Babies Force You To Socialise

I will admit it, I am the reclusive type. I can go days, even weeks without talking to anyone except my partner and my mum. And I'm quite happy to do that, and my good friends know that because they don't hear from me it's not because I don't love them or treasure them, just that I am deep in hermit mode (and they know they must impose themselves!!) I know what you're thinking, why would anyone want to be friends with me?! I am a loyal type though, I have just a handful of close friends and that's all I need and want.

When I had Goo, everyone suddenly came out of the woodwork and people I barely know were giving me presents for the baby. I know people are generous when it comes to babies, but when people say "can I pop around I have a present for the baby" I just want to cringe. I used to semi-consciously invite pop-arounders in without offers of coffee, tea, biscuits and look harried, to give off the message that they couldn't hang around. Those people that come over with no warning, I tend to lie and tell them I'm on my way out. Now, I sort of feel obligated to do all of this because they themselves have gone to so much effort.

Then there are the people that say "let me know when you're ready and I'll pop over" which is fabulous, except now that he's 10 weeks old I am starting to feel that the time has come to address this.

Having a baby has created so many new awkward social situations, where down the street a casual 'hello' sufficed, now I am fielding questions about his sleep patterns, his 'good'ness and how I'm feeling, genuinely. I don't know how to answer these. I am usually honest and say how he's such a great sleeper, I'm feeling great, as long as you get sleep at night you can face anything, blah blah blah... to which people either give 'advice' (see a previous post on unsolicited advice) or give a pregnant pause which I inevitably awkwardly fill with too much information. The conversation ends "good to see you!" followed by uncomfortable nods as you pass that person 3 more times in the supermarket.

I know nobody's perfect, but when you're someone who shuns attention and wants to be relatively incognito in a small town without any privacy, babies are definitely gonna force you to face your fears and discomfort.

That, or you can continue on your merry way and just be a total bitch. But you're gonna stare at those hand knitted booties and I bet you, you'll be haunted by the guilt for the person who made them.