Steamboat Pilot & Today

Though Amy Dickson was having a conversation while sitting on a couch in her large office at Planned Parenthood Wednesday, the majority of her attention was being paid to someone who doesn't even talk yet.

Margaret, her 5-month-old baby, was sitting on Amy's lap and clearly was the center of her mother's thoughts.

Amy's attention at that moment on Margaret was not derived from concern, or even from a motherly instinct to care for her child.

The look on her face was a striking combination of awe and love.

She turned her baby to toward her, stared into her face and they both smiled. Margaret's smile was filled with joy and Amy's smile and eyes were wide in an expression of wonder.

"It's just completely amazing," Amy said of her first five months of motherhood. "It's really hard to put into words. It's something you really don't understand until you have a child of your own."

Amy, and many other new mothers in Steamboat, are having their very first Mother's Day.

"What's interesting about new mothers is that they are so focused on the delivery," said Shelly Luchini of the Newborn Network. "Then they have their baby and they are like, 'Oh my God. Now what?'"

Susan Petersen, who is a first-time mother to 6-month-old Andrew, said so far, being a new mother is not as hard as she thought.

But she said adjusting her work with the Steamboat Springs Parks and Recreation Department to fit around raising a child has been a challenge.

"It's hard to get used to those last-minute things," Petersen said, who was planning on taking Andrew to a last-minute work meeting that night. "It's hard to think, 'Now wait, I have a baby. Can I do this?'"

Balancing work and motherhood is a definite reality for most mothers in Steamboat Springs, Luchini said, and for new mothers, it's an adjustment that can be difficult.

"I think new mothers tend to be very overwhelmed," Luchini said. "They come home from the hospital and after four to six weeks they have to go back to work."

Kathy Northcutt, who also works for the Newborn Network, said work, coupled with the stresses of learning how to "properly" raise a child, is a hurdle to overcome.

New mothers, she explained, have to learn what is normal, what is right and what is wrong with every aspect of the child.

"You can always tell a new mother," Northcutt said. "When the baby's pacifier falls on the ground, they look at it, put it in their purse and say, 'I'll sterilize this later.' The mother with (a baby for the second or third time), picks up the pacifier, wipes it off and puts it in the baby's mouth."

But another truism of a new mother is the discovery of the indescribable love and bond that a parent naturally feels toward their child.

She recalls getting a golden retriever years earlier.

"I remember looking at that dog and thinking, 'Man, I really love him.' Now, I have to admit it's like one-tenth of as much love as a feel for my baby," she said.

Petersen admits that certain realities of motherhood that aren't as magical are still ahead.

"Wait until they stomp all over the kitchen floor with muddy feet," she said with a laugh.

But then, reflectively, Petersen said that might be the reason parents effortlessly love their child from the beginning and feel the "indescribable bond" with them. So when raising a child becomes difficult, there is always that special love that helps you through, she said.

"It's like " Petersen said, pausing to reach for words to describe the feeling with a delighted smile.

"It's like a perfect little package full of love."