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Image / Self / Parenthood
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SELF

‘I was not prepared for how abandoned by friends I would feel after having a baby’


Audio
by Sophie White
15th May 2021

Read time: 7 mins

Getty

"Some friendships don’t survive the baby bomb and perhaps that says more about where the relationship was at before the positive pregnancy test."

When you have children your friends matter more than ever – but some friendships just don’t survive the baby-quake, writes Sophie White.

“Nothing’s going to change,” we cling to this reassuring mantra as our bellies swell and our hearts quake with the magnitude of what’s coming. “Everything changes,” I announced flatly, some years into this baby-making game. “Literally nothing is the same.” When I brought my firstborn home from the hospital, I settled in for a bit of my hitherto favourite light entertainment, Law & Order: SVU. The opening act corpse-discovery had barely finished when I had...

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