Thank you everyone. Enormous delayed response due to two under 18 months. If I thought I was busy with one...
Is it possible to hijack your own thread...? Apologies but I'm now going to say hello to some old mumsnet buddies who were my lifesavers a few short months ago.
I'm so chuffed that you've asked how things are going after my shameful lack of posts. Yes, Sandcastles, I'm the Aussie one - well the Brit in Oz.
Although actually that's not true now either; we arrived back in Blighty five months ago, me having decided to take every possible step to avoid being engulfed in the black dog again once I discovered I was pregnant with baby number two. (A move around the world was considered to be the lesser of two evils when the alternative was to stay put and go it alone again, but this time with two of them.)
And let me tell you it was a COMPLETE and totally unexpected. Pregnant again with a seven month old and just starting to feel as if I was emerging from the fog of PND. Hmmm, not the most sensible moment of my life.
I was more than a bit worried about whether the same thing would happen again and I've had plenty of people keeping an eye on me. But so far so good. We've had a lot to deal with with the move etc but I just know in myself I feel completely different about the baby this time. I know it's very common for people to find it easier second time around, but I have realised I actually really did have it a bit tough with DS1 and while I was clearly predisposed to succumb to PND I can now see that the grinding daily reality of dealing with a baby that seemed to scream his way miserably through his first few months of life, combined with being massively sleep deprived - the lack of sleep was off the scale compared with this time - definitely took its toll and added to the sense of shock and, I am ashamed to say, despair, that this was what motherhood was about. I couldn't understand how anyone enjoyed it. Now, with a clearer head, plenty of help and a much much much easier baby, I get it. Most of the time...
I'm still a control freak, still a worrier, still find dealing with newborn babies a bit scary and I definitely still have my wobbly moments, but this time I have a sense of perspective: no matter how bad it gets, it doesn't last. No matter how much you feel like you are losing your mind through lack of sleep, it comes back to you. It gets better. It actually gets to be rewarding (as well as bloody hard work). I know, you all kept telling me.
And yes, DS1 is a fully-fledged bundle-of-energy toddler now and while he drives me nuts at times (usually when he's on his back thrashing around on the floor [hmmm] he is gorgeous and funny and fascinating and worth the hard work and the fact I still never get a second to dry my hair or put make up on. Thank you very very much for asking.
I want to ask about everybody else but not sure this is the place...? Coffee morning, anyone? xxx