You don’t have to go completely ‘ga ga’ and use a baby voice, but psychologically Mothers are programmed to speak in more of a high pitched, singsong voice to help brain development, so you’ll probably find yourself doing it without realising. I only noticed that I do it when I hear videos of myself. You definitely don’t have to go down the ‘wickle kitty catty’ baby language though.
You will lose baby weight, but you might not be quite the same shape you were. I’m the same weight as I was pre pregnancy, but definitely bigger around the boobs/rib cage area and the lower stomach. I think it’s easier if you don’t put huge amounts on though, I only gained about 1.5 stone in total. It did take about 6 months to get off.
Peace and quiet is definitely harder to come by. I don’t know what kind of angel baby @soola has, but no one I know has a baby that sleeps a lot. Sleeping like a baby is a bloody joke, and when your baby wakes every hour, you get tired. Mine has never slept through and she’s 13 months, so piss off with your ‘not understanding’ @soola. Having said that, life takes on a slower pace in many respects, so you can carve out peace for yourself. And ultimately, they grow up, and the peace and quiet returns.
You won’t love, or even like, parenting all of the time. There’s shit bits. But the good bits are sooo good it’s all worthwhile. The highs and lows are more extreme I guess. I definitely don’t regret it for one minute.