Maternity Leave

Dear Mia,


I started writing a blog post on April 12th and it was going to detail how we spent our days together while I was on maternity leave.  This is how it began:

One of my favorite parts of the day is cuddling with you on the couch and watching The Price is Right.  We do this from 10:00 am to 11:00 am every day, just after I change your diaper and get you dressed for the day.  I wrap you up in a little fleece blanket so you're nice a cozy, recline our seat and settle in for must-see-TV.  Sometimes Oscar will jump up and cuddle with us on the footrest.  There's no better way to spend 60 minutes.


I've been home with you since the day you were born and it's been the most important six weeks of my life.


I've come to realize that one of the main purposes of maternity leave is to teach me that I cannot move at the speed of light anymore.  Life with you moves a lot slower than it did before you arrived.


Unfortunately I never found the time to finish this post and it sat unpublished in my blog drafts for months.  I'm going to try and finish it now because it's scary how faded those memories are, and I want to keep those memories alive.  So here it is:


Our day would start at 5:00am when you would wake up hungry for your morning bottle.  Your cries would rouse me from my sleep and we'd head to the kitchen together where I'd make your bottle.  You'd eat like a champ and then I would change your diaper and pump for your next meal.  While I pumped you would fall asleep laying next to me on the couch.  When I was done we'd both go back to bed until you woke again at 9:00am.  The cycle repeated at 9:00am with a bottle, diaper change and pumping, followed by an outfit change for you.  Then we'd return to the couch for the hour of TV watching that I detailed above.


You'd inevitably fall asleep again from about 10:30am to Noon.  I'd spend most of that time showering and getting ready for the day.  Sometimes I'd put laundry away or run the vacuum, too.  You woke up to eat again at 12pm and then we'd sit with your Dad (who came home every day for lunch during my leave) from 12:15-12:45pm.  After he left I'd have lunch and pump while you took another small nap.


By 2:00pm we were both ready to get out of the house.  Sometimes we'd head out to the grocery store or run errands, and other days we'd go for a short walk around the neighborhood.  I was still having some pain from the c-section so our outings were always pretty brief.


You would eat again at 3:00pm, whether we were home or not, and then I'd have to be home shortly after that to pump.  Sometimes (ok, once in a blue moon) I'd get dinner ready and your Dad and I would eat when he got home at 5:15pm.  There was more eating/diaper changing/pumping at 6:00pm, 9:00pm and 11:00pm.  Your Dad and I would also change you into your pajamas and give you a bath (3 times a week).  You would fall asleep right after your final feeding at 11:00pm and sleep like a champ until the next morning at 5:00am.


Mia, the time we spent at home together was priceless and I wouldn't trade those six weeks for the world.  I enjoyed each and every minute of our time together, and I'm so glad that I finally found the time to write about it.  I hope I can continue to blog and keep these kinds of memories alive.  I love you, nugget!


Love,
Momma