Working mothers?

I am sure more of the working moms will answer this for you.

Here is my feelings on this very personal subject. There are various types of working moms. Some work because they love their jobs and want to work, some work because they have to in order to maintain a certain level of lifestyle and others work because if they didn't their family would not have food on the table or a roof over their heads. All of these moms love their children more than anything.

My story is that I was lucky enough to get a full 14 weeks of maternity leave from my boss. I was orginally going to return to work 3 days per week with Molly in a daycare center near my home but we have a lot of upcoming projects that my boss needs me for so I offered to come back f/t, but only if I could work from home 4X per week and be in the office once a week AND Molly could stay home with me when I am home. It means I might have to work a bit more after my DH comes home and I have to juggle A LOT during the day but that is fine with me.
I don't think it is ever easy to leave your baby, even if your mom is caring for him/her. Each type of daycare comes with pros and cons. Heck, being a SAHM has pros and cons too. I would rather be a SAHM because I think it is going to a lot for me to work f/t, care for a home, care for my child, and do everything else that I do. But we all just wake up each day and make the best of what we are given.

I went back to work part time after 6 weeks. My daughter stayed home with me during that time. I went back to work full time when she was 4 months old.

I will admit that I was just sick over having to allow someone else to take care of her during the day. I currently live in Texas (originally from LI) and I really dont know anyone here and I was really in a panic about what to do about childcare. I dont have any family here and no one who could even give me a reference. We looked at daycare centers, in home child care and Nannies. I probably would have gone the Nanny route if I could have found a family to do Nanny sharing. After many discussions and list of pros and cons, we ended up with in-home child care. I interviewed 8 providers before I found the right one. I originally had her with one family for a week and pulled her out because I did not feel comfortable. I then found another who I ended up loving. My daughter LOVES her as well. Finding child care was really one of the most stressful periods for me. I dont think that there is any decision more important than who you will entrust to watch your child.

Once I found someone that I trusted I felt 100% at ease. I know that it is much harder on me than it is on her. My plan in the future is to work part time, but for now I know that my baby is being well taken care of.

My only complaint is that I don't live 5 minutes from the beach anymore (lake lewisville doesn't count!) and neither my husband or I have any family here. I do love the cost of living here. Plus I like to call my family and friends in March when it is freezing cold and tell them I am sitting outside drinking a margarita!

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Posted by ddunne23

Plus I like to call my family and friends in March when it is freezing cold and tell them I am sitting outside drinking a margarita!

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Hey Doreen! No fair But, no more margharitas for you (for awhile) anyway!

Hey Doreen! No fair But, no more margharitas for you (for awhile) anyway!

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Ha ha Claud! For the first time ever, I had to pass up 'the beer cart' at work this friday! Our CFO walks around with the mail buckets filled with ice and beer. It was a rough day.

I had about 12 weeks of maternity leave...with 2 weeks of vactaion I saved as well. I was panicking about childcare because the place that we had recieved so many great referrals to..did not have an opening until JUNE and I had to go back F/T in March!

I looked around locally but nothing suited us.
we wound up getting lucky and a salesperson who calls on me knew someone who had a great nanny for hir.
We interviewed her and gave her a trial for 2 days...she was only available P/t as she worked the other days for someone on our city counsel. great referrals.
wound up working at home 2 days and having her heere for 3 day.s the 2 says at home were VERY hard as I work in advertising and everything is PRESSURE!
so, eventually my boss's good nature died out and she said she could not have someone at my level working from home2x/wk. (Mind you,s hhe can do anything she wants w/ our positions as she owns part of the company..and did not need to report ANY of this to the parent company if she did not want to)...

anyway, I negoitiated going back 4x which is full time ,,in office and 1 day home to start in June. Julianne started f/t daycare at the Oceanside JCC at 6 months old.
This wa one of the hardest decisions I had to make. Hubby was more at ease w/ the daycare provider as he had many referrals ont he place

In the end, she LOVES going there...and I can evaporate as soon as I drop her off and she would not care. Actually, rob drops her and picks her up every day as he works 15 min from the house...and my commute is 1-1/2 HOURS.

we juggle the best we can..for those times that she may have picked up a bug and gets sick. He will run to daycare to pick her up while I call the dr and getthem to see her. ...then I will work from home the next day and take care of her...and we alternate if it is longer than that.
we dont have any other alternatives as my parents are deceased...and his mom helps us in a pinch...but nothing that I can SCHEDULE. ,,and when you are a mom ..everything is THE SCHEDULE.

I bolt out of work at exxactly 5pm..and RUN from 41/madison to penn stn..in 15 min or less to make the 520 train that gets me home at 615ish. ..I meet rob and J at home, make some dinner for her, feed her while rob may cook something for us, bathe her or play with her, then bottle her while baby neptune or baby galileo plays and relaxes her. Off to bed between 730 and 830. Then it is dinner for us, wash up, prep everything for next day's daycare, catch up on mail, clothes out for tomorrow, shower maybe TV and sleep.

it gets very tedious...and we are aux police members..although rob is the only one still in uniform...so he gets to go out on patrol 1x/wk from 730-1130.
I am still trying to find SOMETHING to enrich myself so I can get out ..and get some time to myself too. usually that is when i get to sleep!

Aside from the commute time, my schedule is pretty much the same! Here's my day, minute to minute....

I wake up, hopefully before Rebecca does. I take a shower while my husband has breakfast and listens for her to wake up. As soon as I'm out of the shower, and dry my hair (whatever little part of it I get to dry before she's hungry), I stay in my robe, and change Rebecca's diaper and feed her the morning bottle. Then, I change her outfit from her sleep outfit to her daywear. Then I bring her into our room, and put her on our bed, while I get dressed for work (all the while, talking to her to entertain her while she rolls around on our bed).

Then, I have my husband watch her while I run into the kitchen to make the bottles for daycare, and put them in her diaper bag, and put the diaper bag into the stroller. Then, I bring her snowsuit back into our bedroom, and put her in it, and put her in the stroller, and I get my coat on, and off we go to daycare.

Fortunately the daycare is owned by my company so it's literally a one-minute drive from my office to the daycare (which is only 5 minutes from my apartment).

I then bring her to daycare, take off her snowsuit, fill out that day's sheet about how she slept, when she last ate, when she was last changed, etc. Then I put her snowsuit in her cubby, put her clean pacifier in her cubby, put her bottles in the daycare refrigerator, kiss my baby goodbye, and get back in my car and go to work.

I visit her during my lunch time (the highlight of my day). And, I know I'm very lucky that I can do this!!!

Then, I have to leave work by 5:45pm the latest (I used to stay until 7pm), drive to daycare, bring in her carseat from my car, pack up all the empty bottles, the used pacifier, and put Rebecca in her snowsuit, in the carseat, and go home.

As soon as we get home, I change her diaper, and give her another bottle, no matter when she had her last bottle at daycare (but usually it is time for one). Then we play a little bit until her father comes home. By this time, it's almost 8pm. So, her father plays with her for a while, while I run to wash the bottles and pacifier from daycare, and get it ready for the next morning. I also take this chance to throw her clothes into the laundry. By this time, it's about 8:45pm, and I then get her bath ready. By 9:15, I'm bathing her, by 9:30 she is having her bedtime bottle, and by 9:45, HOPEFULLY, she has fallen asleep and is in her crib (more likely, by 10pm). Then, I clean up after the bath, clean the last bottle, and get the bottles ready in case there are any middle of the night feedings. By this time, it's after 10pm, and while her father has since made dinner for us, I'm WAY too tired to eat, so I grab something little, and try to relax a little before I fall asleep. And then, it starts all over again.

I have no time for myself, as you can see, but you begin to settle into a routine, and it works out. And, the fact that you're doing all of this for a little bundle who looks at you with complete trust and love makes it all worth while. But, it DOES take up your entire life and energy - it changes EVERYTHING! But, SO worth it!!!