That week we also made new acquaintances through Sue C and Sophie. They had joined the NCT group in Frodsham and regularly went to coffee mornings at each other’s homes. The four of us went and I was introduced to yet another group of new mothers, mostly with careers that they intended to go back to. Once again I found I seemed to be the only one with a child of Dominic’s age who was not sleeping at night. Surely it was not just us? Were other people afraid to say they had bad times too? Everyone else appeared so capable and one lady was already expecting her second child when her first was not much older than mine! The nearest we got to intimacy or sex in our house was a cup of coffee at the same time! Later that day we called to see another friend of mine who had a son a year older than mine. I would never, ever want to wish difficulties on any parents but what a relief it was to hear that they too had problems, for example, their child refused to settle down for ages at bedtime! At least now we had one saving grace as Dominic, who had become addicted to his thumb, would soon drift off to sleep (even if not for long). This further convinced me that all the other parents, whom I did not know that well, were possibly not being so generous with the truth, yet my good friends did not mind being totally honest. Such thought processes re-fuelled my enthusiasm for parenthood again and I fought on with renewed optimism.
