Ta-dah!

Yay! My first ‘week’ back at work is over and I must admit it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. The first morning was hard and I did cry half the way to work, but then Bubs pulled a rabbit out of a hat and decided to amaze us all by sleeping better at the childminder’s than he does at home which was a load off my mind, albeit one that makes me feel slightly inferior (I think she has some sort of gift, seriously). He didn’t seem to mind being there all day and it was lovely when I picked him up because he was all smiles and giving lots of cuddles – what a great way to end the working day!
As for work itself, I have to say it was quite nice to be back. Nice to be chatting with the girls in the office, even nicer to be in “The Club” along with the other mummies and be able to swap stories and tips about our wee darlings! The bug has already bitten me, I’m itching to really get my teeth into a new issue of the magazine and I’ve remembered all the things I love about doing what I do, and all the things that (in my humble opinion) I am good at apart from being a mum. Of course I do miss Bubs when I am not with him but I think as time goes on that will get easier to deal with and I feel very lucky to be working part time so I can achieve a great balance between my personal and professional lives.
All in all it was quite a good week and I feel like a new chapter in our lives has begun. It’s funny how parenthood brings out parts of your personality and inner strength you never knew you had. Before they are born you can’t imagine what it’s like to have another person entirely dependent on you; it’s impossible to comprehend the love you feel for your own child. Then when they do come along, you can’t imagine what you did before and how you will ever get back to normal and lead a life that’s in any way separate from them. But you learn how to do that too. We’ve not long found out that we are going to have a new niece or nephew in the summer and part of me would love to be able to prepare the parents-to-be for what lies ahead, but I know that’s impossible. They’ll go on their own wonderful, terrifying, eye-opening journey when that new little person comes along, learning priceless lessons along the way.

On a different note, the mum-to-be has a harsh lesson to learn about muscles. Babies spell disaster for a woman’s muscles. Pelvic floor muscles they tell you about, and most can guess what lugging 8ish pounds of baby around for nine months will do for your tummy and back muscles – but nobody tells you about the brain muscles and even more importantly, the drinking muscles. After two days back at work I feel mentally, rather than physically exhausted so my poor old grey matter must be feeling a bit like it’s just run the London Marathon after 9 months of being a couch potato. And today, after one bottle of cider and a glass of fizzy wine, I’ve got a hangover. How pathetic is that?