There are few things more exciting than having your first baby. Sentinel journalist Catherine Ball, aged 29, who lives in Newcastle, gave birth to Sophie, at 3.35pm on Friday, March 27. She is sharing her experiences in a weekly blog...

Since becoming a mum, there are a whole host of things that drive me crazy that I wouldn't have cared less about before.

Top of the list are people who park in the parent and child spaces at supermarkets when they don't have any under-fives in the car.

The spaces at Asda in Wolstanton say you can park there if you have a child under 12 in the car but why would an able-bodied 11-year-old need to be so near the supermarket?

No wonder child obesity is so bad – it would probably do them the world of good to walk from a space as far away as possible. The reason I want the space is for the extra room at the sides for getting Sophie's car seat in and out and setting up her pushchair. But I hardly ever manage to find one of these elusive spaces because they are clogged up with the sort of lazy people who would park in disabled spaces if they thought they could avoid the fine.

Next on the list follows a similar theme – fit and healthy people who fill up lifts leaving those in wheelchairs or with prams/ pushchairs to wait for the next one.

Almost every shopping trip takes twice as long now because it takes ages just to find the lifts in most stores and then when you do they're usually stuffed to the brim with people perfectly capable of taking the stairs.

Another thing that has me tearing my hair out in frustration is this obsession with baby girls wearing pink. I love pink but it annoys me that unless Sophie is decked out in the colour from top-to-toe, people assume she's a boy.

The other day she was wearing a pink T-shirt but because it was teamed with a pair of blue jeans – surely they're unisex?!? - a passer-by wanted to know what HIS name was.

And last but by no means least I get annoyed by people thinking I spend all day lazing on the coach watching daytime TV.

My husband for one thinks that maternity leave is just one long Jeremy Kyle marathon. I absolutely adore looking after Sophie and yes sometimes it is good fun, but it can also be pretty hard work.

She may weigh less than 13 lbs but my baby is the toughest boss I've ever had – there's no clocking off and she thinks nothing of screaming at me if her demands aren't met immediately day and night.

I can't wait to leave him in charge for a full day - I reckon within two hours he'll be on the phone begging me to come home and relieve him or at least show him where the lifts are in Debenhams.