My husband and I were both active duty Coast Guard when we began planning to have our first child. I was stationed on land and he was stationed on a ship that deployed for months at a time. We got lucky and became pregnant on the first try. Being pregnant and active duty military was an adventure, to say the least. After a confirmed pregnancy test, I had two weeks to let my boss know. Once I was two months pregnant I began looking for child care for once the baby arrived. I looked at the childcare development center on base and was placed on a 2-year waitlist. I knew that would not work so I began the daunting task of finding childcare for once the baby arrived. Every place I contacted had a 2-year or longer waitlist. My husband and I became very discouraged and began looking at other options. We discovered a program that allowed you to temporarily separate from active duty military service in The Coast Guard to care for a newborn for up to two years while they hold your spot for you. I applied and it was approved to begin a couple of months after my due date (this allowed me to take my maternity leave and use up my vacation days prior to separating). This allowed me to get a paycheck for a bit longer also which would be helpful since this was an unexpected life change for our family. Going from active duty military for almost 9-years to being a SAHM was a huge adjustment. I had zero friends locally that had children and my family was across the country so I felt very alone at first. I had gotten involved with a mama group online while pregnant and it was helpful but I craved in-person interaction. I found a local mama group through a Facebook group and it was wonderful. They had lots of meet-ups and I got the in-person interaction I craved. I think part of me craved this even more than some as my husband was deployed a lot and for months at a time. Once finding my community being a SAHM was so much more satisfying. Everyone is different and craves different things for me I need adult in-person interaction to help my sanity. As mammas it is important we realize what we need and we work to take care of those needs as they make us better mammas, or at least that is what my experience has been.
Beautiful Mess Mama 