ABSTRACT
When it was suggested to me that I think about the maternal from a personal point of view, a thousand thoughts invaded my mind. These thoughts comprised the styles of motherhood of the women I had known, my relatives, my friends, neighbours, women from my everyday life and the stereotypes of mothers in the media. What I focussed on were the personal experiences of my journey into motherhood, whatever form that took, how I learned from these experiences is not only how to be a mother but also how, after 40 years, to feel condent in that role.
