Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- New Introduction
- Preface to the Original Edition
- 1 Childbirth and the ‘Position’ of Women
- 2 In the Beginning
- 3 Remember, Pregnancy is a State of Health
- 4 Journey into the Unknown
- 5 The Agony and the Ecstasy
- 6 Mother and Baby
- 7 Learning the Language of the Child
- 8 Menus
- 9 Domestic Politics
- 10 Into a Routine
- 11 Lessons Learnt
- 12 Mothers and Medical People
- Endnote – Being Researched
- Notes and References
- Appendix List of Characters
2 - In the Beginning
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- New Introduction
- Preface to the Original Edition
- 1 Childbirth and the ‘Position’ of Women
- 2 In the Beginning
- 3 Remember, Pregnancy is a State of Health
- 4 Journey into the Unknown
- 5 The Agony and the Ecstasy
- 6 Mother and Baby
- 7 Learning the Language of the Child
- 8 Menus
- 9 Domestic Politics
- 10 Into a Routine
- 11 Lessons Learnt
- 12 Mothers and Medical People
- Endnote – Being Researched
- Notes and References
- Appendix List of Characters
Summary
It is a good moment when you know for certain that your baby is really on the way. I have known some young mothers who assured me that they knew for certain on the very first day. This may be true for them, and no doctor would ever dispute the highly unscientific accuracy of most feminine intuition. But most young women are a bit more cautious. They have plenty of faith but, not surprisingly, they do like to have a little direct evidence as well. [A doctor]
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't want the baby, but I’d rather we had better circumstances. It's shocked me into the realisation that we don't have a place to put it. It took a while to grow on me; I was pleased, but I wasn't going out of my mind with it – it wasn't till I went to the hospital that it hit me that I was pregnant. I’ve never thought of myself as a mother … I’ve been doing different jobs trying to make some sort of a career and I’ve thought of myself more as a working wife than as a mother. [A pregnant woman]
Signs and Symptoms
SHARON WARRINGTON, audiotypist:
I missed the period in April, so it was just before the one in May that they really started to feel tender, and I know if you sort of rubbed it it felt really sore, but I always used to get that before a period; I never worried, not really, and when I went down to him he just said: oh, gastro-enteritis, how long have you had this? About a week, and I’ve put up with it as long as I can. He said: what actually happens? I said: it's only in the morning, the sickness. So he said: oh have tea and a dry biscuit or dry toast before you get out of bed. I said, I’m not pushing my husband out, I said, he goes to work all day, I said, as far as I’m concerned it's my place to get up and get him up.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- From Here to Maternity (Reissue)Becoming a Mother, pp. 17 - 37Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018