This Mother’s Day, Lynne is joined by Consumers Credit Union’s Jen Smith, a brand-new mom with some age-old parenting wisdom. Listen in to this week’s edition of Money, I’m Home!

 

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0:00:07.0 Lynne Jarman-Johnson (LJJ): Money, I’m home! Welcome in, I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. And we have such great stories, especially when they focus on excitement and real people and people that you know, and people that I get to work with. And one of those is Jen Smith. And Jen is a brand-new mom. And since it’s Mother’s Day, we thought we’d check in on you, Jen.

0:00:30.6 Jen Smith (JS): Hello.

0:00:32.6 LJJ: Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Okay, I don’t see little Cade, so I’m assuming he’s taking a nap.

0:00:38.7 JS: He is definitely taking a nap right now. Usually, I get a nice little, long nap in the middle of the day. Long as in about an hour and a half to two hours, so I’ll take it! So that’s usually when I try to get some stuff done.

0:00:49.8 LJJ: You know, speaking of sleep, that was one of the things with all of our kids… Only one of them slept tremendously well. And otherwise, it just kind of felt that you were always kind of walking like a… I always said like a mummy. It’s kid stuff… How’s Cade been since you’ve been home?

0:01:06.6 JS: He’s been good. So, he did spend a little bit of time in NICU. So, the first couple of weeks were a little bit of a whirlwind and a blur at this point, but he is doing so good, and you would never know that he was born four weeks early. So, it’s been amazing watching him just grow up and he’s six weeks old now. So, the last six weeks, again, have been a blur, but it’s been pretty amazing.

0:01:28.5 LJJ: So here you are a brand-new mom. And Jen, I met you… You are now with the HR development and education team. You started out in Consumers and came into the marketing team. So, I’ve been so blessed to be able to work with you, get to know you. And I knew right from the outset, the minute that I heard that you were going to have a baby, what a wonderful mom you’d be. So, we just wanted to touch base with a brand-new mom and hear what’s been going on, especially with how the world has been. You know, if you close your eyes and you think back, tell us a little bit about when you found out that you were going to have a baby and how the journey has been.

0:02:08.9 JS: Yeah, so this little one was years in the making. So, when we found out, we were definitely over the moon. I mean a lot of – a lot of emotions. And then yeah, getting pregnant in 2020, we were in the middle of a pandemic, and it was kind of early in the pandemic when we found out that we were expecting. It posed its own challenge, right? So, we of course had to be super careful with our own health and making sure that we were being careful and there were so many unknowns, and there still are so many unknowns with pregnancy and what that means if you were to get it and what it means for the baby and all of that. So, thinking back, the excitement definitely trumped all the other emotions when it came to the pandemic and things like that. But it was definitely scary. There were definitely moments where I’m like, “Oh, what are we… We don’t even know what we’re up against.”

0:02:54.6 LJJ: So, when you look at it, you and Cory, you mentioned years in the making. And what that means to many people is that you were very focused on wanting to be parents and now here you are and what a team effort it takes, Jen.

0:03:09.9 JS: Absolutely.

0:03:12.6 LJJ: Tell me a little bit about the new dad and how’s it going, day-to-day?

0:03:16.6 JS: Really good. So, Cory unfortunately had to go back to work. He only had about a week off, which was spent in the NICU. So, when we got home, it was finding this new adjustment and new balance of life and how we were going to figure it all out, but he is killing it at the dad thing. We’re definitely loving every minute of watching this little guy grow up.

0:03:35.1 LJJ: So, when you went into labor and back when there was no pandemic, I remember the days of being in the hospital… You weren’t in very long, and I don’t think you still are now. But what ended up happening was so many people would come to see the new baby. That didn’t get to happen for you. It… Was that actually a blessing, in the quietness of it?

0:03:57.1 JS: So, it was. Obviously, it would’ve looked a lot different if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic. We would’ve absolutely wanted our parents there, and probably… When I watched my nieces and nephews be born they were in the waiting room. So, they would’ve been right there, the moment that it happened. But it was kind of a blessing in disguise. And it ended up being kind of a high-risk delivery, and so having just the two of us to have that time together with Cade and watch him go through what he had to go through, and… Me take the time to heal and just kind of become a family very quickly in that moment was pretty cool. So, we took advantage of FaceTime and all the technology to bring the grandparents in, and the uncles and aunts and all of that, and the cousins. But it was definitely a unique experience. It was not anything that I would have ever pictured how it would have gone. But I do, kind of looking back, think it was a little bit of a blessing in disguise, just to be able to have that time together.

0:04:53.2 LJJ: Well, speaking of blessings, I really hear your story and I hear the word miracle, that comes to mind. You must really think, on this Mother’s Day, what a miracle you’ve been given.

0:05:05.8 JS: Absolutely, yes. It makes me a little emotional thinking about it.

0:05:09.9 LJJ: Well, it’s a wonderful emotion to have, you know.

0:05:13.3 JS: It is. It absolutely is.

0:05:14.2 LJJ: So, tell me about your own moms. Your moms that have been there. You mentioned the grandparents that got to do the FaceTime, and now everybody’s got to meet Cade. But growing up, did you always in your mind think, “Boy, I can’t wait to be a mom” And then number two, what did your mom teach you?

0:05:34.0 JS: Yeah, you know, I always had that picture in my mind of growing up, getting married, having babies… That was what you pictured. And obviously, it looked a little bit different than what you pictured growing up, but yeah… And I always had that desire to want to be a mom and all of that. And I think when I think of the lessons that my mom gave me, and even through all of this… And I guess all of my adult life really thinking back, it’s always… Her one thing has always been kind of, “Stop and take a deep breath.” In the moment when things are crazy or when you’ve been dealt something you didn’t think you’d be dealt… And even, even in the good times. There’s good stress too. And it’s always kind of been like, “Okay, Jen, take a second, take a deep breath. Let’s talk through it.” And she lives miles away. So, she lives in South Carolina. Then I think the other big thing, it’s always been that, “You know what, I’m only a phone call away.” So, always having that support system there has been amazing.

0:06:31.2 LJJ: Tell us about that support system and the family. Has there been lots of great tips for the new mom?

0:06:39.7 JS: So yeah… I think from the very beginning a lot of people told me when we got pregnant like, “You’re going to hear a lot of advice from people. And some of it you’re just going to have to totally ignore.” And so definitely from our parents especially, but I think even friends and things like that. I wouldn’t say that it’s been overwhelming with the amount of advice where I felt like I couldn’t listen to, but there’s definitely been some good tips too. Everybody tells you it’s going to go by so fast and you don’t realize it until you’re in the moment absolutely how fast it goes. And so kind of just trying to take it all in has been one thing that I’ve been trying to focus on through all of this. And then a lot of people tell you… Or you think like, “Okay, I shouldn’t hold my baby that much,” or things like that. And I’ve also had friends tell me, “You know what? They grow out of things so quickly.” Hold that baby, enjoy those moments, enjoy the snuggles. You can figure out the sleep thing later. So, things like that, I guess, have been what’s kind of standout thus far.

0:07:38.6 LJJ: Well, I’ll tell you, there’s nobody that can be a better mom to Cade than you, because you’re his mom. So, no matter what advice you give in the long run, you’re the one that really understands him, so does Cory, which is just such a cool thing.

0:07:54.8 JS: Yeah. I would definitely say Cade doesn’t know that I don’t know what I’m doing, so we just figure it out day-to-day. That’s kind of been the biggest thing, is… Becoming parents is just, we’ll figure it out as we go. There’s no instruction manual, so Google’s an amazing thing, friends and family with children are amazing things to have them for advice, but all in all, you just kind of figure it out.

0:08:17.1 LJJ: Alright. You are a beautiful working mom. And I remember being very thoughtful about how to juggle that whole responsibility. And I just want you to know, you’ve got so many people to talk with, Jen, when this is happening, because it really is a… It’s an emotional time, and it’s an exciting time for your entire family.

0:08:46.3 JS: Yeah. I’m definitely dreading the day… The first day of daycare already. I remember months ago, because you had to focus on daycare so far in advance, thinking like, “Oh, I don’t know how I’m going to be that first day.” Maybe it’ll be like, “Okay, yeah, here’s my kid, and I’m good.” I’m going to go back to work and get adult conversations and stuff like that again. But I definitely, now in the moment, I’m already like, “Oh, I’m dreading the day of dropping him off at daycare for the first day.” But I’m also excited to kind of get back to a career that I love, and back to my coworkers and all the things that I’m missing for sure. And I think that challenge is just going to be figuring out that balance and making sure that we still have all that quality time to watch him grow and not think that we’re missing things as we focus on our careers, too.

0:09:30.2 LJJ: Yeah, and I remember one… Somebody told me… I think it was my mom, actually who said one day… I was fretting about the fact that I was going to miss my firstborn’s walk… The first time she walks. And my mom says, “No, you won’t.” And I said, “What?” And she says, “You won’t miss it. It’s going to be the first time she walks for you.” And you know what? That kind of put things into perspective. You will always be there for Cade, and that’s the coolest part. So, congratulations!

0:09:55.2 JS: Thank you. Thank you.

0:09:58.3 LJJ: And I’d like to shout out to Cory and to your entire family… We are very excited, as your Consumers family to say congrats to Jen.

0:10:10.0 JS: Thank you.

0:10:10.1 LJJ: Happy Mother’s Day.

0:10:10.5 JS: Thank you. You, too.

0:10:12.1 LJJ: And to all of you, happy Mother’s Day. If you have a topic that you would like to share, please send it along, just like these conversations that we just had with Jen, real life, and it keeps us all going. So, thank you so much. Hey, I’d like to shout out to Jake Esselink for his production skills. And again, send us your information, we’d love to see it, hear it and share it. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson, Consumers Credit Union. Money, I’m Home.

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