Dear Mother
Pregnancy and childbirth are now behind you. Your life has
entered an entirely new phase, especially if this is your first
baby. The initial feeling can often be one of overwhelming
happiness and a sense of achievement at being able to hold
new life in your arms. Then comes the post-processing of the
birth itself, as you relive the events in your mind. This may
be interspersed by self-questioning: will I be up to the new
challenges? will my partner and I be able to cope with the
new situation? Or you may have more prosaic but no less
important concerns: will I have enough milk for my baby?
The family’s newest and smallest member soon comes to
dominate your daily routine, often leaving you with little time
in which to care for yourself. The postpartum period is thus
one of great joy mixed with great exhaustion during which
mother, partner and baby each have an enormous amount
of new material to learn. This is why I wrote this handbook.
Hopefully it will answer a lot of questions and keep major
worries at bay as you make the most of these first days and
weeks in the company of your newborn baby.
Wishing you a straightforward postpartum recovery,
plenty of patience, increasing self-confidence and, above
all, blissful times with the family’s youngest member!
Roland Zimmermann
