ABSTRACT
The transition to motherhood is a challenging time in a woman’s life and motherhood is a state to which a large proportion of women aspire. This is the case despite evidence that mothering is a hard job which can never be done to perfection. Motherhood is also a role that receives decreasing support from government sources in western industrial societies, although these are the very communities where traditional support from extended family networks may no longer be relied upon. To progress from non-mother to mother, or from mother of one child to mother of more than one, changes a woman’s relationships, her body, her identity, her behaviour and her future life prospects. It is an intensely personal experience.
