The physical and psychological stress produced by the assisted reproduction techniques (ART) may affect parenthood in a special way, with unknown repercussions. This study aims at knowing the process of becoming a mother in three women who conceived through ART and whose babies were three months old. The results showed that the participants of this study went through the transition to parenthood feeling uncapable of taking care of their babies in an appropriate way and also frightened by the possibility of losing them. In this way, the premature birth of the baby, already antecipated during pregnancy, turned real this possibility and made this experience a challenge. However, it was observed that when the initial moments of fear were overcome the belief of being capable of keeping the baby alive emerged.
motherhood; assisted reproduction; infertility
