Maternity Leave Just For Me

A maternity leave is generally a designated time for a new mother to rest and recover from pregnancy and heal from delivery. The time is also intended to get aquatinted with your new baby and form a deeper bond with them. In theory, you return to the world ready to hit the ground running... but in reality most of us return exhausted, still trying to navigate new schedules and routines, balance work and an arduous pumping schedule. I recall at the end of every maternity leave with our boys, after the boys went off to daycare and my husband went back to work... wishing I had a maternity leave just for myself to recover from my maternity leave.

The last six months have been filled with learning to rest (this is harder than it sounds), digging deep into what drives me personally and professionally, figuring our who I am in this season of life, what I enjoy, and how I can incorporate more of those things into my next venture. Recently talking to a sweet friend (and super human mama of 4 little ones) about how restorative and wonderful this time has been she exclaimed "it's like you got a maternity leave without having to have a new baby!"

YES! A time to recover from the beautiful (and yet physically and mentally tolling) time having babies, staying up all night with newborns, constant supervision of toddlers, and keeping up with the energy of preschoolers and young children. A time to get re-acquainted with myself and form new routines for the next season of life. We often joke that my time off is "temporary retirement" but I think a "maternity leave just for me" is probably more accurate. This time, I might just come back actually ready to hit the ground running!