In A Family Way

About the Book

When Sherri and Scott discovered they were pregnant, they were eager to read every book they could snatch off the “pregnancy/parenting” shelves at the bookstore in a quest to learn exactly what they were facing.

How would Sherri handle being pregnant in the workplace?    How would they each emotionally adapt to the pregnancy?  What is childbirth REALLY like?  How would their relationship change after the baby?  How had other two-career couples balanced a baby and careers?  How would they each adjust to parenthood?  They realized every pregnancy is unique and couples all react differently to the experience, but they wanted guidance and some candid accounts of what to expect.  They wanted to be emotionally, as well as intellectually, prepared.  

They looked in vain for a book, just one, which addressed what happens to a couple emotionally, in their own words, when baby makes three.  They found multitudes of how-to baby books, medical guides, and child development books.  They found books written by mothers and books written by fathers, but no first-hand narratives from couples who had been through pregnancy and new parenthood and survived to tell the story together.

Soon after, Sherri, a newspaper reporter, and Scott, a medical student and then family practice resident, decided to each keep a journal of their emotions and experiences from pregnancy through the first year of their child’s life, an “exciting yet bewildering, frustrating and incredibly challenging time.”  

The result is a candid, often humorous, account written in journal style from the viewpoint of both parents.  

Sherri and Scott write about hormonal imbalances, childbirth classes, handling pregnancy and stressful work schedules, and a realistic account of the labor and birth of their baby.  

Scott relates the dilemmas he faced during his grueling first year of residency as a family doctor, and how his role as a parent either conflicted with or was enhanced by his role as a doctor.  

Sherri tells of daycare problems, her dilemma regarding a career change, and their feuds over the division of domestic and childcare responsibilities.  They both tell of sleepless nights, poopy diapers, and breastfeeding woes, and also share their delight and awe at each developmental stage of their baby.

“In A Family Way” is a charming chronicle of a couple’s adjustment to becoming a family.

About the Author

Sherri Schaeffer, an attorney, and Scott Schaeffer, a family doctor, both practice in Wilmington, Delaware. They live with their three children in Landenberg, Pennsylvania.