When Claire Zerafa’s waters broke heralding the imminent arrival of her first baby, she turned to her husband and asked him: “Now what do I do?”. 

“You tell me,” he replied to her. “You’re the midwife.”

It’s a fondly remembered anecdote in the Zerafa household that still makes Claire chuckle especially now after 25 years in the profession she describes as “the best job in the world”. 

For no matter how well-informed a woman is about the procedure of birth, nothing can truly prepare her for that moment, so natural and yet so miraculous, when her life is transformed as she gives life to another human being. 

“No book can prepare you for that transition,” Claire points out. “There is no switch that turns you from a woman to a mother. It is a transitional phase. You don’t become a mother the second you give birth. Yes, the term is there but motherhood is about nurturing your child and that needs time. Looking after yourself needs time.

"You should praise yourself for even the little things you have done such as holding the baby or changing the nappy, a small thing but hugely important for the baby and for you as a woman. A woman needs time to process the change. It is a challenging period but you can manage it, everyone manages it.”

“At every stage of your child’s life you need to be a different mother,” she continues.... Motherhood is a process and we learn how to do it over time.”

Read the full interview here: http://sundaycircle.tom-mag.com/33/index.html#issue/10