MOTHERHOOD IS VERY HARD!!!  No-one really sits down to tell you this before you have your first child.  No-one really tells you about the lack of sleep that you will have… or that you will have days where everything just seems so hard to cope with that you just want to curl up and cry.

I have 3 children (two girls aged 7 and 6 and one boy at 4 years old).  Yes, at one point in my life I could say that I had three kids all under the age of three!

OH MY WORD!

How on Earth did we think that this was a good idea at the time? We often got comments from people that we were either very brave, or just absolutely mad!  I am still trying to work out which one we are!

My husband is an only child and he is the last one alive to carry on his family name. I so wanted a boy so that we could do this.  Well, third time lucky and I got my wish.  And boy, didn’t I know about it.  Let’s put it this way…We did originally want a big family and to have 4 children, but having my little man has absolutely wiped me out.  Being constantly knackered is no fun. The sleepless nights that I had for the first 2-3 years of his life were awful.

I remember one night it felt like the kids were playing tag during the night and each one were taking it in turns to get up.  I had one child awake screaming because she was teething… oh, and did she have a pair of lungs on her! Once she was dosed up and settled, my other daughter woke up coughing and spluttering. She had one of those irritating coughs that once it starts, it just doesn’t stop.

If that wasn’t enough, my son then had a sickness bug and he really knew how to throw up.  It was the projectile type of throwing up.  You needed to duck and get out of the way before it was all over you.  I walked in to him crying and I lifted him out of his bed and it hit me… literally! I was absolutely covered from head-to-toe in vomit.  It was horrendous!

I got through those horrendous nights though.  It DOES get a little easier.  I do get SOME sleep now.  Admittedly, there are different challenges now though, and yes, I still find it hard to cope at times.  I’m just pleased that I am not where I was 3 years ago…

…Struggling.

It’s hard to admit that, but yes, I did struggle.  It’s not easy trying to live up the expectations of a perfect mother.  It isn’t going to happen.  You just need to roll with it.

I just want to encourage anyone reading this that you are not on your own.  Feeling helpless is normal at a time when you are sleep deprived.  It WILL get better though.  Hang in there.  You are doing a wonderful job.