We have had the most beautiful fall weather this year! The fall colors are so vibrant, it has been sunny and warm, and I can’t believe that tomorrow I’ll be trading in my running shorts and shoes for dresses and heels as I go back to work from maternity leave.
We are really lucky in the sense that our employers both have good parental leave packages. Through Boston Scientific, I got 12 weeks fully paid, and through the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension/State of Minnesota, Erik got 7 weeks of fully paid leave. Let me tell you, these weeks flew by!
This maternity leave has not played out how I expected it to when I was still pregnant with Charlotte. I blissfully imagined the fist 7 weeks being really quiet as Erik, Charlotte and I adjusted to life as a family of four. We were still planning on bringing Emily to daycare every day in order to keep her routine as normal as possible, which would leave the two of us completely open and available for managing through the tired life of parents of a newborn.
The first four weeks went really great. Charlotte is a really easy baby! Even the overnights were manageable, as she only woke up twice a night to eat, once at 1:30am and once at 4:30am. Like we did with Emily, our routine for overnights were that I’d feed Charlotte, then wake up Erik to change her diaper and put her back to bed. This worked really well for us as we both had a role to play overnight (no resentment!), and this way neither of us were awake for an extended period of time. We really felt like we got enough rest where we weren’t walking zombies during the day. We would get out for walks every day, Erik got his training runs in (he was training for the Twin Cities 10 Mile), and we went to lunch or happy hours multiple times per week. I was even cleared to start running 3.5 weeks postpartum (perks of running through the entire pregnancy!), and with my husband home to be with Charlotte, I was able to get outside and start my slow return to running! I hate to even say this out loud, but we actually felt like we were on vacation, rather than parental leave.
Four weeks into leave is where life started getting really stressful. This is when Emily ended up in the hospital with a concussion after knocking her two front teeth out at daycare. Then, exactly one week later, to the hour, I received a phone call that my father had a near-fatal heart attack. My dad lives in Iowa, and since he was in the ICU and we really didn’t know many details, I headed down to the hospital and left Erik with the girls for a few days. So, five weeks into maternity leave, when I’m supposed to be home bonding with my new baby girl, I was spending multiple days away from the family. But, you do what you have to do in times like these! My husband is a total champ and he managed everything just fine back at home by himself (of course he did!). The second time I went down we actually brought the kids, so although I spent the full days at the hospital, I was at least available to help get the kids to bed (putting two kids to bed by yourself is hard, ha!) and help with the overnight feedings for Charlotte. My dad was in the hospital for 12 days, and is now doing much better at home. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, 10 weeks into leave I received a call from my mom at 5:45am who had been up since 2am with horrible stomach and back pains. Four days in the hospital later, she is now back home after getting her gallbladder removed. Over the last week I tried to do ALL THE FUN THINGS that I ended up missing the opportunity to do with my hectic life over the last 6 weeks.
I was able to log about 160 miles of running over the course of the last three months, and I am feeling good about where I am at fitness-wise post-pregnancy. I’ve spent hours and hours doing core work and doing my physical therapy exercises, opted for the treadmill even though it is gorgeous outside as you’re not supposed to run with an infant younger than 4 months in the Bob Running Stroller, and I have really tried to stick to the training my coach is scheduling for me. I’ve missed a few runs, but in totality, I have really been consistent with logging my miles, even with the craziness of 4 hospital visits in 10 weeks, having an infant and having to opt for the treadmill for all weekday runs.
As much as I wish I could stay on leave forever, I am looking forward to getting a routine back when it comes to my morning runs, work, and evenings with the family. I’ll go back to working for the weekends, and to be honest, I do miss my coworkers and the feeling of professional accomplishment. So, tomorrow marks a new chapter, an opportunity to set a new routine, and a good opportunity to refocus on nutrition and sleep!
Because I’m a glass half full kind of person, here are some highlights from this crazy maternity leave:
- I got the opportunity to bond with my siblings. We have always been really close, but work, kids, and life has made it harder to get to spend real quality time together lately. This gave us a chance to all spend a lot of time together and really realize we miss each other!
- I got to focus on nothing else besides family. We are so distracted in our day-to-day, but for the last three months, I was able to dedicate my time to my children, my husband, my siblings, and my parents. Feeling like you are completely present in the minute feels so good, and I’m realizing that I rarely feel that way when I’m coming home from my day at work. I’m always thinking about 1,000 different things, but for the last 12 weeks, nothing else clouded my time with my family.
- Emily got to see both my mom and dad in the hospital, which helped her get over her hospital trauma from her concussion. She got to see that you can go into a hospital, be brave, come out of the hospital, and everything is ok. She still has some trauma from that whole experience, but I do think this helped!
- We were reminded that you can’t take life too seriously, and you certainly can’t take anyone in your life for granted. Your life can change in the blink of an eye, so tell people you love them, call your parents, and keep your friends and family close!
