How has being pregnant/having a baby changed your personality?

With pregnancy/baby no.1 it 'mellowed' me. I was quite 'hard faced' so to speak and rarely let people in on my feelings etc. But being pregnant and having my litt;e girl changed all that and made me weaker. (in a good way)

This time round i think its 'hardened' me up again. We have had a difficult pregnancy and also faced the prospect at one point that we may have lost her. Iv got SPD and faced various problems in the last few weeks so i def think that has contributed to my latest personality change.

I also think sometimes that other factors have an impact on it, such as family and how life changes in general.....

over to you ....

I think it has made me less confident in some ways, as my social life has really shrunk and I don't have so much in common with my old friends any more. I also find I put a lot of pressure on myself regarding parenting.

But in other ways, it has made me more independent as the only things that really matter now are my husband and my son - and the one on the way!

As odd as it sounds i feel exactly the same.....When i had no.1 i lost most of my confidence and then rebuilt it slowly and eventually fully by the time i returned to work. This time i feel like the same has happened again.

In this pregnancy im sticking up for myself alot more. I work for my parents and if my mum says something I dont agree with I will let her know same with my dad, I tell him a few home truths. I used to let people walk all over me but not anymore. I used to have a friend that took advantage of me all the time and I told her a few months ago I had had enough of being used as a shoulder for all her problems but when I needed a friend she was never there for me, prime example was after I had major surgery my friend who lived in Scotland saw me 4 times in a few months and this so called friend who lived up the road didnt visit me once. We are no longer friends, you dont need friends like that.

Im sounding like a right cow but honestly im not, im just more asertive

I lost a lot of confidence after my first b/c had been working in London and really lost touch with many of my pre-baby friends so felt like I was starting again really, as well as having a v critical MIL & SIL and H not really standing up for me.  things got better tho as I made friends.  second pg I found I was much more emotional but at the same time a lot more confident, she was a harder baby in a lot of ways but I dealt with it better b/c I was confident about the basics.

Having Zoe has really chilled me out - ok, I'm never going to be a relaxed person and I'm still a control freak but nothing like to the extent I used to be.

I also find that I'm much more confident in myself as I think I've found something that has come naturally to me.  I finally feel as though I'm being what I wanted to be and am happy with that.

I think I've become more relaxed about things, s long as my son's OK life is good. Work stresses me out alot less too - after seeing how stressed the midwives and doctors were at my son's birth I realised that it is alot more stressful to have a mum and baby's life in your hands than worry because I can't get a sodding tooth out!

id also say this pregnant has been like drinking TRUTH poison! lol

I don't think I fully know the answer yet, because I haven't quite reached the "me" I think I will be. Pregnancy and particularly motherhood has completely broken me right down to the core, exposed every little quirk, foible, fault and value, and started again from scratch. I have never before addressed so many things about myself, or analysed myself quite so much.

I think (hope) I'm less of a perfectionist. I'm still a complete control freak, but I'm aware of it now rather than in denial. I am nowhere near as confident as I used to be, but I am more assertive when it comes to my son (I have been known to throw med students out of hospital rooms...) I'm quieter and more self-conscious than before, but I'm also more inclined to talk to people and open up.

I hope to get the confidence back eventually, and maybe some self-esteem along with it.

WSFM said - I'm not at the end of the journey yet, plus having been pregnant/recovering/trying for five long years now I don't even know who I would have been anyway!

I do know that having S around relaxes me - I'm more likely to relax my standards and 'shoulds' around her, and I'm happier now overall.

Definitely what SM said,there's nothing like pregnancy and birth to make you wake up to yourself.

So far I'd say it's made me more confident and more relaxed.  I always loved my job and felt that it was what I was good at, but I really feel like I'm doing an OK job as a Mum so far, and I'm really enjoying it.  My social circle has expanded and I've made a couple of really good new friends - people I already knew but we ended up having babies at the same time and have become really close.  I'm looking forward to getting back to work... I'd like it if we could afford for me to do less hours but I think that 3 days in the office will probably be good for me.  I feel like I have additional focus to my life, it's like this is what I was meant to do and that I can be me, not have to be who others want me to be (although I think I've been coming to this realisation over recent years, so perhaps not all down to having G).

Wow, what a good thread, I really hadn't thought about this until now, and it's so nice to realise what a positive impact George has had on me so far.  Ask me again when he's a naughty toddler or a stroppy teenager

Definitely more assertive. Not so much with people in general, as thats never really been an issue (), but more with family.
The ILs have always, in one way or another, heard my true feelings on things, but my parents are another matter. Since O has been in the picture its as if I've been cleared of the lurgy with them - they're forever calling/emailing and even (my mum anyway)visiting us . Its all totally false and utter crap as they just want to get thier grubby mitts on O. Whereas before I'd try the nicey nicey approach with them, now I really can't be bothered with it all and just tell them outright what I think - and that applies to everything. They REALLY don't like that. At all.

I would have never had the balls to stand my ground on so many issues with them before, but I seem to have completely lost any inhibition on that front since O came along!

I am much friendlier to others. I used to clam up in a situation with people who I had not met before, but now I'm much more open and chatty. I'm quite proud of myself for this.

I find it easier to talk to people, so it has made me relaxed and more sociable in a way.

I find I have more patience with people in general as I am used to taking things more slowly, especially now I have 2 instead of 1! I'm also a lot more organised and plan ahead now, rather than doing as and when.

I am much more paranoid about my body image though (which I never used to be). I'm starting kickboxing again next week and I am really focused on getting back in shape as I hate the drastic changes having a baby has done to my body. For some reason I'm finding it really hard to deal with this time round!

With No1 i lost all confidence in myself and became very meek and yeilded to everyone else's opnion (very unlike me), i became quiet and pretty much the opposite of the strong confident loud girl I once was. However i did 'find' me again eventually. this time round i just feel like a lunatic, but i know in the future that should change.

gem x