There is something unique about being a new mother. There is a special glow that shows something new is happening. This glow shows in all mothers, mothers who give birth and mothers who adopt. The glow even shows in mothers who live in barns who give birth to calves and mothers who fly to bring their babies food for the day.

Motherhood is a special, special time. It really shows. It is amazing to watch the shows on television that show the birth of a new animal to a first time mother. The mother knows right away what to do. She knows to clean up the newborn, to let it know it is loved by licking it and then by feeding it. She has quickly become a special animal as she gives birth to her new baby. Even the mother Orca whale who kept her dead calf with her for many days tells us something about the specialness of motherhood.

This is true for mothers of new babies who are human. Motherhood is a major event for women. In fact, recent research being done in France and the Netherlands has shown that major changes occur in the human brain when pregnancy happens, and most certainly when birth happens. We read about post-partum depression, but we seldom read about the specialness of becoming a mother.

A mother is thrust into a new area of life. With it comes a need to protect this new little person in a way that each mother has never been before. Yet mothers handle it.

The new mom knows she needs to check her baby regularly even though she has never done this before. She knows she is the one who has to feed her baby the right food at the right time. She is the one who has to decide how to handle the loneliness that comes with a 2 a.m. feeding and the baby is crying. She is the one who agonizes over who to hire to care for her child when she has to go somewhere alone.

Being a mother isn’t easy. It isn’t even easy on the ones around the new mom. New dads need to handle being put into second place as the newborn comes home. New dads have to step back because mothers have some new responsibilities that supersede being romantic with their partner.

Grandparents need to get used to idea that they are no longer the experts on childcare; a younger generation has taken over.

Even if this is a second or third child, the older children need to get used to the idea that their importance to their mom now is spread over one more. They are now big sister or big brother but not the one child who is the primary focus.

While none of these other significant people in a new child’s life are as impacted as the mother, we need to be careful not to forget what they are also experiencing.

While it isn’t easy being a mother, it is incredibly rewarding. As a new mother, you are one of the most important people in the world. You not only have to make sure your life is going the way you want it to go but you now have one more life you are responsible for. You are the one who has to teach him most of life’s lessons. You have to teach him about how to eat, how to go to the bathroom, how to ride in a car to be safe, what toys are okay and which ones are for older children, how to swing and all the other lessons of early childhood.

But it doesn’t stop there. You also have to teach them about books and being ready for school, being polite, how to study, how to make his bed, how to comb her hair and clean her room. Maybe because there is so much to do as part of being a mother you really need that unique feeling of specialness that comes with your new baby.

If you feel that specialness of motherhood, it will help you weather the many tough and trying times that lie ahead.

Cynthia Martin is the founder of the First Teacher program and former executive director of Parenting Matters Foundation, which publishes newsletters for parents, caregivers and grandparents. To reach current First Teacher Executive Director Nicole Brewer, email nicole@firstteacher.org or call 360-681-2250.