<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>WIRL Project &#187; new mom</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.wirlproject.com/tag/new-mom/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.wirlproject.com</link>
	<description>What It&#039;s Really Like.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sun, 03 May 2026 12:00:25 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.37</generator>
	<item>
		<title>By &#8220;Work/Life Balance&#8221; You Must Mean: All Work, Bye Bye Life, and No Balance</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/by-worklife-balance-you-must-mean-all-work-bye-bye-life-and-no-balance/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/by-worklife-balance-you-must-mean-all-work-bye-bye-life-and-no-balance/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2015 09:00:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Sara Brennan]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life/Leisure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Career]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lonely]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stay At Home Mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work/Life Balance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Working Mom]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=5675</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Since becoming a mom, I&#8217;ve learned that there are NOT enough hours in a day. Many people often wish for &#8220;super powers&#8221; and mine would be the ability to survive without sleep! I actually hate going up to bed at night. Why do we NEED to do this!? There are so many more &#8220;productive&#8221; things I could be doing instead of laying down in a bed for 7-8 hours doing NOTHING resting! Before becoming a mom, I used to be a middle school science teacher and my day was filled with talking/socializing/teaching all day long, followed by the freedom to do whatever I wanted. I loved a good shopping marathon or DIY home project; I was very independent. When I decided to transition to the &#8220;glamorous&#8221; lifestyle of a stay-at-home mom, nobody prepared me for the difficult transition I was about to face. Everyone KNEW I&#8217;d made the decision to stay at home once I had the baby and not one person warned or prepared me for the emotions and changes I was about to face. I would hear comments such as, You will never regret staying at home with your kids or It&#8217;s such a great experience, I wouldn&#8217;t have traded it for the world.  I understand they probably didn&#8217;t want to &#8220;rain on my parade&#8221;, but seriously, I wish someone would have been honest with me and talked about how difficult it can be! So, I left my job, had my son (who I love and adore more than anything), and knew I &#8220;should&#8221; feel bliss, but after a few weeks and months I started to feel alone and trapped in my own home with this baby who couldn&#8217;t tell me what he wanted or needed&#8230; I started to lose it. My work &#8220;friends&#8221; got busy and didn&#8217;t care too much about me anymore. I take that back, in my crazy, emotional, tired, and slightly lonely head, that&#8217;s probably a lot more of what it felt like than the truth. To their credit, I wasn&#8217;t exactly contacting them regularly either. I just felt like nobody could relate to me anymore and that I was very uncool. I couldn&#8217;t go on shopping marathons, mani and pedi outings, or to cocktail hour anymore (unless I brought my baby!) because I was breastfeeding/pumping&#8230;I sometimes felt like a prisoner. I&#8217;d always been a very driven and &#8220;Type-A&#8221; person, so I decided to bottle this strange and unexpected negative energy and put it towards something more positive. I dreamt up an idea, built a website, started my own internet business, and became an entrepreneur! I created a website where real people could share real stories about life and what it&#8217;s really like (WIRL) and I called it WIRL Project. I knew I wasn&#8217;t the only one who had been slapped in the face with this reality that nobody wanted to talk about, so I created an online place where people could cut the crap, be real, and share their stories about life. Since it&#8217;s taken off, I am super busy doing work that I LOVE, but I also have a 19 month old toddler. Sure, I get out of the house several days a week and do something for myself, but now I am faced with GUILT beyond explanation. When I voluntarily leave the house to &#8220;work&#8221;, it means being away from my son. When I&#8217;m with my son and not working, I am constantly thinking about my business; it&#8217;s the epitome of a catch 22. Who knew motherhood could cause such drama (lol)! To avoid the guilt, I try to work as much as I can while my son is sleeping. But, often times this leaves very little time for my husband and I to hang out. Oh, and date nights? Few and far between. I am used to be really fit, I don&#8217;t hardly work out at all anymore, there just isn&#8217;t time for it! I know, I know, everything I&#8217;ve talked about so far comes with the territory of being a (new) mom&#8230; the sleepless nights, the guilt, the exhaustion, the multitasking, all of that, and I don&#8217;t really know how it would have changed things if I&#8217;d known this in advance, but I still wish people would be more realistic about this transition and stop making it out to be so &#8220;beautiful&#8221;. So, back to my super power&#8230;if I had an extra 8 hours per day to accomplish &#8220;life&#8221;, I&#8217;d be much better off! Sleeping just doesn&#8217;t fit into my schedule anymore and I wish that could be the thing I &#8220;quit&#8221; doing! But, unfortunately, my son doesn&#8217;t know (or care) that I&#8217;ve stayed up late, so he wakes up at his regular time every morning, ecstatic to see me, and I go through everything all over again the next day! Don&#8217;t get me wrong, I absolutely love my son and being his mom is awesome. But, if you were to ask me about a work/life balance&#8230; I&#8217;d say there really isn&#8217;t one, not for me anyway, each day is different, yet the same, and crazy! But, I&#8217;m not going to cover it up and make my life seem something it&#8217;s not. I work, I have a life, I balance it as best as I can and I&#8217;m honest about it. That&#8217;s the best I can do right now, take it for what it&#8217;s worth.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wirlproject.com/by-worklife-balance-you-must-mean-all-work-bye-bye-life-and-no-balance/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>PPD Forces Changes</title>
		<link>http://www.wirlproject.com/ppd-forces-changes/</link>
		<comments>http://www.wirlproject.com/ppd-forces-changes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2015 09:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Becky Babo]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Antidepressants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Baby]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Body]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daughter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[depression]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Emotional]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Faith]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Motherhood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[new mom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[postpartum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Postpartum Depression]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PPD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pregnancy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.wirlproject.com/?p=5401</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; My beautiful baby girl just turned one in March, and motherhood has forced it&#8217;s fair share of changes on me, the least of which being my pants size. The elephant in the room is Postpartum Depression. I was diagnosed with Postpartum Depression (PPD) four weeks after I had my bundle of joy. I wanted to be happy, but I couldn&#8217;t stop crying. The bottom line is that postpartum depression has changed me. I&#8217;ve always been an emotional person, but generally I&#8217;ve been able to see the good in situations, not just the bad. Now, I feel like I&#8217;m not the person I was before I became a mom. I&#8217;m not the perky, bubbly person who was so sure of herself anymore. I&#8217;ve become someone else that I don&#8217;t quite recognize. I&#8217;m trying to beat this &#8211; trying to overcome what I&#8217;m feeling and what my body has decided to do. My doctor has me on antidepressants, my third different brand, and the fact of the matter is, I&#8217;m scared. What if I always feel like this? What if they don&#8217;t help? What if being on them is going to make me a bad mom? Research tells me that PPD is a chemical imbalance, and that it&#8217;s a lot more common then most women know. Why? What makes it so hard for women to talk about? Maybe it&#8217;s the constant feeling that you&#8217;re just not good enough. Or the sadness that comes around when you really should be happy. This is not an easy road for me to walk. This is not what I expected. And yet, I know that this is not my fault. I don&#8217;t understand why &#8211; but this is happening to me for a reason, and God is truly in control. If He put this in my path, then I have to walk around it. I have to overcome this obstacle. And if it brings me closer to Him, and turns me into a more sympathetic and better mother, then it&#8217;s worth it. Until then, I will keep trying. For her.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.wirlproject.com/ppd-forces-changes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
