The virginal six months

1 November 2020

In 4 months, Jono will start childcare, turn 1, take a 3-day break from breastfeeding (hopefully to recommence once mummy returns from her girls weekend away), and I will start working. Not full time but with full focus. This chapter of life where I have taken a few years off to enjoy back-to-back maternity leave will have reached, as Lochie says at the end of each book we read, “the end”.

For the last 4 months, exactly 4 months after birth, the baby hormones that once occupied my brain have been packing and leaving, along with tufts of hair. As I’m transitioning from babies to toddlers, and toddlers to little boys, the wonder of motherhood is transitioning into daily business-as-usual. What once used to surprise and delight me now is part of a process, as I’m juggling sandwiches, makeup, cuddles, washing, emails and our family diary. According to this study and this article, it takes 6 months to normalise – it gets (physically) easier, magic fades into normality, and the premise of intellectual stimulation takes over the hazy romanticism of babies. Yes, I do believe that 6 months is the magic number. This is why I think it’s so special and fascinating for a first time mother to capture her “virginal” motherhood experiences in those precious few months.