This book describes what happens to men and women, and especially to their relationships as couples, when they have their first baby. In an introductory chapter, we describe how our personal history led to the creation of the Becoming a Family Project, our study examining both stability and change in five major aspects of a couple’s life on their journey to parenthood. In part I we being with a discussion of why the transition to parenthood is stressful even for well-functioning couples. We then explore the decision-making process about whether and when to have a baby and the issues couples face during pregnancy and childbirth. In Part II men and women in our study talk about the changes they experience after their babies are born in their sense of self, and in the “”who does what?”” of family life. In Part III we focus on the reactions of a randomly chosen set of parents in our study. These couples met once a week throughout the last three months of pregnancy and the first three months of parenthood in small groups led by couples who are trained mental health professionals. (Author abstract)