Feelings of change: stories of having a baby

‘Feelings of Change’ is a collection of stories told by fourteen Australian women having their first baby. The stories explain what happened during pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and parenting including feelings during each experience. The women explore love for their baby, relationships and sexuality, hopes for the future, even aspects of their past that were spiritually moving. Some planned homebirth, others planned hospital birth. All planned natural births of healthy babies whom they would breastfeed. The reality was often quite different. This story collection highlights the detail that makes each woman’s experience of childbearing unique. The book will enlighten students as well as practitioners of midwifery, nursing and obstetrics. Researchers of health, embodiment, the self and transition will find the stories invaluable. For expectant mothers and fathers in particular, these stories will provide a glimpse of the lived reality of being pregnant, giving birth and having a baby.