Reunion

A few weekends ago, we did a barn trip out as a family of three for the first time! 

C was super during the drive (lots of sleeping) and woke up briefly to check out his new surroundings. W stayed in the car with the little guy while I went out to the pasture to go fetch Quest. 

During the winter months, the upper pastures are closed to the main herd so thankfully I didn't have to slog through a ton of snow-laden terrain in order to get mareface. I was also still technically on medical leave and have been trying to be good about not overextending myself so I could heal...and get back to riding sooner!

I found Quest dozing happily in the morning sun with a nice fluffy winter coat going on. After doing my usual look over (cleaned/checked feet and ran hands all over), I did a quick grooming session before leading mareface over to the fence for the highly anticipated meeting. With C still a newborn, we made sure to bundle him up for the outdoors. The temperature difference in the pasture vs at home is big enough so we played it safe with winter wear. Poor kid's jacket was super oversized but at least he was warm haha 

As expected, Quest was just amazing. Always ears up, she was quietly inquisitive, gentle, and seemed to "check in" with me from time to time. There was lots of praise for her and we made sure to snag plenty of photos together. 

I wanted to stay at the barn longer but the weather was pretty cold and I didn't want to risk C getting sick. Good news though is that as of last week, I had my final post-op appointment and got full medical clearance from my health care providers so saddle time will be happening. 

With winter in full swing and a baby in tow, it might be a bit hard to get in those focused rides that I was used to doing but all in good time!

Baby Boy C

My little guy arrived on November 9 at 10:14am, weighing a solid 8lbs 6oz. After a 3-day hospital stay, we have been recuperating and bonding with lots of newborn snuggles at home since then. 

The weeks and days leading up to C's delivery were super tough on me emotionally as I struggled to come to terms with a scheduled c-section due to C being breeched at 32 weeks. For two months, W and I tried everything to get him to turn but he was stubborn to the end (...maybe perhaps much like me in a lot of ways.) The procedure itself was textbook perfect though and recovery has been relatively smooth thankfully.  I'm still mentally coping with how things ended up but in this process, I got a jumpstart on learning one of the biggest lessons in parenthood: Things rarely go according to plan. 

It's been three weeks since we got home and I'm surviving motherhood so far. The feedings at 3-4am are the toughest part but all in all, C has been a good baby. I have my final post-op appointment with my health care team in about 3 weeks and if recovery continues to go well, they will give me the all clear to return to full activity...which will definitely include some much needed saddle time with my best mareface.  

Nine months away certainly feels like an eternity. Though as much as I want to rush back into the swing of things to make up for the time lost this past year, I'm trying to remind myself to slow down and enjoy the moment- which includes giving Quest the winter months off as I've done so in the past and pick things up in late January/early February. I've been chatting with a few equestrian moms on FB and their experience has said the same. So as the nights grow longer and the temperatures colder, I'll enjoy the newborn days before they come and go in a blink of an eye.