Many women and their families are affected by it in varying degrees, and its most severe forms are devastating. Yet there is so much else to know about emotional changes in the bonding time. Sharing our experiences, we can see these other possibilities. The subject is so vast that I will focus on just a few patterns that are usually overlooked, yet important. Long before the birth, the transitions of pregnancy to parenthood make changes in our self-image.
Old boundaries shift and dissolve, creating many kinds of openness.
In newborn time, we experience ourselves in new roles and relationships. What we meet is often related to what is hidden within ourselves. We'll tend to come in contact with buried emotions and memories, and sides of our nature that we haven't expressed until now. The many, many changes following childbirth, requiring so much integration and reintegration. Blood loss, fluid balance changes with compensatory electrolyte and circulatory changes themselves are a lot to deal with.