From the sheer exhaustion of multiple middle-of-the-night feedings and diaper changes to the exasperation of a colicky baby, most women are completely unprepared for the reality of life as a new parent. No matter how hard they labored in the delivery room, the real work begins when they take their babies home. In today's mobile society, many women live far from their families and often have no help past the first week or two postpartum. Until now, books read by mothers-to-be focus on the infant not the mother. In this fascinating book, new mothers share their most intimate thoughts on the joys and challenges of one of life's most precious and rewarding roles. The Motherhood Club contains candid, reassuring stories by first-time moms from all walks of life as they adjust to motherhood. Their accounts will inspire, uplift and support new mothers as they learn to find their own way. Included are essays about loneliness, fear of putting baby into daycare, the trials and tribulations of breastfeeding, a changing body image, and the many moods of postpartum depression. At the end of each chapter, coauthors Shirley Washington and Ann Dunnewold, a licensed psychologist specializing in women's reproductive issues, dispel many myths of new motherhood with Dunnewold offering solid clinical analysis and advice.