For Cottonseed Apparel owners’ Laurenn Rudd and Lizzie Gray, becoming mother’s together this spring was unexpected, but is a shared experience both have welcomed and adapted to since returning to the store in Glen Arbor for the busy summer season.
“It is very meaningful and the business was kind of like our baby, we just love the store so much, so we’re kind of used to coparenting our business, but I would say it was really cool to be pregnant together for one,” Rudd said. “It helped us to be able to be more compassionate and understanding of how each other were feeling because we both didn’t feel great during pregnancy, so we could bond over that.”
“We didn’t have much control when we had our babies,” Gray continued. “We were trying for a while and it just happened that we both got pregnant around the same time.”
Rudd had her daughter and second child, Quinn Pearl, on March 4, and Gray had her first child and son, Rory Earl, a little over a month later on April 9. Gray and Rudd were the longtime managers at Cottonseed together before purchasing the business from the Oberschulte family in May of 2021. The business partners have known each other for about a decade, growing from being store managers together and now to mothers.
Being pregnant at the same time meant both women not only could sympathize with the same struggles, but that support and compassion also applied after the babies were born, too. Gray and Rudd have been bringing Quinn and Rory into work daily for the past couple of months, working and getting things done while the babies sleep.
“We understood if we couldn’t show up to work as hard as we normally would be able to and that transitioned into our babies being born,” Rudd continued. “We are just working when we can work and getting things done, but also we bring our babies to work with us, so we both have our babies in the office which is really awesome. Sometimes we take turns watching each other’s babies so someone can do something else, like working on the floor or helping ring someone up, so it works really well.”
The Cottonseed staff have been essential in also making it possible for Rudd and Gray to bring their babies into the store. With both Quinn and Rory being newborns, most of the time, they’ll be catching up on some sleep. At this age, the babies are ultimately very calm and “laidback,” Rudd described, something she said herself and Gray were blessed with.
“This would not be possible if we did not have a fantastic staff… The other point of that is they all love babies, and they’re very happy to take them if we ask to hold them or just take them for a little walk around. We do that and they love it, so it’s a winwin,” Rudd said. “These babies are dream babies, so I don’t think you could take any average baby to work. I know a lot of newborns are really sleepy, so they do nap a lot, and we just work when they are napping, but they’re super laid back and happy babies. I don’t want to set the standard that it’s so easy to bring your babies to work though, we just have really laid back babies.”
Gray said they were supposed to get back to work at different times from their maternity leave this spring, but because of medical complications, Rory was born three weeks earlier than anticipated, and Rudd had to return a bit sooner in a part-time capacity to make sure things kept going.
“Rory ended up being in the NICU for three weeks, then when we got home with him, I wanted to get outside of the house,” Gray said. “So I started to come to the store and work again because we had been dealing with the hospital for over a month, so it was just time to change it up a little.”
While this year is focused on being with the babies and managing the store as new mothers, Rudd said they hope to do a little more traveling to buying shows next winter to search for more unique products and inventory to stock the women’s boutique with. In the meantime, Gray said they plan to continue bringing their babies to work this season while they’re still infants.
“We’re just making sure that our staff is supported and that the business is running well and on being moms, which is a very important job,” Rudd said. “Next year, we’re always trying to tweak the business and experiment with it and with our hours and products… one of our short term goals is probably going to New York to a buying show next winter and hopefully opening our store earlier for the spring next year.”
“We’re very grateful that we are in a position where we can bring our babies to work so we can be with them,” Gray said. “But it’s also making sure our staff knows that we’re there for them, because it’s a lot to handle sometimes.”
