Today is my last
official day of maternity leave. I have zero desire to go back to work. All I want to do is stay at home and enjoy my baby girl. I can't believe how much she has grown in these 7 weeks that she's been with us. These past 7 weeks have been amazing. Starting with the first hour we were being admitted to the hospital on the evening of March 8th. I wish I could stay home with Hadley baby but
hopefully when I go back to work I will remember why I do what I do and will be energized in that setting again...ugh I'm dreading tomorrow morning. OK but enough of my rants, here's what I've learned these past 7 weeks.
1. God's plan is always Greater just like He promised in Jeremiah 29:11 "I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out- plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for." I never thought I would have to go through the emotional and physical challenges of having a baby that had to go straight to the NICU after delivery. I never had that chance to instantly bond with her like most births allow. I lived my whole life hearing my mom & dad tell me about how I was in the NICU for a couple of weeks and it never crossed my mind that that could happen to my baby. Despite the crazy hormones the day of and the days after the birth, it was an emotional struggle to wake up without our baby in our room. Things didn't go as I planned them and that is perfect. Why? Because God taught us patience during this time. He taught us how to overcome. We were so nervous to take her home after the challenges we had in the hospital but we did it & we figured it out & we love our family of three and wouldn't have it any other way. Through that experience, Travis & I grew together. We have always been a team but now we are THE team. It's us. He and I and Hadley.
forever. I'm not saying that we wouldn't have experienced this any other way but I wouldn't change a thing.
I love how God puts us in situations when we least expect it in order to see how we overcome it and to show us that we CAN overcome anything and be made stronger in any circumstance.
{{Week 1}}
2. I'm protected. There have been times where Hadley is SO hungry in the matter of seconds...she will go from passed out and snoring to HOLY COW FEED ME RIGHT THIS SECOND OR ELSE.........BOOM! and the screaming begins.. my response is always "OK baby I need to go heat up the bottle..don't worry, mom will always have food for you". It's funny, when she knows i'm walking over towards the warmer she will stop crying...until the warmer light clicks off and then I have about 0.3 seconds until..HOLY COW FEED ME!!!! haha I'll sit down, give her the bottle, watch her engulf the thing and tell her "see I've got it covered just trust mom." I was thinking about this one day as I was feeding her...and how i'm sure that's how God looks down at us. We think we have to worry about a, b, and c when really we just prematurely FREAK OUT about something (no? that's just me...yea..right!) and God is sitting up in Heaven saying "C'mon my daughter, calm down, I've got it covered. Let me do what I do best." He's got our backs. We're protected from whatever we are scared of.
He knows what we need, He planned what we're going to do, and He will protect us and deliver His promise....so we DO NOT need to have a panic attack when OH MY GOSH something comes up and we just don't know what to do.
We're not supposed to know what to do all the time, or else we wouldn't need God.
{{Getting used to her home. Week 2.}}
3. I love my husband. Enough said. Watching him with our daughter...priceless.
{{Week 6. Resurrection Sunday.}}
4. Officer training school was the best pre-newborn preparation ever. Become superwoman on less than 3 or 4 hours of sleep every night? no problem. Eat an entire meal in under 5 minutes? nailed it. Multitask as much as possible? got that one in the bag. Plan out an entire evening while taking the shortest bathroom break humanly possible? Thank you officer training school.
{{Week 3. Family dinner at our house.}}
5. Breastfeeding is God's way to give a new mom a few minutes of peace and serenity. If it's pumping or nursing, as much as a hassle pumping is, they both give 15 minutes of peace and quiet. A time to unwind, to catch up on reading the Bible, or blogs. I didn't think I would make it 7 weeks...but here I am, 7 weeks later....pretty much dreading having to figure out pumping out work..but that's an entirely different subject that I don't need to write about haha unless it gets comical tomorrow...then i'll have to. Anyways, I wasn't really a fan of the idea of breastfeeding when I was pregnant...but now, I love it. Even the little things, God's got mommas on His mind and He makes sure we're covered.
{{Week 5. Moby Wrap is AMAZING.}}
Well....theres a quick 5 things I've learned. I've learned a lot more but I think 5 is a good place to stop. For that reason...and the fact that it's time to take that quick shower, plan my to-do list for the rest of the evening and spend this last night with my beautiful family before a crazy 5 days back to work.
{{Week 6. Smiling Hadley.}}
Adios peeps!
-M
{{Week 7 on her activity gym.}}
