It has been a roller coaster ride for both of us since our bundle of joy came into our lives a couple of months ago; more so for me than for my husband. The past few months made me realize that getting through pregnancy and raising a child are like apples and oranges – there is absolutely no comparison of how the two sequential stages change one’s life.
We were lucky to have a cake walk of a pregnancy where I led as normal a life as possible up-to the night before the delivery. I rarely felt a change in our lives on account of the pregnancy as neither did I feel much physical exhaustion nor a dip in my enthusiasm for any of our routine activities – be it traveling, going for movies, partying with friends, shopping, going for a late night coffee or just a drive. So much so that I went shopping to the mall a night before the delivery!
Having seen friends around for whom pregnancy brought a lot of changes in their daily lives, I felt lucky for being blessed with such a smooth pregnancy.
However, things are quite different now. Our routines and what we do is driven a 100% by the routine of our son. I know that this is what we signed up for when we decided to bring a baby into this world. I am in no way complaining – I love and cherish every minute of our lives that we have spent with him in the past few months. However, I do miss ‘us’ as a couple at times. Be it about going for a late night coffee, or having an uninterrupted conversation, or going shopping or planning a travel for a much needed get away and most importantly, being able to have a meal together. I miss being able to do that.
I hope as our son grows up, we will, slowly and steadily, be able to bring back the spontaneity of activities in our lives. While our days of the little joys as a couple are on hold for a fair amount of time, we are enjoying parenthood to the fullest.
By Nidhi Sehgal Juneja, a senior consultant at Aon Hewitt and a mom of 7 month old boy Shaurya.