificently unique selves, taught her that perfection did not come from following formulas and philosophies, but in honoring them and herself exactly how and where they were. Swan Mothers tells Natalia's story, and the stories of other mothers on conscious parenting journeys. It is full of insights, and packed with ideas for shifting your perspective and experience of your children, your life, and yourself. You will experience many A-ha moments as you travel with us through the 7 Phases of the Hero's Journey: Commonplace life when all is well in our world. Realizing that our children are not normal. Saying "No, thank you" to special parenting. Dealing with denial, anger, and grief. Acknowledging our children as they are. Beginning research and work to make them the way they are supposed to be. The long road of therapies and treatments, focusing on curing and recovering the lost "normal" child. Physical, emotional, and financial exhaustion and collapse from parenting challenging children. Awareness that there is no normal child to recover, there is only a child to see and love. Experiencing rebirth and seeing the world in a new way.

Sure to become a classic on female empowerment, a groundbreaking exploration of the personal, cultural, and global implications of intergenerational trauma created by patriarchy, how it is passed down from mothers to daughters, and how we can break this destructive cycle. Why do women keep themselves small and quiet? Why do they hold back professionally and personally? What fuels the uncertainty and lack of confidence so many women often feel? In this paradigm-shifting book, leading feminist thinker Bethany Webster identifies the source of women’s trauma. She calls it the Mother Wound—the systemic disenfranchisement of women by the patriarchy—and reveals how this cycle is perpetuated by wounded mothers who unconsciously pass on damaging beliefs and behaviors to their daughters. In her workshops, online courses, and talks, Webster has helped countless women re-examine their lives and their relationships with their mothers, giving them the vocabulary to voice their pain, and encouraging them to share their experiences. In this manifesto and self-help guide, she offers practical tools for identifying the manifestations of the Mother Wound in our daily life and strategies we can use to heal ourselves and prevent our daughters from enduring the same pain. In addition, she offers step-by-step advice on how to reconnect with our inner child, grieve the mother we didn’t have, stop people-pleasing, and, ultimately, transform our heartache and anger into healing and self-love. Revealing how women are affected by the Mother Wound, even if they don’t personally identify as survivors, Discovering the Inner Mother revolutionizes how we view mother-daughter relationships and gives us the inspiration and guidance we need to improve our lives and ultimately create a more equitable society for all.

‘Letters I never sent: musings of a mother’ is a collection of poems that is a reflection of the author’s journey into motherhood. Introspective, honest and inclusive, each letter touches upon a different aspect of what a woman goes through as she learns how to become a mother. From dealing with the exhaustion that comes with numerous sleepless nights, post partem depression to deciding to go back to work, each letter addresses the emotion that a mother feels while discovering motherhood.

The Power of Mother Love highlights the incredible--although sometimes unrealized--influence that a mother has on her children and her society. Decades of scientific and psychological study provide overwhelming evidence for the idea that "mother love" has an enormous, permanent impact in shaping the character and life of a child. In her compelling new work, psychologist Brenda Hunter presents a convincing argument that indicates this love is even more powerful, even more far-reaching than our culture has yet realized , not only for the child, but for the mother and society as a whole. Affirming the immeasurable value of the mothering role while realistically addressing women 's greatest questions and concerns, Hunter clearly reveals how mother love positively affects the way a woman defines herself. All mothers, and all those who care about the lives of women, children, and the future of our society will be dramatically impacted by this not-to-be-missed book, skillfully written to empower women to mother from the heart.

This study of French writer/educator Felicite de Genlis examines both the way in which she theorized the maternal role in her works and the manner in which she lived out her own maternity. Genlis constructed a politics of motherhood that stretched and modulated the parameters of its socially defined role.