Reflections: My First Mother’s Day

“Wait until you’re a mother and then you’ll understand the true meaning of love” — words my mom often uttered throughout my childhood. I never really knew what she meant until now. You see, my entire life changed on March 10th, 2017 at 4:29 pm. After hours of labour and anticipation, the tiniest and most precious human was gently placed on my chest. Overwhelmed with emotion, I dried the tears streaming down my face so I could get a good look at our little L. He gazed up at me with his wide eyes (a moment I’ll never forget) and we stared at each other as we shared our very first hug — one that lasted almost an hour. I couldn’t believe it. I had spent all these months hugging him from the outside via my ginormous belly and finally had a chance to give him the real hug I’d been dreaming of for months…

Although it’s only been 9 weeks since his birth, I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on my motherhood journey thus far thanks to my epically long breastfeeding sessions. This being my very first Mother’s Day, I thought it would be a good time to share some of my reflections…

It takes a village. I really couldn’t have gotten through the first two months without my mom’s help. The countless times she’s rocked Luka to sleep only to have him awake again moments later, the hundreds of diaper changes, the dozens of hugs she gives him each day (like she gave me when I was a baby) and her unconditional love and encouragement as I heal, learn and try to be half the woman she is…

It’s hard. Like, really hard. You hear about it — the sleepless nights, endless cry sessions, emotional rollercoasters. But like most things in life, until it’s YOUR reality, none of it really registers. I think the best thing I ever did was to expect the worst — mentally I was ready for my entire life to be turned upside-down. No delusions that I would have a miraculous experience where everything runs smoothly (I also did this during my pregnancy). Honestly, this mindset has made the world of a difference and allows me to surprise myself with so many GOOD moments.

There are no words. My mom was right, the intense level of love and connectedness I felt as soon as I saw little L is indescribable. As if every ounce of my being exploded with joy. And the feeling only grew stronger as I held him skin-to-skin on the hospital bed for the very first time. You see, I knew that first hug was incredibly important for his health (which is why I created a Hug Plan before his birth), but I didn’t realize just how emotional it would all be. My heart grew ten fold that day…

Balance is key. It’s easy to have bebe hijack all of life. And in an effort to be good parents, we often think altruism and self-sacrifice is the way to show how much we love and care for our little ones. Acutely aware of this philosophy, I asked fellow moms for advice and they all told me that self-care and balance are crucial. I won’t lie: it’s been hard to enforce, but I push every day to make these two things a priority so I can be a better mom to Luka, not lose my sense of self and be a better partner to my hubby.

You’ll never master motherhood and that’s OK. Is it me or is our generation obsessed with perfection? The number of times my friends excitedly reported a parenting “success” like nailing down a sleep schedule or figuring out what the cause of those fussy nights were — only to have them call me the next day frustrated that their hypotheses were kiboshed by their LOs! Hubster and I went into this parenting realm with a lot of mental prep; the one thing we told ourselves from the beginning was to expect each day (each minute, in fact) to be unpredictable and to allow ourselves to be okay with that (harder said than done). I firmly believe that sometimes you gotta stop trying to figure things out and just go with the flow. There is no perfect way to raise a child — the more I listen the to natural cadence of parenthood, the more the external pressures lift from my shoulders and enjoyable the experience becomes.

It’s important to be present. It’s crazy how quickly all the tasks at home – from laundry and cleaning to cooking and taking care of bebe – can take over our lives and leave no time to just be. I consciously have to remind myself every day that these precious moments with little L and hubster as a family are fleeting and that everything else can wait while we squeeze in time to bond, play and cuddle…

On that note, I plan on spending my very first Mother’s Day embracing these special moments and being mindful that I’m truly blessed to have a loving partner, healthy baby and incredible mother. I’ll also make sure to thank them for their patience, support and love as I navigate through the most challenging and rewarding journey of my life. What are your plans for Mother’s Day?

This post was sponsored by Huggies® Canada as part of my partnership with them as a #NoBabyUnhugged Mom. As always, all reviews and opinions are my own. If you’re a mom-to-be or new mom like me, I highly encourage you to visit nobabyunhugged.ca to download the Hug Plan for free to ensure your baby receives hugs as soon as he/she is born!