How did becoming a parent affect your...

[alittlebitmanic]

Career - particularly corporate ones
Travel - holidays & adventure
House - tidiness & decor
Health - energy levels & wellbeing

Just wondering how having a child affected the above points for you? I'm only planning on the one child and I know the effect is likely to be bigger with each additional child you have.

I work in marketing and I am really hoping having one child means I can keep my career roughly where it is. I'm not looking to progress, at least not for the first few years, but I'd like to avoid any pay cuts etc!

Career - went pt so money nosedived. I feel its now stalled as i dont have the same energy or time to put into it. That said i was getting burnt out before kids so a relief to step back. Becoming financially dependant on dp was a shock though

Travel - pre dc i travelled a lot, often exotic places eg amazon, nz, africa etc. Furthest I've been since dc (3 yrs) is Cornwall. As pp said, holiday now is different location same shite...

House - lovely large house but always a shit tip. So much clutter and no time or energy to change it.

Health/ wellbeing - mum tum that will not budge, rapidly aging face, no time to look after myself. Been meaning to paint my toe nails for the last month and still not managed to. Boobs great as still breastfeeding but know they will deflate permanently knackered.
Stress more now re the future eg nuclear war.
In some ways dc have brought me and dp closer, but can also stress the relationship as we dont have any resource left to look after each other. My libido has gone awol...

But... my life does feel more meaningful and things that sound mundane eg going to the park, can be full of fun and joy with dc

Never regretted having kids but would love the odd weekend of my old life!

Career - I'm a City lawyer, since having DC I went onto "mummy track" (part time, no promotion prospects) as FT hours weren't compatible with childcare/seeing DC at bedtime. Now about to be SAHM as DC1 has some SN and needs me at home. I hope to go back to work but my ambition level is far lower than pre DC.

Travel - Pre DC we backpacked round the world. Now we go to child friendly resorts and barely leave the hotel (I am hoping this will change as DC get older).

Home - We have lots of plastic and chipped paint from toddler exploits. Again I hope this will change in future (can you sense a theme).

Health - I'm very tired (my DC are bad sleepers) and get a lot more colds. Diastis rectii means bad posture and non flat tummy. Otherwise I'm doing ok.

IMO if you are not prepared for these things to change then don't have DC...

Career - particularly corporate ones I'm a supply teacher so I work in a completely different field to you but my career has stalled. I left a long term, full time post that most probably would have become permanent so that I could have a long maternity leave with my son, my first child. I feel like I shot myself in the foot there because now I only work day-to-day, short term supply and am struggling to get back into a full time role. I'm not sure I want to though, given the state of the education system at the moment.

Travel - holidays & adventure I never went anywhere before children, apart from a trip to Amsterdam before I met dh. It's only now that I feel a bit trapped (due to lack of money more than anything else) that I realise how much I actually do want to travel!

House - tidiness & decor I moved from a small 2 bed house into a bigger the bed house because we needed the space when dc 2 came along. I miss the other house: it was small, yes, but it was well decorated, had an abundance of plug sockets in every room, had a drive large enough for 2 cars and the walls weren't made of some kind of super strength, reinforced concrete. You could actually knock a nail into them and have a picture up. You can't in this house. It's in desperate need of redecorating, had one double socket in each room, no off street parking and is pebble dashed so looks awful. We rent though and can't afford to buy our own place and needed the extra room. Our house is a tip, too. It looks as though a bomb had gone off in a toy factory. There is Lego everywhere I walk. There is crap all over each surface. I tidy up several times each day but only ever dent the surface. I feel like I'm fighting a tide of crap and clutter and that I'm the only one who cares about it. It does my tits in.

Health - energy levels & wellbeing I was depressed after dd was born and had therapy for that but I feel fine now. I'm tired a lot and could sleep for Britain but that was the case before dc so I can't blame them for that. The state of the house affects me though. I feel uneasy when it's untidy but unfortunately it's in a constant state of untidiness though.

I don't regret having children but I do miss my old life quite a bit too. I am looking forward to them growing up and buggering off.

DS is 15 months. Will be an only.

Career - am a surgeon. Went back full time when DS was 4 months so nothing has really changed, but I made the decision to go into a slightly more family friendly subspecialty before we had DS so I feel my work life balance is better than many.

Travel - still travel frequently. Manage scuba diving, skiing etc. We look for slightly different things in accommodation now but it hasn't stopped us from travelling.

House - no change. Both DH and I are very tidy, we have a cleaner once a week but the house is clean and tidy every evening. Obviously can be a tip with toys out in the day though.

Health/wellbeing - it took me a year to get back on track diet and exercise wise but we take it in turns to do bath time/go for a run so I get decent exercise 3 or 4 times a week.

Life has obviously changed (for the better!) but we still do many of the things that we did pre DS. Money helps.