by J A Wright

Created on: August 23, 2009

In the early part of 2005 I found myself stood in the kitchen eating pickled onions and once the whole jar was empty I had the first notion that perhaps I should take a pregnancy test. Not one solitary onion remained in the brand new jar.

That moment heralded the beginning of the biggest change in my life. From childhood to adulthood takes years, teen to real adult and so on, even a degree takes three years but a pregnancy is just nine months, or less and BAM! All change at parenthood station.

Parenting has been my great delight, my biggest challenge and my best education, a real all round life changing event and one which will be a part of me forever now.

My twins were born in 2005 and life has never been so amusing nor so difficult and I wouldn't change it for the world. No matter what they put me through, I love them dearly.

We had a really lovely health visitor for a little while, a bit of a hippy, all long hair and long skirts with a 'love cures all ills' attitude. I suspect she may have been related to Mary Poppins. She gave me the sage advice that it takes about a year for a couple or parent to adapt to the changes that come with the birth of a child. That made perfect sense of course but my interpretation of her comments differ now. She meant that everything changes, everything you are is redefined. You are a family not just a couple, a parent rather than a person and a raging maniac lacking sleep instead of a colleague.
A late night is 9pm in the first few weeks or months, that person who was regularly out at 4 am night clubbing is a distant memory, sleep is your best friend. Even spontaneity becomes a rarity when you have to feed and change the baby and pack a bag first before setting foot outside the door, by which time you've been vomited on twice and the smell of milk sick is now de riguer.

No event will ever be the same, at the very least you have to find a babysitter or factor one more person and their needs into everything, your priorities may change as many parents suddenly feel other things are less important, that might be work, or holidays or frequent nights out. Personally I missed going to the cinema, drinking tea whilst it was still hot and having the peace the read a book without feeling guilty or having fifty interruptions.

The way you run the house changes, the times you have to do the housework, the places you might put overnight guests may change, low priorities may suddenly become entirely irrelevant. I found that ironing

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