This blog is a little detour from my motherhood journey to say thank you to all of those people who have written me to tell me how inspirational I have been to them and how brave I am.

With great risk comes great reward. I’m not sure who said that originally but I read it a long time ago and it stuck. Another saying that gives me the little push I sometimes need: Leap and the net will appear. And another favourite – this one made up of 10 x 2 letter words: If it is to be, it is up to me!

Life is about taking chances and living it to your fullest potential. It is truly amazing what you can achieve when you set your mind to it. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. You’re only limited by yourself. So believe in yourself. Things we’ve all read hundreds of times, but worth repeating and revisiting.

I repeat them to myself in one form or another every day. I need to – particularly now because one of those big decisions I made means that I am now entirely responsible for someone else’s life. How awesome is that?

So thank you. To all of the obvious people (family, friends, doctors) and to those of you who I am surprised but happy are reading along with me and have so far enjoyed my journey to motherhood. The best is yet to come … of that I’m sure!