Motherhood besides being one of the most satisfying things one can ever have the privilege of experiencing is harder than it looks. Behind all the glory there is untold hard work and challenges that nobody can explain until you walk a mile in that shoe. I don’t mean to scare anybody but nothing good comes easy. Below are some of the things I wish I knew.

1. You will never be truly prepared no matter how many books you read or how many babies you babysit. However, all the babysitting I had done over the years went a long way in giving me some confidence.
2. Having a group of supportive women is very important. It’s amazing how women come together to help a new mother. It’s an elevated form of sisterhood where they support you emotionally and physically.
3. When you are out in public with a child people are kinder, they open doors for you and they smile more. Children have a way of bringing the niceness out of people.
4. Practical gifts like a bowl of stew say “I love you more than a box of chocolates.
5. Overnight breast Ville is no longer a “weapon of mass destruction” you become a living food pipe and it’s not as scary as I thought it would be. 
6. Get rid of the idea that you should do it all by yourself. This isn’t the time to be superwoman. It takes a village to raise a child. Get as much help as you can, that way you aren’t running on empty. 
7. Women get a lot of backlash for neglecting their partners when a child comes into the picture. However, it’s time for your partner to dot on you not the other way round. You’ve earned it.
8. A messy house will be the order of the day. I am not exactly a neat freak and I’m not a perfectionist either but even for my standards, this is a new level of messy. As a new mother take as much time to rest and get your energy back. Nobody will die if you don’t do the dishes. 
9. You will spend an awful lot of time trying to see if your baby looks like you, and it won’t be a one-off event, it will be an everyday affair. 
10. They say if you don’t want your son to be like him or you don’t want your daughter to marry a man like him then don’t have a baby by him. This saying hit different when you have a child. It becomes crucial that your partner isn’t just your partner but a father figure that your child can look up to.
11. Financial freedom and literacy stops being a want and becomes a need. Something that you need to sort out quickly. You can’t stay broke because you have a child but you must become rich precisely because you have a child. In a twisted way, you start to think about death and for once you aren’t scared about dying. You will be more concerned about how your child will fare on. Selfishness goes out of the window.
12. You have no idea how much time you have until you become a parent and your hands are figuratively and literally full. You will not have much time for yourself but you will be able to get more done in a shorter amount of time.
13. Sleep as much as you can. I can’t stress this enough. Once you become a mother you will never sleep the same way again. When an insect crawls, you will hear. If the wind blows, you will hear. Before your baby cries, you will hear.
14. You will have a newfound respect for your parents and all parents in general. You realize how much you took for granted. You will want to hug all the single mothers and teen mothers and tell them it will be okay. Their hardships become all too real and you can’t help but truly sympathize with them.
15. I finally realized that the real superheroes are not on tv. It’s the lady on the supermarket aisle with 3 kids that are yelling their lungs out while she is picking groceries talking on the phone and she still manages to say “excuse me miss, I think you dropped something.” Ladies and gentlemen, that superpower is called multi-tasking. I didn’t know it was in me until I became a mum.
16. Some days you are going to be a hot mum that has it together. Other days you will just want to chill on the couch and do nothing. There is no such thing as the perfect mum. Out of all the beautiful wonderful women out there it’s you that gets to be their mother. So, enjoy the journey.