Great thread!!
If I wasn't at work, I'd post a much longer reply, but honestly I found the first 10 months so so hard!!! I had feeding probs from day one and massive amounts of guilt for putting DD on formula at six weeks. She was a terrible, terrible sleeper which certainly didn't help. It was really quite a blur!! Pre-baby I also thought that I'd be a confident, wonderful mother but the reality was much different!! And that was hard to deal with also.
Things settled down at around 10 months when DD started sleeping much better and I finally felt like I was (for the most part) on top of things.
While I always loved my precious girl, the love I feel for her now, and the bond we share, far outweighs anything I could have imagined. I'm proud that I survived the hard times, and now I can honestly say I love being a mum!!
I'm not too concerned about going for number 2 as I think that I will have more confidence this time (famous last words lol), and I will also be a lot more forgiving of myself if things don't go to plan. Not only that, but if #2 is a poor sleeper, I'll be getting help much earlier than 10 months old!!!!
