How to Navigate Motherhood When Your Spouse is Deployed

Disclaimer: “This is a sponsored post, written by me, on behalf of 1 Natural Way, a TRICARE breast pump provider. All opinions are entirely my own.”

When my husband deployed for the first time, I was a new mom to 6 month old twins, Navigating Motherhood when you spouse deployed can be hard. Here are 3 ways you can thrive in Motherhood during deployment.

When I As a new Mom to young children, learning how to navigate motherhood took a lot of trial and error that I learned and now apply Years of experiencing deployments. I became Isolated, I didn’t go out at all, I barely ate, Didn’t even know how to drive, I lost myself in Motherhood. I felt lost but didn’t want my children to feel that way, so I did everything I could do to make sure they we’re happy and able to handle their father leaving for long periods of time.

I did this for so long that, I had family members worried about me, I didn’t have any friends to talk to. One day, I had a young lady at my church, ask me how I was doing and how I was getting around on base. I told her I didn’t go on base without my husband, and I just went to the park that was right up the road from me. She told me to start by going to the commissary. From there I found out about LINKS (Lifestyle, Insights, Networking, Knowledge and Skills) and slowly started connecting myself to friends and going on trips around the area. It renewed my strength as a person.

I began to try different things that helped me to thrive in Motherhood while my husband was deployed. When your spouse is gone, it’s a different ball game. You are now responsible for everything in the house, the children, the bills and still try to juggle and find who you are in the mist of it all.

 

Self care

“Self care is not selfish, you cannot serve from an empty vessel.” this quote is by Eleanor Brownn. When I came across this, it reminded me that as women, do we know how to really take care of ourselves? We tend to serve so much of ourselves for our family, children, husband, work, church, etc. on “E” (Empty) and just like a vehicle, when the car is on “E” the light comes on telling us that its time to fuel. Our bodies and spirit does the same thing, but as the times go, we ignore it, we say,” I can go a little further”, but is it really doing us any good to drive, or serve on “E”?

It is vital for our health and even our mental state, some cars breakdown as soon as it hit “E” and its the same for some women when you start to feel yourself on “E” you begin to break down. We have to stop before we break down because then we are not only hurting ourselves we are hurting our community that need us.

It’s vital we MAKE the time to care for ourselves and mind-set. You can create a spa regimen, to get back to being relaxed and stress free.

(Tip: Therapy- Seeking out counseling is the best thing you can do. Especially if you are new to your area and you haven’t made any friends or even met anyone, going to a counselor is the best thing you can do. I personally have done this and It has helped me in a lot of ways. A professional counselor can point out patterns or depression, that a friend maybe not. I went through Military One Source to get more information about it for military dependents and its free for a certain amount of sessions).

Join a Mom’s Group

This advice was given to me a long time ago when, my children we’re young. At the time, I wasn’t ready to be around other people. I was very shy, insecure and barely knew anything about motherhood. I wished someone let me know the importance of reaching out and being around other moms in the same “season” as you is refreshing and that’s how you learn about yourself and even about the area around you. MOPS (Mother’s of Preschoolers) is a great group of women you can start. It is an International group that is everywhere you can check out their website and Join a group.

(Tip: Mops usually has Childcare and most groups have Scholarships to help pay fees, ask about it, every group is different).

Explore new activities in your area

No matter where you get orders to, you will have travel office, with discounted tickets to places in your area or near by, You can always check that out, and see what is affordable for you and your family. Exploring activities and events in your area can help pass the time. Not only that you can send fun pictures to your spouse, showing how much you and the kids are having fun.

(Tip: Free National Parks Pass for military- You can get a Free pass for Active duty military to get into National parks in your area for free. All you would need is to go to your local Parks & Recreation office and ask for a National Park pass for military). Below is the National Parks pass I received in my area and for the summer the kids and I will be hitting up national parks close by and maybe some camping in one of them. You can go here for more information in your area.

 

*Bonus Tip:

Resources such as 1 Natural Way offers the popular Medela, Spectra and Kiinde brands.

* In addition to breast pumps, 1 Natural Way also offers breast pump accessories, compression socks and postpartum care supplies. Some much needed supplies for nursing moms. Making it easier to handle the ups and downs of Motherhood.

* All breast pump models are covered under your Tricare insurance plan at no out of pocket expense to you. This includes the Medela Freestyle and the Spectra S1 Breast Pump, and the Medela Pump in Style Tote/Backpack.

* Simply fill out the insurance form here, select your breast pump model (Tricare covers all models we offer), Enroll in our Monthly breastfeeding accessories program (called Resupply: Ie: Parts that may look damage), Provide us with a prescription or your doctor’s information, and we will obtain one for you and Your pump and supplies will ship right to your front door via UPS or USPS, making it easy for you to spend time with your little one and more time for you to relax and not have to worry about anything else but having fun with your little one.