Category: Maternity Leave

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Moms Who Lunch

Day 37:

We got to spend today with another special mom on maternity leave – my cousin and her adorable mini-me and toddler. Before lunch we had a moment in the Barnes and Noble bathroom that would have really stressed out the pre-third baby version of myself.

Imagine this scene:  Baby J was screaming his head off on the changing table as yet again he blew out his diaper.  Poop.was.everywhere. My cousin’s daughter was screaming in her stroller while my cousin was helping her toddler who was touching everything while in the bathroom stall.  It was chaos. An older woman entered the bathroom circus, sidestepping the stroller ( we had taken up the entire bathroom) and kindly told us that these days go by fast ( see previous post).

After the cacophony, I popped baby back in the carrier and browsed books while he nursed and we then enjoyed a SIT DOWN lunch ( with appetizers and all) while both babies napped peacefully and we enjoyed adult conversation. My mom even popped by and joined us for lunch.  It was loud and a little messy to start but it really was a good day.

Positive Thought of the Day: Thankful that baby J is an overall easygoing baby who doesn’t mind car rides so that we can continue going on adventures together. Continuing to enjoy the life’s moments.

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Enjoying the Moments

Day 36:

It was another busy whirlwind weekend filled with events and outdoor time ( Trunk or Treat, Friday Night Lights, parks and a fall festival with the kids) as the sun finally came out for us Texans. There is nothing more perfect to me than nice cool weather when the sun is shining. We took full advantage this past weekend and even snuck in some adult time downtown.

So this Monday, I spent the day focused on time with baby without even getting out of our jammies. Even though I still have 5 weeks left of maternity leave, I am starting to get anxious because time is literally flying by and the baby is changing daily. It’s amazing to me how I can go to work and up to  6 or 7 meetings a day, and a 30 minute meeting can sometimes seems to last forever, but when I’m at home the day flies by. Besides snuggling, feeding, and changing the baby—the only other things we did today were laundry (this is a daily event, take a beautiful morning walk, and a little catch up on some guilty pleasure television). It was a perfect day.

Positive Thought of the Day: That I am still at home with baby, as many women would have had to return to work by now.

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Golfing For a Cause

Day 32:

Well, I can say that my golf game has returned to my pre-pregnancy state: not very good. Happy to report that I played 18 pain free holes (rocking some maternity pants, no less) and we used several of my shots (thank goodness for scramble formats). I am hoping to get in a few lessons before returning to work because I want to spend more of 2019 playing golf.

Positive Thought of the Day: Glad to see many people out there playing in support of breast cancer research.

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Work Travel Part 2

Day 28- 29:

I traveled for work this past week for a meeting of all the leaders in my company. Yes, I voluntarily chose to take time away from my newborn and participate in an executive level meeting that was good for my career. There are many who may judge me for this, and I even second guessed myself once or twice. Many have asked- and yes, I believe it was worth it.

First, as I mentioned before my support system is incredible and I had zero concerns with leaving baby with my husband. On a side note, it was amazing to me how many men asked me or just assumed that it was “grandma” watching the baby. Don’t forget I am married to a boss dad, too! My two biggest concerns in preparation for this meeting were the health of myself and baby ( in which case I would have cancelled) and his ability to take a bottle ( which has been a non-issue), so I went into the meeting with zero qualms about the baby.

Almost halfway through maternity leave, I felt like I was experiencing some brain atrophy from lack of use of my dura matter. The meeting jumpstarted my brain a bit and got my neurons firing again. Selfishly, it was a good awakening of my almost dormant career thoughts during my leave as much of the networking involved conversations about future roles, career, and overall company direction. I believe attending the meeting allowed others to see me as a strong and committed (I mean, I did attend while after just having a baby, via C-section no less) and gave me a peak into executive leadership at my company which was a great learning experience.

Yes, I missed snuggling baby and having our special time together, so I ate/drank those feelings with room service and a few drinks at the hotel bar. Joking aside, the meeting also gave me a new appreciation for the time left with baby and I will continue to make the most of it while I can as I have plenty of time to work when I return.

Positive Thought of the Day: Direct flights that minimize my time away from the family. These are few and far between for us, so it was nice to only have to spend one night away from the family but be in meetings for two days.

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On Bottles and Breastfeeding

Day 16:

Baby is now 3 weeks old. This is the time when research shows it is best to introduce a breastfed baby to a bottle. According to experts, you don’t want to do it too soon because you want to make sure baby has developed good breastfeeding habits or too late and it can be difficult for some babies to adjust. With babies 1 & 2, I followed this rule precisely like a good millennial mom who reads everything on the internet ( just kidding, I’m debatably a millennial and only a good mom sometimes). However, baby #3 had low blood sugar and I was super sick from the anesthesia and couldn’t breastfeed him for several hours so we ended up having to introduce formula and a bottle early on. The nurse seemed nervous to ask if it was okay to supplement with formula. Make sure my baby is getting nutrients that he needs—yes, I’m okay with it.

I breastfed, although not exclusively, with the first two babies for 9 and 6 months. Returning to work and pumping was HARD, even though I wasn’t in heavy travel roles and once I did start travelling again it really impacted my ability to pump regularly. My supply dropped during a trip to Europe when I fried the plug to my pump because I failed to take into account voltage conversion (science in everyday life.. something I try and point out to the girls whenever I can, but apparently failed to consider pre-baby). This was before readily available Amazon and I had no way to get new pump parts in time, so I hand expressed for the remainder of that trip. It is not easy to pump- especially out of the comfort of your house so I commend all moms committed to it. To moms pumping in bathroom stalls, cars, airplanes, cubes, or in other countries with a malfunctioning pump.. I feel you!

While I believe in the benefits of breastfeeding, as a working mom who is set to travel upon my first week returning from leave- I have decided that convenience, two other kids, and a significant career win out over the stress of pumping regularly and keeping up my milk supply which has always been difficult for me. Baby made the decision a little easier since he is a BEAST and wants to nurse non-stop which would have been a deal breaker for this on the go mom. Fortunately, baby switches incredibly easily between bottle and breast and doesn’t seem to have a preference. On the breastfeeding vs formula feeding spectrum, I’ve always been somewhere in between since I supplemented with both but admittedly I’m a little anxious about this decision to discontinue breastfeeding once I return to work. My anxiety isn’t so much around judgement from other mamas (why do we do that?), but maybe my advanced feelings of missing out on the incredible bonding experience between mother and child. Until then, I’ll enjoy breastfeeding as much as I can and attempt to stockpile breastmilk for the next 9 weeks. Unfortunately, this feels like a zero sum game because this guy doesn’t let me save much!

Positive Thought of the Day: Thankful for all the support on the new blog. Am excited to see where this goes. I have lots of ideas for future posts, stay tuned!

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Gone for 60 Days

Maternity Leave: Day 1

Decided I wanted to document how I am spending my 60 days of maternity leave because I want to be intentional about how I am spending my (last) leave ever. As a very ambitious working mom, I rarely have a moment to go to the restroom, do my hair, or sometimes even eat so reflecting on life and taking some time for me is an intention I set at the start of this leave. I am not sure yet if this will even get off the ground or what shape it will take, so bear with me on this whim.  I am however the planner and creator of to do lists and dogged pursuer of checking things off said list so I have ambitious hopes of perhaps creating a blog- but that would take more ambition than I have on Day 1 ( still heavily medicated post-C section) can handle. So we’ll start with the intention to document and journal each day of my leave. [Edit: on Day 14 I got my blog up and running] and am now back posting the first two weeks that I wrote in word and late nights in Notes on my phone].

Reflections: Newborns are precious, but at this state a little bit boring. Baby is a healthy boy, and he is hungry. Since I’m breastfeeding this means I spend a lot of time just sitting, staring, and thinking and then came up with this idea to start the blog. But it also means I have been playing around on my phone a lot and sigh, been checking my work email despite a promise to myself not to. I did  exhibit restraint on replying to emails because of my drug induced state. Technology today makes it too easy to stay connected. I planned to recharge during this maternity leave and disconnect but we will see. During my last two maternity leaves, I turned off my email on my phone but I have not reached that point yet. Perhaps, because I’ve reached a point in my career where my role is much more significant.. am finding it hard to completely turn off.

Positive Thought(s) of the Day:  A positive outlook has always been important to me, so I plan to close every post with a positive thought of the day, no matter how small.  Today I am enjoying the comforts of home and being cared for- the house is clean, the girls are entertained, and dinner is cooked. I am beyond lucky to have family close and far willing to chip in.  I’m also enjoying being on paid leave for the next 12 weeks ( a policy that just went into effect THIS year at work), something less than 15% of women in the private sector don’t have the benefit of in the United States. I’m also very thankful that even though Hubs works for a small company, he is afforded 2 weeks of paternal leave to help out while I recover.

See below for the little face that was my muse in starting this blog:

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