How time flies!

As my maternity leave comes to an end, I have been reflecting on how my life has changed over the last 7 months.  Before having a child you can never fully comprehend how your life will change.  I commented before Harry arrived that when you plan major life events, you are often able to picture in your mind how your life will be - for example, going away to university, getting married.  But during pregnancy I could never imagine how life would be with a child.  So here are a few things I have learned along the way that I wanted to capture:

• being a mother is a 24/7 job.  Whilst it is not currently as mentally challenging is my other vocation, it is physically and emotionally draining and you can't just take a break when it suits you!
• the first few weeks of motherhood are a shock to the system as you adjust to working your day and life around this little person who relies upon you 100% to keep them safe, clean and fed.  The real challenge is learning to operate on limited amounts of sleep.  Once you get used to that and fall into a routine, life becomes much easier.  As the baby gets older, you find you have to adjust again and life becomes harder because now baby as well as wanting you to keep them safe, clean and fed also wants you to entertain him - and he doesn't nap every 2 hours!  My house was spick and span for the first 3 months and has slowly deteriorated!! ha ha!
• My nursery rhyme repertoire is severely lacking and there is a limited period of time that peek-a-boo keeps Harry amused for!!
• I was always a deep sleeper and was renounded for sleeping through burglar alarms sounding in Barclays Bank Sports Club (as it was premises owned by a Bank it was as alarmed as a Bank!) - those alarms were LOUD!  Now, I sleep incredibly light and even if Chris is in the spare room with the monitor over night I will often hear Harry before Chris does with the monitor on the highest volume right next to his head!
• Mothers and fathers bring different qualities to parenthood.  Many years ago, we used to talk about Chris maybe taking some time out of work to look after any children that we had. I think it is a fair admission that in reality, that would  never have worked out!  I think mothers have different patience  levels, multi-tasking abilities and instincts to fathers.  There will of course be exceptions to this and I am not trying to judge all mothers and fathers, but this is generally what I have experienced so far in my own family and friends.
• I never knew that I would be so interested in poo (move over Gillian McKeith!).  With Harry's digestive problems I find myself opening each nappy and carefully examining it before disposing of it!  
• I have only retched once at a dirty nappy - whilst I appreciate that they smell (really bad) the smell doesn't bother me that much. 
• Motherhood can be a lonely place at times.  We were unlucky in that our ante-natal class only had 3 couples, all of whom live in different towns, so my social circle was far more limited than I had expected it to be.  Living in Nuneaton, the range of mother and baby groups are limited to "SureStart" centres (parenting centres set up by government in areas of economic deprivation to encourage parents from socially deprived backgrounds (although anyone can attend) to interact with other parents and learn from play leaders in how to raise and play with their children).  I have been to a few sessions, but without wishing to sound snobby, did not find any mothers there that I had much in common with.
• I think that the limitations of my mummy friendship group will not have been helped by Harry's reflux.  I never felt confident enough to take him to anyone else's house as I was too worried he would be sick on their floor/furniture etc. 
• I am slowly coming to accept that my body will never look the same again!  Whilst I am pre-pregnancy weight, I am definitely not pre-pregnancy shape!
• You need to make a real effort to ensure that you get some "me" time and also some quality "couple" time.  This is something we haven't been very good at doing.  The lack of me time has been a result of Harry going through a phase of not going down at night for Chris and only wanting his Mummy, thankfully this is something he has now grown out of!  My parents moved to Nuneaton this week so hopefully we can also address the "couple" time issues!!
• I love being Harry's Mummy but if I am totally honest, I am feeling ready to go back to work.  I feel that Harry needs a bit more variety to his days to keep him occupied and because he loves to watch people and other children, I think he will love nursery.  I just wish it was possible to have a better balance than having to go back to work full time.
• When your baby has medical issues, you need to arm yourself with all of the information you can possibly get your hands on so that you face medical professionals with all of the information that they need (and possibly don't know themselves) and be ready to fight battles for your baby.  Medical professionals are quick to dismiss first time mums as being neurotic but I had been telling them since Harry was 6 weeks old that I thought he had a milk intolerance and it wasn't until he was 5 1/2 months old that someone actually took me seriously and he was diagnosed.  So instead of my baby vomiting 50 odd times a day (which according to my GP was "trivial"), he is now only sick about 10 times a day and usually because he has been rolling around like an eejit.
• The NHS is no longer a free healthcare system that will look after you "from the cradle to the grave".  It is now "from the cradle to the grave provided you don't cost the system too much money from your GP's budget or take up too much of time".  Sadly, our wonderful free health care system is feeling the strain of the economic climate.
• Babies grow QUICKLY!!!  
• We bought too much "stuff" for Harry - clothes that never got worn, baby carriers that never got used.  
• Baby goods and supplies companies are the best marketeers in the whole of consumerdom.  Even with multiple food allergies and intolerances I have found myself staring at the baby food aisle wishing for something to appear in a jar or pouch that he can eat!  I have even on occassion purchased said jars and pouches (usually because a baby club has kindly sent me a money off voucher) and convinced myself that he will be okay with said food and then found that he isn't okay with it!