I don’t consider myself a much of a sap, but recently I described the adventure of becoming a mother to a co-worker like so:
“My heart just got bigger. It’s as if a whole other part of it just showed up, out of the blue, a part I was missing all my life.”
Cheesy, I know (honestly, I think I scared her a bit!), but I didn’t have to think about it before it came out. It was an organic, emotional statement about how I feel about the presence of my newborn. I think it’s my newfound baby brain.
Brain researchers tell us that becoming a parent is a lot like falling in love. Emotions you didn’t know you had spring up out of nowhere thanks to a cocktail of hormones surging through pregnant women and new mothers. These overwhelming feelings of love, fierce protectiveness, and constant worry begin with reactions in the brain thanks to our newfound maternity, and they’re also to blame for compulsive behaviors and feelings that may eventually add up to postpartum depression. Read more about the evidence on the neurological side effects of pregnancy and motherhood and learn about what your newfound emotions might mean for you and your baby.
