Maternity Leave Debrief

[hannahbear]

Nov 5, 2016 6:36:24 GMT -5 gratefulgirl said:

Re: work as break. It is! Until, that is, you get home. I do 10 hour days. Home at 6:30. Sometimes baby bed is when I get home (my kids clocks run early). All 3 kids are varying levels of mess from not seeing their primary caregiver all day. Everyone wants to be held at once. And housework has fewer naptimes to get done in, too. At some point DD3 will be wailing when I leave in the morning like her big sisters did even though our nanny is the sweetest. Then they will wail when she leaves at night and DH will have to deal with that. Those are the moments that make me question work - the ones where keeping my household seems impossible (even with all DH does) and especially when it seems hard on the kids.

But the work days themselves are a total break.

Maybe it won't feel like that forever! It was just my first day, so probably I was just feeling the transition. Plus, I'm working part time right now. I bet full time would be really hard!

[youdontsay]

Before all of the life changes I had, I was dreading going back to work and agreed to not come back until January 2017.

Now that we moved and are living with my parents for now, I'm much more comfortable going back to work and dare I say, excited? I just got a job offer on Tuesday for a huge hospital in northeast Tennessee and hopefully I start the end of this month.

I do feel bad leaving DD with my parents since they are older, but with our schedules it'll only be a couple of hours 3X a week. MH got a job in Knoxville from 4pm-midnight with Wednesdays and Thursday's off and my job ends at 5, it'll take me 40 minutes to get home so they would only need to watch her from 2-5:40ish.

I honestly wish my second half of maternity leave was a lot more relaxing. I did a lot of packing plus moving down here just when DD and I were starting a routine. We still have our evening routine which includes a bath and reading a book but I know she's too little for a full day routine and sticking to it.

[steph]

I go back the Monday after thanksgiving and I'm not ready. I mean, part of me is so ready. But part of me just isn't. If I could just keep my tuesdays and thursdays with B that'd be amazing. We've done so much. We go to bounceu every Thursday, countless chick fil a lunch dates, hit the aquarium, please touch museum, discovery museum, academy of natural sciences, so many playgrounds. I'm going to miss those days with them.

[shanny]

steph I start a new job that same week too. It'll be nice to end my non-working time with Thanksgiving festivities. Is all your childcare worked out yet? I just got my job offer and they want me to start quite soon since the end of the year is busy for them so I'm looking for options now and grandmas can hopefully cover if I don't find a suitable in-home daycare soon.

[meagpt22]

Nov 17, 2016 14:18:29 GMT -5 steph said:

I go back the Monday after thanksgiving and I'm not ready. I mean, part of me is so ready. But part of me just isn't. If I could just keep my tuesdays and thursdays with B that'd be amazing. We've done so much. We go to bounceu every Thursday, countless chick fil a lunch dates, hit the aquarium, please touch museum, discovery museum, academy of natural sciences, so many playgrounds. I'm going to miss those days with them.

I return to my 4 days a week that Monday too. Also going to miss my days with DD. We've been doing story hours and gym class. Plus other activities that are so nice when not crowded during the week.

[steph]

Nov 17, 2016 15:12:47 GMT -5 shanny said:

steph I start a new job that same week too. It'll be nice to end my non-working time with Thanksgiving festivities. Is all your childcare worked out yet? I just got my job offer and they want me to start quite soon since the end of the year is busy for them so I'm looking for options now and grandmas can hopefully cover if I don't find a suitable in-home daycare soon.

Shhhhh I'm gonna attempt to keep the babe home for December. DH is off a bunch, my parents are retired, and my sister just picks up subbing spots, her fiancé makes bank working in Kabul so she's not in a hurry to get a permanent teaching position- because then how would she go to Europe and stuff? Lol

[shanny]

steph Hope that works well! I know everyone will like to spend time with the kids. Will B be at home for December too?

[steph]

Nov 17, 2016 17:02:44 GMT -5 shanny said:

steph Hope that works well! I know everyone will like to spend time with the kids. Will B be at home for December too?

Nope! Back to 5 days a week for her!

[annbuhdan]

Congrats on your new job shanny!