Manage expectations. Children can be a lot more stressful than many people anticipate. Plan for sleep interruptions and discuss with your partner how you might

Manage expectations. Children can be a lot more stressful than many people anticipate. Plan for sleep interruptions and discuss with your partner how you might manage sleep disruption so you both get some sleep rather than both of you getting next to none. Realize that nappies need to be changed a lot, you will get stains on your lush carpet and stuff will get broken. The amazing highlights you might already be imagining might make up 5-10% of the experience of having children - the other 90% ranges from the boring/mundane to the maddening/frustrating/despair inducing. Hopefully that 5% will outshine the rest, and for many people it will, but realize it won't be all peaches and cream. And be prepared for CHANGE. In your life, your partners life, and especially in your relationship. You live by a whole different set of rules now, and special time together (just you and your partner), let alone time to yourself, may become a distant memory for a few years. Your partners body will change, and may never see its pre-baby days, your sex life will be hit and miss for a long time, and there is in fact a whole lot of stuff that will never be the same again. Be prepared to accept and deal with this change, and learn to love it. Be realistic, and develop strategies to deal with the reality of having a second full-time job. I think this whole space is ripe for "lifehacker" style innovation, so go for it. Above all remember that it is not all about YOU anymore - it is about a little life you have created, and your happiness will no longer come from getting what you want on a daily basis, but from seeing this little life develop and flourish into a healthy and happy person. And good luck!