The Reason For My Little Break… My Little Codi Lynn!

So I’ve been hearing #CourtneyCoversCleveland has been missed and that literally makes my heart skip a beat. For those who aren’t aware, I’ve been on maternity leave from work and my blog since I unexpectedly gave birth 3 weeks before my due date. I firmly believe it was because of all the walking I did at Cleveland Vegfest the day before but I’m proud to announce the birth of my daughter Codi Lynn Ottrix, born May 6, 2018 at 8:59pm weighing 7lbs. 4oz. She has been nothing but a blessing to our family! The boys are excited to now have a sister and my husband and I are still on cloud 9 that we finally had a girl!

My care during my pregnancy was amazing thanks to Dr. Stokes at Cleveland Clinic Strongsville! He delivered Bryce and is literally like family at this point in our lives. Anytime I needed him, had a question or was concerned – no matter how silly or late sometimes, I’d send a text or call and he always responded. Often times laughing, or setting me straight, it was the best experience I could’ve asked for. Pregnant people, PLEASE find a doctor you LOVE, that’s the key to getting through your 9 months!

This was my easiest delivery ever! I started having contractions 10 minutes apart the night prior, the following morning they remained 10 minutes apart. I called Dr. Stokes and he told me to keep timing them and call or go in once they became 6 minutes apart. I went about my day as normal. I literally went to my sons basketball game, attended a surprise proposal for my dear friend and went to their special dinner that night. It wasn’t until my meal arrived (which I knew would be my last good one for awhile) that my contractions started coming closer. I finished my steak and potatoes and rushed to my moms so that she and my sister could accompany to the hospital since my husband was on his way back from a basketball tournament out of state. We arrived to the hospital and I was already 5cm dilated. By the time I was admitted and to my room, my contractions were 3 minutes apart. I had opted to get an epidural but before I could, my water broke and my baby literally fell right out. So yes, I had her natural and that was it!

That next day, I started my maternity leave! I’ll be honest I thought maternity leave meant I would have all the time in the world to explore the city and write for the blog but that was not the case! The last 10 weeks I’ve been unapologetically consumed with nothing more than being a mom! The first few weeks I did nothing but adjust to having a newborn, while also being home with all my kids for summer break! It was perfect but I was exhausted. Every free moment I thought I had, meant it was really time to wash clothes, pump milk or sleep. So technically, there really weren’t any free moments, because there was also something to do. I didn’t venture out at all, I stayed home for six weeks until Codi received her shots. Then that same week we started our family vacations, and have been traveling almost every week since. That’s another thing I don’t apologize for, I’ve loved that my maternity leave overlapped with summer break and that my husband and I have been able to travel with all our kids! It has also been busy, but it’s been worth it!

Now that I’ve made it to 11 weeks I have a better system! Codi is sleeping more at night and my maternity leave is almost over so I’m transitioning not only back to work, but back to working on my blog. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the challenge is balancing it all. Finding the time to do it all, be wife be mom and be writer. I want nothing more than to be consistent for my readers but I really needed that break and my good friend told me not to apologize because I deserved that however, I constantly beat myself up for not writing these last few weeks but then I thought how precious every moment spent with my children was. I knew once maternity leave was over I would be away from them, working and writing on lunch breaks. Moms know we don’t’ ever stop being moms, there is no break, but mentally sometimes we need to recharge.  So here’s to being back, enjoy the pictures of Codi Lynn all of which were taken on my Iphone 🙂