Financial stability, life experience, stable relationships, and emotional maturity are some of the reasons why women are more likely to have babies in their thirties. However prepared you might think you are to have children, life as you know it will change.
Changes to Your Physical Health
Get ready for some short and long term changes to your body during pregnancy and after giving birth. The first six weeks after the baby is born are difficult. You need to recover from labor, get used to interrupted sleep, feeding cycles, and hormones changing your emotions into a rollercoaster ride. The hormones and the baby’s routine will stabilize, but your body needs to adapt to performing with much less sleep, exercise, and healthy food.
Changes to Your Mental Health
Parenting involves emotions and thoughts that take hold of you as your new baby lies in your arms. Baby blues are typical the first few weeks after birth as your hormones adjust to the end of the pregnancy. If you’re still crying, feeling anxious, and have mood swings after 2-3 weeks, speak to a professional to diagnose possible postnatal depression.
Changes to Your Meaning of Life
Parenting is not the same as it was a hundred years ago. Children are no longer a means of survival and an extra pair of hands to work on the farm. The purpose of having children has evolved into an intricate part of being human.
The responsibility to raise a child as a successful and healthy adult won’t leave you the same person as you were.
Changes to Your Relationship With Your Partner
The practical and emotional impact of a baby in the house will bring many challenges for couples to overcome. Some roadblocks to be aware of are: sharing the workload, making financial decisions together, career decisions, and dealing with intimacy.
Carolyn Pape and Philip Cowan explain in their book, When Partners Become Parents, that pre-existing problems will only become amplified in the relationship when a child comes along. Partners who find productive ways to work through the challenges they face have a better chance of adjusting to life with a child.
Changes to Your Maternal Drive
As soon as you announce your pregnancy, everyone you know will be eager to offer you advice. When your baby is born, people’s views and opinions will increase exponentially.
Although people mean well, you’ll know what’s best for your baby. The intimate bond between a mother and her child has kept the human species alive for centuries. It’s good to educate yourself and to hear how other moms handle situations that you find yourself in, but don’t be scared to trust your instinct with your baby.
Change Equals Growth
As a woman in your 30’s, you probably overcame many challenges already – relationships, education, and career choices, and finding financial stability. Each venture that you overcame helped you to grow into a healthy person. Use these compelling experiences to take on the toughest, but the most rewarding endeavor of all time – to become a mother.
