It is a lot like having your first child. You don't know what to expect, every talks about pajama drill and giving birth ( hell week) and you have no idea if you will be able to do it...
And then it happens ( emergency c-section / Lap RNY) and you think- oh- this is not so bad.. and then you get the tiredness ( pain / not enough protein / vitamins / screaming baby) and you keep thinking :
" 'This too shall pass".
Yes- nappy bags ( this time around filled with allowed food, always something to drink- in my case I go out with 3 litres of fluid because my family can't resist drinking my juice.. ( difficult to always gauge how much I'm actually having))..
But then the child grows up ( Hello scale my new friend, I've come to talk with you again) and you this time- blossom into something. And strange people ( and the familiar ones) compliment and make you blush all the time.
It is like giving birth and seeing your child grow, but this time, you see things-not through your child's eyes but through a thinner persons. Places you have not been able to go, stairs that no longer frighten you. And here all my previous ex-phats will agree- that tiredness that went right down to your soul that made every mundane task so difficult- is dissapearing like mist before the sun....
My bedtime is however very close to a 2 year olds. I get up with the sun ( in Cape Town this is 05:15 )but fade long before it sets(Cape Town about 21:00-yes you may come experience our fantastic summers-please come in Feb- best time of the year
.) By 8 I'm a zombie.