Pregnancy vs. Motherhood. My Experience

Two different sides of the same coin, two life changing experiences that make and sometimes break you. Both frightfully similar and yet completely opposite. If you've just found out you're pregnant. Congratulations! Your journey has thus begun. But before you go off to read every parenting book or scour through thousands of 'what next' websites, remember this is YOUR story. There will be tons of unsolicited advice (mostly annoying), several confusing and senseless moments, a little angel you desperately want to understand and smother with love, arguments and tears..... but you own the script of this wonderful story in your life. Every moment counts and well that's how mine began.
I will forever remember that day. The day those two faint pink lines showed up on one of those home pregnency tests. Was this IT!!! we were skeptical (like all newbies) and hastened to google this and a trillion other questions. Well, it WAS the start of our little baby bump journey, together. Our most memorable, exciting, tiring, hopeful, fearful, happy nine moths that resulted in the birth of our adorable Baby A. And to think those nine months were just the beginning. Like most people, we chose not to tell anyone until we were absolutely sure (having suffered a miscarriage before) and those heart stopping first few weeks were spent waiting, hoping and praying that this was our answered prayer. A 'heartbeat' at six weeks made us jump for joy. Then the first glimpse of what we were told were tiny hands and feet (I would look at those ultrasound images for hours and really struggle to figure it out). By 16 weeks we could clearly see a cute little nose and a nice round belly. I now understand why people always asked if this was 'our first' because we sounded so excited about everything (like nothing else mattered) and we had no idea what was to come (ha!). Those nine months hold such 'jaw dropping', 'head spinning' extremely anxious moments and that's what's special because they're your first peep into what lies ahead. Make the most of them, record them if you must because one day you will look back and realise those were the 'glory days'.

Quick pause because as I type this, I am interrupted several times by my little toddler. He wins and this has to wait.

Another reminder (based on the above interruption) is that pregnancy will allow you to catch up on all that u want to do...motherhood will not!
Which brings me to, well yes....Motherhood. They say it comes naturally. For me, it was like learning the abc but this time in a very different language - baby alphabets! Nothing made sense and I felt like a failure on my very first day. Absolutely normal, you eventually get better at it. But once there, there's no turning back, no going back to those nine months hoping to sleep a little longer or clean your closet or take that vacation you wanted. All that will have to wait because this tiny little being takes over your entire world in such a short span of time. Apart from all the wonderful moments, all the love, fun and happiness of becoming a mom, gear up for a few grumpy moments and some bickering too as you attempt to adapt to your new role. If your better half jumps at every chance to do something for your new addition, well, lucky you! but I assure you he will tire soon and that's when you'll be grumpy and wonder why he's snoring blissfully nearby (or on the couch) while you sleepwake (yes, not walk) through hourly feeds and nappy changes. Its all part of this wonderful journey and it gets better. Those nine long months don't completely prepare you for the mammoth task ahead, the one thing that you will forever be thankful for- becoming a mom!