When Life (Or Motherhood) Doesn’t Go as Planned

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*Thank you to Lexi Lehman for this guest post about the dream vs. the reality of entering motherhood! 

Motherhood. Everyone has an idealistic family goal that we strive for all our lives. Might be starting with going to college and then work and then family. Whichever it may be, we all know it never goes exactly right. For me, it was very different than what I had envisioned for myself.

Guest Post: When Life (And Motherhood) Doesn't Go as Planned Charleston Moms
Photo credit: Erin DiNicola

March 2018, I found out that I was expecting my firstborn. I was attending school at the time and had planned on working for a few years after completing my degree in nursing. I knew that I would still carry on with my degree. I just had to switch my plan around.

Next obstacle, deployment. Daddy to be would be leaving us on October 27, but the baby was due November 1. So many things were going through my head: school, baby, deployment. Not at all how I wanted things to go. But isn’t that the definition of motherhood? You can’t plan your day, you just fly by the seat of your chair, maybe attempt to have a plan in store.

Guest Post: When Life (And Motherhood) Doesn't Go as Planned Charleston Moms
Photo credit: Erin DiNicola

The months of pregnancy went by fast. I spent my time thinking and worrying about the year to come. How would I juggle being an acting single mom, school, and normal everyday things? I rushed through my pregnancy. I wanted my little girl to get as much time with her daddy as possible. I rushed it so much that we had to plan an induction. Week 39 and Emory had still not shown her little face.

We drove our way to the hospital at 04:30 a.m. on the 25th of October. Her eviction notice was here. After 37 hours of labor, she showed her pretty face to us on the 26th of October at 19:19. Six pounds 12 ounces light. Seeing our little girl was the most amazing thing in the world. She was beautiful. But maybe I’m biased? Aren’t we all, when it comes to our children?

Daddy got an extra day to be with us. I wanted him to spend as much of his time with her as possible. My life no longer revolved around me. Everything is now about her. I only wanted her to have time with the love of my life. My heart ached during the time of our hospital stay. I had never seen my husband cry the way he did the night before he had to leave.

We only stayed one night in the hospital. We wanted to spend our first night as a family together. Six short hours were spent in our little townhouse, then our family was ripped apart. We wouldn’t be reunited Christmas of 2019. A bittersweet feeling, but it would be okay. He would be back and our house would soon be home again.

As you see, my plan of going to school, working and then having a family was disheveled. Instead, we jumped straight to an acting single mom and full-time student, who will work when Daddy gets back. When you go through your day and get upset about not getting the laundry done yet, don’t fret over it. It will come. Things always work out. Motherhood continues, and there’s no right or wrong way of doing it.

About The Author

Guest Post: When Life (And Motherhood) Doesn't Go as Planned Charleston MomsI am a first-time mom going to The Citadel to earn my nursing degree. I am an Army wife in my first deployment with hubby. I love to run, go to the beach, and watercolor. I am a military brat, but call Germany my home. I lived there for sixteen years and speak the language fluently.