Due to recent changes in family structures, the role of the father has been suffering modifications, and men are being convoked to assume children s care, which had been considered a feminine activity for many centuries,.The present study was intended to search the subjective experiences during the transistion to fatherhood today. In order to achieve this goal, a qualitative research was conducted, in which eight recent fathers from carioca middle-class were interviewed. From the discursive analysis of interviews eight categories have emerged: Mother is mother, Being pãe , Contradictory Demands: patriarch and caretaker, The pregnant man; Ultrasonography as a passage ritual; The birth of the father; The construction of a bond; From individuals to family. The results point to the belief in maternal instinct, as well as to the notable desire of men s participation in their children s emotional upbringing. To understand the transformations inherent to the process of becoming a father, a distance from biological aspects seems to be necessary so that society can recognize and understand fathers feelings. The conclusion is that transistion to fatherhood demands adaptation, because it is a moment in which parents experience contradictory feelings. Fathers might need to have a consistent social support so that they can manage to deal with such feelings, once the transformations in a father s role lead to both desire and to the suffering created by social impositions.