I don’t get to see my girlfriends as much as I used to. I guess that kind of goes with the territory of having an infant at home, but it still bums me out. So when my friend Kalen mentioned a group of our girlfriends should get together I jumped at the chance. Since we are all super busy we had to pick a date 4 weeks into the future, but hey, it was on the calendar!
I asked Tyler if he wanted to stay with Piper that night while I went out. He looked at me like was crazy. If I was having a night out with friends he wanted a night to himself as well, so Grandma it was!
It was nice to have an opportunity to get all dressed up in some of my cutest clothes, and was excited to wear a bracelet that no one was going to chew on. It really is the small things.
My girlfriends and I decided to meet at a classy little restaurant for happy hour and then just see where the night went. I ordered my usual drink of choice, a Moscow Mule, and the laughing commenced. Since four of our group have no children, my bestie Janet and I educated them about all things babies. They were disturbed to learn what nipples do during pumping, how little sleep you actually get, and the “joys” of childbirth. Not to mention they were completely baffled when I explained to them that Tyler and I rent hotel rooms to have sex away from the baby.
A night out with girlfriends just isn’t as simple as it used to be. After a few hours I had to leave to go to my car to pump. Just lovely. Again, another thing they were confused about. On my way out I called grandma to check in and immediately heard Piper having a FULL ON meltdown. The girl was scream crying and it instantly made my heart just hurt. So instead of going to my car to pump I had to head home to soothe my crying baby and text my friends to apologize for my sudden absence.
When I returned home in the middle of my evening out, I found my husband and my in-laws all trying to soothe a baby that was FREAKING out. I scooped her into my arms, snuggled her tightly, and rocked her until she finally relaxed enough to fall asleep. She had that shake going that you get after you’ve been crying so hard. Luckily after just 10 minutes of rocking she was out cold. I passed her off to the husband, pumped quick and headed back out to meet up with my friends. It was only 8:30!
The second part of the night I was able to relax a little more knowing that Piper was down for the night and there would be no more meltdowns. Of course, I didn’t want to stay out too late since I knew she was probably going to get up once or twice in the middle of the night (sleep regression, ugh!). So around 10pm when my childless friends were ready to hit up another bar and keep the night going I had to politely bow out. A newborn and a hangover just do not mix.
Getting dolled-up and out of the house for the night was such a good thing for me, it was so much fun to laugh, but going out sure is different than it used to be. Before I had a baby, I just didn’t realize all that goes into orchestrating a night out: Baby-sitters, stockpiling breast milk, planning where and when to pump, and finding that happy amount of alcohol for a good time (that’s also not so much I’d hate myself the next day). Also, if I could go back and slap my old, childless self, for harassing my friends with kids for going home early I would.
[Photo by Heather Osby, all rights reserved]
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