In the midst of expanding bellies, parenting classes, trips to the hospital, reorganized priorities and detailed discussions about formula, those closest to you who don't have children may begin to feel left out. Even your best friends may feel like you're now divided into separate worlds: those with children and those without. Given your now-different lifestyles and the presence of Baby – who takes up quite a bit of space and time – is there room for these old friendships?

"While it's certainly true that life changes radically when you have a child, there's absolutely zero need for these precious friendships to come to an end," says Rachel Greene Baldino, a therapist and author of The New Age Guide to Loving Simply: Eliminating Drama >From Your Intimate Relationships (New Age Dimensions, 2005). "We all need and benefit from having a wide variety of friendships in our lives."

Marlynn Schotland and her husband enjoy both a close-knit group of friends and a 10-month-old son. "Within our group of friends we have one childless couple who definitely don't ever plan on having children, and I have one friend who, in her own words, 'hates kids,' especially babies," Schotland says. "We remain close to these friends, I believe, out of a mutual respect for each of our chosen lifestyles."

While relationships between those with children and those without are definitely possible, they may take a different approach and even a new set of game rules. So Schotland has devised a list of "Do's" and "Don'ts" from her own personal experience:

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