Thursday, August 23, 2012

Why does this make national news?......

This morning I was watching Good Morning America, as I do most mornings.  There was a story about a mommy-blogger who caused a firestorm because she took a vacation and left her 10 week old baby at home. There were 2 people on GMA to discuss this issue and then GMA also polled people on the street to ask what they thought about a mom leaving her baby to go on a vacation.
Seriously? This is news-worthy?
People said rude comments and even said that if you want to take a vacation and leave your baby at home then you weren't ready to be a parent to start with.

Why am I blogging about this you may wonder?

Because I took a 4 day vacation with my best girlfriends and left Cohen when he was 8 weeks old. I had decided before he was born that I was going to do everything I could to make this girls' trip. It was a bachelorette getaway for one of my 8 best friends from college. So, very quickly after Co was born I began "power-pumping" to save enough breast milk for him to have in my absence. This was extremely time-consuming. I even set my alarm to wake up and pump in the middle of the night once he dropped the 2am feeding. I was also taking my 26 herbal supplement pills per day to increase my supply.
I was a bit nervous about leaving him with my mom and Chad and thought about not going on the trip a few times. Yet, at the last minute I knew I had to go.
I had to go for a few reasons.
1) The first weeks of being a mommy are exhausting. This trip would provide some rest.
2) I knew I would be a better mommy for taking a few days to let loose.
3) My husband realized how difficult it is to care for a baby, and he appreciated all my hard mommy work even more.
4) Cohen would never miss me.

I pumped the entire trip, and had a wonderful time with my besties.  Cohen did fine without me. Chad did great flying solo for the first time as a daddy.
I honestly do not understand why there was such anger over a mother taking a vacation and leaving her child behind. Who cares?
I highly recommend getting away any time you can. Your child and your mind will thank you:)

Oh yeah, Chad and I both went on a week vacation to the Bahamas when Cohen was 5 months old and left him with our parents. And yes, Co did fine. And I also pumped the entire trip and Chad carried over 200 ounces of frozen breast milk in a backpack for me through security as his carry-on on the way home! That's a great husband:)

1 comment:

  1. love your pumping dedication. Hope that maybe I influenced it a small amount. So proud of you!

    ReplyDelete