Gosh, two weeks since birth and believe me the title of this post gives away what my life has been. Change nappies, breastfeeding times and burping. Add on two other children so it has been a mess of household chores, sleepless nights, demanding children and a baby and tiring days. Very very tiring days. Finally life is settling in.

Now that I am being a mother third time, I have come to realize one thing. Pregnancy is not the hard bit and nor is giving birth as it lasts a few hours or maximum a day but rather it is the weeks after birth. It is so difficult. Well at least that is how I have felt. In Ireland, we don't get any domestic help. So you are expected to do your house chores yourself. You are tired, feeling weak, and still in aches and pains. Then your children are asking you one question after the other:

Mommy where is my uniform cardigan?

Mommy, what is the spelling of participate?

Mommy, Aliza is pulling my hair!!!

And the list goes on...

Not to forget the baby crying in the middle of the night. When the older troublesome kids sleep the baby is wide awake expecting to play at 3am in the morning. What do I do? Believe me that time I feel like banging my head on the wall.

Aaahhh the bliss of motherhood.

But then the sweet fragrance of babies cannot be compared.

The kiss of your five-year-old daughter when she whispers in your ear "I missed you, Mommy when you were in the hospital."

Or your eight-year-old boy being all responsible and ready to carry his baby sister in his arms carefully.

The joys of motherhood cannot be replaced but then again it is a very tough job. The toughest as there is no break. But the sad part is when we get older we forget the sacrifices our mother made when we were young. We only realize when we become a mother ourselves. I have my hands full with only three children and in our generation our mothers had many more children.

So young unmarried ladies out there – go to your mothers and help them out.

As for young mothers – my heart goes out to you. I know what you are all going through.