I’m pregnant! And figuring out how to navigate my career and business at the same time)
We are having another baby!!!
We are SO excited to be bringing our second little human into the world.
At this point I’m 24 weeks pregnant, and being more than halfway along, things are starting to feel REAL. So I’m starting to really think about my next career steps, the growth of my business, maternity leave as an entrepreneur, and oh yeah…what a 2nd little baby is going to look like in our routine.
There’s lots I could share on this topic, so let me know if you find this interesting or helpful and I’d love to share more about how I’m navigating this exciting time.
In this episode and post, I am sharing my experience at this snapshot in time including:
Lead up to getting pregnant
A foggy first trimester
This energetic second trimester I’m in
6 lessons that I have found apply to both growing a baby and a business
The lead up to getting pregnant
The lead up to getting pregnant couldn't have been more different from the first time we were having a baby where we were in the height of the pandemic.
My husband and I were both in stressful corporate jobs, and the pace of life was fast at work, but slow slow slow otherwise.
Fast forward to this time and we spent the summer we got pregnant traveling for weddings, each building our own entrepreneurial endeavours, and having the best time watching our toddler grow. In the height of our busy life, I wasn’t taking care of myself quite like I was in the pandemic, so that has been an interesting reflection. My heart, however, is just so full of love for our little family, and so much excitement to be adding to it.
A foggy first trimester: trying to find focus when pregnant
So it was the middle of the summer, and we found out that we were pregnant. The summer plans eventually started to wind down right around the time that I started to FEEL pregnant.
Talk about expectation versus reality. I'm thinking that post-summer, we would get back into the swing of things, find our routine again, and that I would really focus on my business taking off.
And then cue the hangover feeling for about three weeks or so. I started to feel really lethargic, and foggy.
For the first few weeks there, the biggest toll was on my physical health (aka no green vegetables for a few weeks…carbs all the way). But then the emotional toll hit as it started to set in that I was an entrepreneur responsible for my own success now. Where did that summer go? How can I get re-motivated in this “condition”? Will I every get my energy back?
So I took a pause and metaphorically stepped back for a second: what do I need to do here to keep putting one foot in front of the other?
The first thing I did: I leaned on my support network.
I leaned on my support network of my business community, friends and family who all reminded me that this shall pass, and the most important thing is to take care of myself and growing this baby.
The second thing I did: I chose one focus area in my business.
I knew I couldn’t, and shouldn’t, boil the ocean. So I chose one thing in the business to go all in on…and that was the podcast!
What happened then was incredible; I was truly able to focus, move forward, feel a sense of momentum and feel like I was regaining a bit of control.
And I have to say, I’m very proud for launching a podcast in my first trimester of pregnancy!
On the home front, channeling focus also helped me be present with my husband and daughter. They kept my spirits high, laughing and they cheered me on and help me celebrate the wins.
An energetic second trimester: going with my energy levels
So moving into the second trimester I have energy like I've never felt before. It's unbelievable. I wish I could bottle up and sell how I feel (apart from some of the soreness that’s starting to set in!).
I'm just really riding this present moment of feeling so good and with the deadline of a baby coming, I’m more motivated and productive than ever.
In doing a lot of personal development over the years, I know that I work best in sprints. So this fact, coupled with the deadline, is making for a great situation that I am taking full advantage of.
I encourage you to think about your own rhythms in your life: do you like a “sprint” or a “marathon”? And based on that, how can you manage your energy and motivation?
In addition to hormones and my preference for deadlines and sprinting, there’s another BIG factor at play here:
I LOVE WHAT I DO
The difference that it makes to do work that aligns with your values, your family needs, and your personal needs, is huge. I am walking through this gratitude as we speak, and it’s making me even more motivated to help others find this feeling.
6 lessons that I have found apply to both growing a baby and a business
Something I have also been thinking about a lot are the parallels between being pregnant, or raising babies, and growing a business, and the six lessons that I believe are learned in both endeavours.
1. Your preferences and past comes with you
This has been a really interesting one, and something I have re-learned a few times in my life.
What you like, what you don’t like, what you avoid, what you’re maybe running away from…it all comes with you, even when you change the scenery.
Pregnant, I’m noticing physically that anything I have been working on over the years can be heightened during this time. For me, it can be headaches and acne.
In my relationship, I notice that we become a stronger unit when I’m pregannt because we have worked on building a really solid foundation.
And in business, things like being a hard worker have followed me…but so has my people pleasing tendency.
I’ve found this interesting to reflect on because it’s just a reminder that the current situation that you are in might not be fully due to the current situation, it is likely due in part to your preferences or constitution. So the work doesn’t go away, it just shape-shifts.
2. Your intuition should be given a megaphone
Oh, my goodness, there are a million instances where my brain has told me to take the rational route, even though in my heart of hearts I know that I should follow my intuition.
In raising kids and being pregnant, this instinct is STRONG and from my experience, it is accurate (apart from outlandish anxious thoughts that can creep in).
In growing my business, I am noticing time and time again that it’s so important to listen to my intuition when it comes to decision making. Though I am naturally intuitive, I know that I need ot take a few beats and gather facts before making a decision. AND that I shouldn’t quiet that intuitive side. Especially when it comes to collaborations and working with others, I’ve had the best experiences when I have trusted my gut and worked with people that I truly connect with.
3. Identify your support crew…and lean on them
Big or small, formal, informal, paid unpaid. Having a crew can look different. For me it's a mix of my friends, family, my daughter, my husband, bodyworkers, healers and my small business community.
I know without a doubt that this crew that I have “curated” over the years helps me in every sense of my soul, and that when I nurture myself, I nurture my business. And when I nurture my business, I am also nurturing my self.
4. Tune into your physical, mental and business rhythms
This is one of my favorite ones, I think that this is something that I have to continue to learn and be okay with.
I think just from a very literal sense, in this pregnancy, there have been absolute rhythms that I've just had to go with. In that first trimester, I really had to slow it down and focus. Now, I am having a really fun time boiling the ocean and getting a lot done.
Growing my business, I have also felt natural rhythms. In the beginning, I was in dream land and strategy mode. Now I’m in execution mode. And things will continue to shift as my goals and the phase of my business growth evolves.
5. Recognize when you need to be in the details or zoomed way out
In parenting and in business, I have noticed that I need to be okay with wearing different hats at different times; one day I have my CEO hat on, and the next day, I’m the intern. One day I'm the primary caregiver, the next day I need to release control to others.
6. Beware of productive procrastination
Productive procrastination is a sneaky one, if you haven’t heard the term before. It refers to avoiding your goals or responsibilities for tasks that, while still helpful or necessary, are not what you need to be doing at the time…therefore productive, but a form of procrastination.
In pregnancy, it could be putting off crunching finances to see what your parental leaves could look like, or avoiding conversations around how you’ll make your new reality work. Instead, you’re obsessing over your nursery pinterest board (guilty!).
Whether you’re a business owner, an employee, pregnant, or have kids growing before your eyes, I encourage you to think about how some of these lessons apply to you.
And if you want to hear more on the pregnancy, parenting, business growing journey, send me a DM on Instagram @andreabarrcoaching and let me know what you want to hear more about!
