Before my first child was born, I was concerned that I would never wake up if he cried in the night.  I was SUCH a sound sleeper BC (before children).  But I needn't have worried. As soon as Andrew was born, I discovered I had developed a "mommy brain."

[caption id="attachment_448" align="aligncenter" width="325" caption="Andrew as a newborn"]<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AndrewNewborn.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-448  " title="AndrewNewborn" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AndrewNewborn-663x1024.jpg" alt="" width="325" height="501" /></a>[/caption]

You mothers out there know what "mommy brain" is: that condition where you become mentally fuzzy on details you thought you'd never forget, while at the same time you develop an uncanny ability to hear your baby's cry and know whether he is hungry, tired, sick, bored, in pain or just wants his mommy.

<a title="prenatal_origins_ of_infant_maternal_bonding" href="http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/20/6/384.abstract" target="_blank">A review of new research</a> suggests that "prenatal hormone exposures are critical for priming the maternal brain for the challenges of motherhood and have implications for the mother’s brain structure and function that may last the rest of her lifetime."  And<a title="pregnancy_and_mommy_brain" href="http://www.newsucanuse.org/pregnancy-and-mommy-brain/" target="_blank"> mommy brain probably explains </a>why new mothers wake up when their babies merely whimper in their sleep.

[caption id="attachment_214" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Lisette, age 3, with Debi, doing some mother-daughter bonding."]<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/LisetteDebiPorchswing.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-214" title="Debi with Lisette" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/LisetteDebiPorchswing-300x219.jpg" alt="Debi with Lisette" width="300" height="219" /></a>[/caption]

During pregnancy, a mom  is exposed to a massive hormonal shift, that according to this research, readies her brain for the challenges of motherhood, "helping her becomes less rattled by stress and more attuned to her baby’s needs."
<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter" style="text-align: left;"><dl id="attachment_453" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 310px;"><dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LisetteNewbornFeatured.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-453" title="LisetteNewbornFeatured" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/LisetteNewbornFeatured-300x160.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="160" /></a></dt><dd class="wp-caption-dd">Debi and Lisette on the day she was born. That's Andrew nose-to-nose with his new sister and Matthew peering over his shoulder.</dd></dl></div>
<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter" style="text-align: left;">So, in the same way that a mother, and how she takes care of herself during pregnancy, impacts the baby, the fetus affects the mom. When a baby moves in utero, even if the mother cannot feel the movement, the mother's heart rate rises and her skin conductance response is aroused - the phenomenon when skin momentarily becomes a better conductor of electricity, indicating an emotional response.</div>
<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div class="mceTemp mceIEcenter" style="text-align: left;">So, from the very beginning of life, mothers and their babies are fearfully and wonderfully made.</div>