Here's something no one quite prepares you for: once you become a parent, you can't go back to your old self. You'll either meet a new version of yourself, or feel a little lost for a while. The new version isn't worse. It's just new.
It is a challenge at the start. You have to find yourself again, fall in love again, and learn how to sort out the arguments again — all on different ground. None of that means something has gone wrong. It means something is changing, which is exactly what was supposed to happen.
And this is true whether you're becoming a mother or a father. The instruction is the same and it's gentle: find yourself again. Not the old self — the one who's arriving now.