Its a 24/7 kind of job

Before I had Zak, I worked fulltime, 9-5, Monday to Friday. At the time I thought that was a lot.

God was I wrong.

I was working 37 (at a push) 40 hours per week. I would come home, put my feet up, go to the gym, go for dinner, all without having to worry about anything or anyone. I even used to get the whole weekend to myself!! I could have a lie in on a Sunday morning!! I could do what I wanted when I wanted.

I definitely was not grateful enough of all of these things before Zak arrived. Without a doubt the most drastic change in your life when you become a parent is the sudden lack of 'time off.'

Overnight everything changed and I was required 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Quite frankly it made my poxy fulltime job look like a walk in the friggin park. I really started to question why on earth people signed up for this job? I mean, firstly there's no pay seriously £0, nothing. Secondly, there's no holiday - wtf! Thirdly, you are required to work all day and be on call ALL night. Something which if you're lucky tails off after a few months (if your not so lucky could last years) but when you're least expecting it will pop up randomly at 2.48am, 3.21am, 4.04am & 5.45am. A parents work is never done. I think you naturally get used to over time, at some point it just becomes the norm, you learn to cope with it and you instinctively put someone else before you.

However, there is one occasion where this just all goes out the window and something I've yet to find an answer for; when the parent is sick. When you really feel like shite. There's no calling in ill, "sorry kids, mummy isn't feeling too good, you're going to have to go it alone today"

Pffft! ain't going to happen.

I was hit with an unfortunate bout of food poisoning at the beginning of this week. To say I felt horrific would probably be pretty spot on. One thing was for sure, I was in no fit state to look after the kids, there was no way I was able to leave the house to do the school run and the thought of dealing with my boisterous 1 year old for more than 5 minutes left me wanting to curl into the foetal position and pretend I didn't exist. I'm so fortunate that Andy was able to take the day off and deal with everything for me that first day, I really don't know how I would have got through the day on my own. It was the first time in a long time that I remembered how full on being a parent is.

Lots of people refer to being a parent as a 24/7 job, and it is, it's just that. It's rewarding, challenging, testing, intriguing, emotional and tiring. And I love my job as the boys mother, it's the best job I've ever done. But. Maybe sometimes it would be nice to clock off, take a step back and have a breather, because more than anything parenting is completely relentless.

It's a job for a lifetime.