Surprise! I am going on maternity leave…sorta. It is true that I am 35 weeks pregnant, and it is also true that I am no longer taking new clients as of now. I will continue seeing current clients as needed, because I don’t want to abandon any of you, and also because I struggle with professional/personal boundaries.
So why is this maternity leave “sorta”? Well, it isn’t my baby! As a gestational surrogate I am carrying a baby for some friends of mine (their bun, my oven!), and even though I won’t be getting up in the middle of the night to feed and change and rock this time around, I will be preparing my mind, heart, and body for the next four weeks for this final step. And after the birth I am embarking on a journey I have never taken before, that of exclusive pumping.
I don’t have to tell most of you that this is not a journey that will be easy, but it will be so worth it for this precious baby I have been entrusted with for these past 9 months. It will be difficult, and labor intensive, and exhausting. I will be healing! And while my workaholic personality says I should work until birth and get back to it as soon as humanly possible, I must take the advice I give all of you. Rest. Recover. Give yourself grace and time because you matter too! Put your oxygen mask on first!
Therefore, I can not in good faith keep serving you, my precious parents, to the best of my ability while also splitting my time in this way. I can not wait to serve my community again doing the thing I love the most when I am at 100% again. See you in December!! Below I have listed the names and numbers of referrals to AMAZING IBCLCs in the area who I have absolute faith in who will help you reach whatever feeding goals you have for your infant.
Naya Weber http://itsmorethanmilk.com/index.html
Naiomi Catron https://www.milkdiva.com/