Mother Shock: Loving Every (Other) Minute of It: Tales from the First Year and Beyond

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Overview

"Mother shock" is the state in which many new parents exist during those first confusing, chaotic and often comical years of parenting. It is the clash between expectation and result, theory, and reality. It is the twilight zone of 24-hour-a-day living; where life is no longer neatly divided into day and night; the triple-impact of hormonal imbalance, sleep deprivation, and physical exhaustion. It is the stress of acclimating quickly to the realities of mothering, a new sense of self, and a fearful new level of responsibility. In thirty amusing
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Mother Shock: Tales from the First Year and Beyond -- Loving Every (Other) Minute of It

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More About This Book

Overview

"Mother shock" is the state in which many new parents exist during those first confusing, chaotic and often comical years of parenting. It is the clash between expectation and result, theory, and reality. It is the twilight zone of 24-hour-a-day living; where life is no longer neatly divided into day and night; the triple-impact of hormonal imbalance, sleep deprivation, and physical exhaustion. It is the stress of acclimating quickly to the realities of mothering, a new sense of self, and a fearful new level of responsibility. In thirty amusing and intelligent essays, Buchanan shares her insights as she moves from the overwhelming feelings of first love for her baby to the disturbing and often hilarious darker side of mommyhood, finally reaching a place where she not only speaks the language but understands the customs of this strange and wonderful land. In essays like Fear of the Double Stroller, Confessions of a Bottle Feeder, I'm an Idiot, and Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Playgroup, Buchanan details the unimaginably difficult and unbelievably rewarding process of becoming a mother.
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Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
The creator of Phillymama.com, Buchanan has a convincing theory about the first year of motherhood: all new moms go through four phases of adjustment-mother love (initial euphoria), mother shock (crisis), mother tongue (recovery), and mother land (adjustment). In interrelated essays that vary in length as well as in style and format, she explores those phases and attempts to answer a plethora of questions that finally come down to the realization that it's impossible to know what it's like to become a mother until you actually do. But enough theory. Although this book may sound like a scholarly analysis, it is not. Buchanan writes fluently and with both feet on the ground, always aspiring to show readers her way of mothering not as a model but as an example. Her commonsense, nonjudgmental approach is especially praiseworthy. In the end, as she repeatedly points out, it is not choosing breast milk over formula that makes one a good mother, it is the ability to accept that every new mother can only do the best that she can. For all public libraries.-Mirela Roncevic Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781580050821
  • Publisher: Avalon Publishing Group
  • Publication date: 4/15/2003
  • Pages: 234
  • Sales rank: 442,172
  • Product dimensions: 5.50 (w) x 7.51 (h) x 0.76 (d)

Table of Contents

Introduction ix
I Mother Love
Birth of a Mother 3
Birth of a Mother: Part 2 12
Misconceptions 24
Mother Love 32
Pretty on the Inside 41
Separation Anxiety 46
II Mother Shock
Giving Birth to Ambivalence 53
Loving Every (Other) Minute of It 60
The Invisible Woman 66
Mother Shock 72
Motherly Advice 81
Fear of the Double Stroller 87
Letters to Emi 93
III Mother Tongue
Wednesdays in the Park 105
Confessions of a Bottle Feeder 112
A Fine Mess 118
Sleeping Like a Baby 123
I'm an Idiot 131
What's in a Name? 136
Mother Tongue 143
Everything I Really Needed to Know I Learned at Playgroup 151
Learning to Speak 162
IV Mother Land
Not Like Mozart 171
Fall Back 176
Forgetting 180
Changed World: Mothering After September 11 186
The Concert 191
Zen Mom, Beginner Mom 196
Piano Lessons 205
Mother Land 217
After Shock 222
Notes and Credits 229
Acknowledgments 233
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Sort by: Showing all of 7 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 8, 2008

    Just OK

    I read this book for a book club with friends from Mommy N Me. I enjoyed the first 50 or so pages but after that Buchanan comes across as overwrought and neurotic, which I found off-putting. On the plus side, its an easy breezy read and her writing style is quite pleasant and occasionally humorous. Definitely hints at the darker side of motherhood so many moms will relate, but personally I did not. Would recommend for those who have found that their experience with motherhood is perhaps not as rosy as they expected, because I can see where it would resonate with them, even though it did not with me.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 18, 2007

    A must, especially for the first time mothers!!!!

    This is a wonderful book and I wish I read it after I had my first child. Now I have two, so I am a little better, but still it's so wonderful to see that I AM NORMAL! I am not a bad mother, I am just a person. If you are fed up with all the stories of celebrities 'and not only' who JUST had a baby and claim that 'my life is soooo great right now, it's never been better, now I am complete, I can't believe that I waited for so long, I can't imagine how I could have existed without my child' this is a book for you.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 2, 2003

    I LOVE this book!!!!!

    OH, I just finished Andrea's book and tears threaten to form if I try to describe how it has touched me. I have recently become passionate about discussing openly the truth about mothering and the opposing feelings it can evoke in us. Thank you Andrea! I just hope there will be a sequel.... Angela

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 29, 2003

    A must-read for new mothers

    This is a great book for new parents, or anyone with children, really. It's good to know that everyone goes through rough patches, and that we can love and feel miserable at the same time. I couldn't put it down.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 3, 2003

    Finally something I TOTALLY relate to.

    As a mother of 3, I have read quite a few books and magazine articles about motherhood. I have never found anything that so accurately describes my feelings as a mother. I am buying this book as a gift for my friends who are new moms, in hopes that it will help them realize their feelings are normal, even when times seem tough. I love this book, it will have a prominent place on bookshelf as long as I am a mom (which is to say - forever).

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 19, 2003

    Finally....someone who truly understands the transition to motherhood!

    I couldn't put this book down. After reading so many parenting books that made me feel guilty or inadequate, it is so refreshing to read a book that tells it like it really is! It's funny and heartwarming, yet explores the 'dark side' of motherhood with candor. It's the perfect gift for a new mother!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 28, 2009

    No text was provided for this review.

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