The transition to motherhood changes a woman in many beautiful ways. It can be a rollercoaster filled with lows and highs but most women wouldn’t exchange it for anything. The good days more than make up for the bad ones. It can take a while to recover physically and emotionally from childbirth and that time can be a messy, wonderful, painful, busy, intimidating and magical experience.
It changes your body and how you think about it
Pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding change your body. You may get stretch marks and find that your breasts sag a little. You may battle to get back to your normal weight. However, you may also have a sense of awe about what your body is capable of and be more than happy to live with any flaws because of the miracle of childbirth you have experienced.
Some women may not be able to conceive naturally or carry a child to term. This can be very distressing and cause great grief. In-vitro fertilization can be the answer and if donor sperm is necessary for conception, IVF Authority can help women to find the sperm donor bank.
It softens you and makes you tougher
As soon as a baby enters your life, you tend to become more empathetic and sensitive. You want to protect your baby from all harm and will go to great lengths to do so. You don’t believe how much you love you feel for your child and the way you look at the world shifts. You feel very vulnerable when you have a child and yet it also brings a sense of joy and fulfillment.
You become more resilient and immune to what would have made you fall apart when you were younger. You wipe up vomit and change dirty diapers without flinching. You can keep going when others can’t because you operate on love. Your children can challenge you in ways you’ve never experienced before and in many ways, they help to stretch you and make you grow.
You learn to survive on less sleep
Motherhood inevitably brings with it many sleepless nights. Babies cry, toddlers may wet the bed and older children may have nightmares. You may stay up later to complete household chores you couldn’t do while your children were awake.
You may be able to get in a little ‘me time’ but you often feel as though you don’t have enough time. You learn the importance of your diet and exercise to help you keep your energy levels up in the day.
It makes you more selfless
Every day as a mother, you probably face doing things that you don’t want to do but you do them for the sake of your children. You will do laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning or picking up of toys and serve selflessly without any thought of reward.
When your children are small and they’re still learning, you have to exercise endless patience while they put on their shoes, brush their teeth etc. The repetitive tasks of parenthood force you to be present and can teach you more patience and mindfulness.
It makes you less judgmental
Before you have children, you may judge other mothers for the way they bring up their children. Once your own children are born, you have far more empathy for other mothers because you realize the weight of what they have to carry.
You will no longer judge the mother whose child is having a tantrum in the store. You learn that there are many ways to parent a child and all mothers have to find what works best for them.