First off, thank you for your excitement for Kendall and I to come back from maternity leave. It has taken a little while for me (I can’t speak for Kendall) to get back in the swing of things. I’ve learned that having a newborn brings its own amount of adjustments including admitting when extra endeavors seem like “too much.” I am grateful for family and friends that remind me to not over-do it and to keep my main focus on myself and my little one.
With that said, let’s talk about motherhood. I am so happy to be feeling more normal and less overwhelmed by the thought of anything added onto my plate besides just managing life with a newborn. I will share the birth story in a future post but for now I will tell you it was pretty straightforward. My pregnancy and Koralyn’s birth were fairly textbook and I am extremely grateful for that. My challenges arose in the days following the birth of Koralyn which will be a blog post for another day. It was a learning curve and it’s true when they say “nothing truly prepares you for motherhood” no matter how many blog post articles I skimmed, videos I watched, books I read, or accounts I followed on the topic… pregnancy, birth, and postpartum are so different and personal for everyone. One thing I think has been done well in more recent years is ACTUALLY talking about those differences so that mothers can also find some solidarity. There is guaranteed to be some story somewhere that parallels their experience even if it’s not exact. Motherhood has its pros and cons but more than anything, I am simply honored to be Koralyn’s mom and that is all that truly matters.
My work-life balance is also coming back slowly. I am allowing myself to transition properly, or atleast I am trying to. Thankfully my coworkers and company also give me grace which is a support that I will never take for granted. I work from home half days on Monday and Friday which has helped me ease back into the full days Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. Koralyn is with family and friends and I try not to overthink the rest (easier said than done with a postpartum brain). I have to say, trying to keep her on a “schedule” is laughable but for an almost 4 month old she is managing well and thankfully I am getting some solid sleep. I know, that seems like a very vague report on how life is currently going. If there is something more specific you’d like me to blog about, please let me know and I’d be happy to.
For now, I will leave you with this sweet photo from Koralyn’s newborn photoshoot (when she was only 7 days fresh).
Photo credit: Bailey Erickson Photography
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