A look back on my maternity leave

As I prepare to start back at work full time I thought I’d take a look back on my maternity leave.

I started my maternity leave on 1 July and I had about a week and a half before Elsie arrived. I caught up with friends, enjoyed the beauty safari for Sunderland Beauty Week and made sure everything was washed, packed and ready to go.

The first couple of weeks were a blur. I struggled with breastfeeding so Elsie and I stayed in hospital for just shy of a week.

I will talk about my breastfeeding journey and struggle in an upcoming blog post in more detail.

Steve had almost four weeks off with us and we needed that time as a little family to get settled into life with a newborn.

That first week Steve went back to work I knew I had to get us out of the house and into our own little routine.

I met my friend Anne-Marie and her little boy for lunch at intu Metrocentre and although I was nervous we had a lovely afternoon, Elsie was as good as gold.

Catch ups and coffee dates became a really regular occurrence at intu MetroCentre. It’s less than half an hour away door to door, it’s really accessible and baby friendly.

The baby room downstairs in Next is the perfect place to bottle or breastfeed your little ones comfortably with sofas and chairs, free WiFi, a large baby changing room and bottle warmers.

I would pop for petrol at nearby Asda as it’s pay at the pump and cheaper than our local petrol stations and then park up on the third floor of the multi storey car park so we could just wheel straight into the shopping centre.

My friend Farrah had told me to keep busy but keep some time free too so that’s exactly what I did.

At just seven weeks old Elsie and I had a taster swimming session and then I signed us up for Chapter 1 Water Babies lessons. Originally our swimming lessons were on a Friday afternoon but were moved to a Sunday which was ideal for us, as it meant Steve could do the majority of the lessons during my maternity leave for bonding time with Elsie and we’d stay with the same teacher and class once I went back to work.

On Thursday mornings it was baby sensory classes at Hartbeeps which we started when Elsie was just eight weeks old. We absolutely loved these sessions and I’d highly recommend it. During lockdown we did the at home sessions which were really good.

And for two terms we did soothing baby yoga in Newcastle on a Tuesday morning. This was a smaller and more intimate class and we both absolutely loved it. I felt like Elsie and I had some really quality bonding time, I got to do some gentle exercise and Elsie was always super content after our classes – I’d also highly recommend baby yoga.

We even had an Adventure Babies session and an online session during lockdown too.

Monday’s were housework days boring but necessary.

I’d usually meet up with family or friends once or twice during the week and keep a day free for playing at home and catching up with blog stuff.

I would’ve loved to have taken a full year off for maternity leave but by adding in annual leave and a flexi day I ended up having about 10 months off but honestly it’s gone by in the blink of an eye.

Before covid-19 swept across the globe I had so many lovely plans for the last month of my maternity leave that unfortunately we’ve not been unable to enjoy.

We never got our final Hartbeeps or yoga classes, or a chance to say goodbye to the other mam’s and babies or catch up with family and friends.

Those days out didn’t happen because of lockdown but once restrictions are lifted we will have some quality fun family time out and about across the North East.

Steve had taken a week off in April which was supposed to be spent having fun days out before Elsie was meant to start nursery on the Monday which was my last week off before returning to work full time.

He still had this week off, so we went for a walk every day and had lots of playtime with Elsie.

Steve also tackled the gardens and a massive ironing pile while I re-organised Elsie’s entire bedroom and packed up her older things ready for donation.

I did have a little sob at her tiny baby clothes – a pair of socks and scratch mittens had me reaching for the tissues. The realisation that she’d never be that tiny again or that we would have another baby hit me quite hard as well as worrying about going back to work in the middle of a pandemic.

I would definitely recommend signing up to some baby classes even during lockdown there’s plenty on offer digitally, it’s a great way to keep baby entertained, quality bonding time for you both and a chance to meet other new mam’s. It also breaks your week up.

I have loved the last 10 months of getting to grips with being a new mam, bonding with Elsie, enjoying classes and catching up with family and friends.

But I’ve also kept half an eye on work too.

I used my KIT days in the office and then from home to keep myself in the loop and support my team. Hopefully the transition back to working full time won’t be too much of a shock to the system.

In reality I had already started back at work to help my team because they were super busy due; so I helped with scheduling social media and video editing from home a few hours every day over a couple of weeks but I kept my last week completely work free.

Starting back at work is going to be really odd as I will be working from the kitchen table for the foreseeable and looking after Elsie as our nursery is closed.

Work have said they will be flexible and supportive and although I’m understandably anxious I’m trying to remain positive.

Really make the most of your maternity leave however long or short it is.

For us this will be the only time I’ll have maternity leave as we only want one child and I do think I’ve made the most of it.

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Have you got any tips or advice for starting back at work following maternity leave? Let me know in the comments below.

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Other related posts

Here’s how we found out we were expecting a baby – letting the cat out of the bag

Pregnancy diaries – testing for gestational diabetes

Here’s our experience of a hypnobirthing taster session

I ticked off most of to-do list thanks to the maternity VIP experience at JoJo Maman Bébé 

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