Working Mom you are not alone
We absolutely love to feature women telling their stories of returning back to work because ultimately we learn from these experiences . The idea is not to feel alone.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
Today we are featuring Melissa from Blowouts and Bottles. Elissa is an Administrative Coordinator for History & Social Sciences for a large School Division in Northern Virginia. She recently returned back to work after 4 months of maternity leave. Here is Melissa’s return to work experience
Prior to giving birth, I felt like I did everything I could to prepare for the challenges of a newborn. My husband and I took all of the classes we could, I spent weeks organizing every inch of the house, and we prepped weeks of freezer meals. I also knew what to expect regarding the healing process after birth and the signs to watch for with postpartum depression. I felt prepared and ready to go! What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was what life would be like when the bubble of maternity leave ended.
At about the six week mark after Liam was born, the reality of returning to work set in. And I was completely unprepared for the emotions surrounding this change. While things were certainly not easy when Liam was a tiny newborn, I felt like those early weeks were a cake walk in comparison to my first few weeks back at work and I was genuinely not prepared for that. I cried more in those weeks where I was struggling with the idea of leaving my baby than I ever have in my life! I think what I struggled with the most was how unexpected these feelings were. I have always been a bit of a workaholic and I love my job so why was I all of a sudden staying up nights thinking of ways to quit? I just couldn’t bear the thought of someone else doing the job I had come to love the most…taking care of Liam.
What made everything worse was around the time I returned to work, Liam started going through the 4-month sleep regression and we were also dealing with some issues around his weight gain. I was stressed, sleep-deprived, and just sad. I kept hoping that the anticipation of returning to work would be worse than the reality, and I’ll admit this was partially true. Once I got back into the routine, it did become a little easier. And that’s what I’ll emphasize for any new mama coming to the end of her maternity leave. It will never be easy, but it does get easier.
I’m only four weeks into this new routine, but I wanted to share some of the things that made my transition back easier
I’m only four weeks into this new routine, but I wanted to share some of the things that made my transition back easier.
1: Find a bedtime and morning routine that works for you: Maximize your time to sleep! You’re already lacking sleep in those first few months, so spending a ton of time getting ready for work in the morning is salt in the wound.
2: Find your tribe:This one was key for me. My husband, Justin, is super supportive (so much so that he even entertained my insane schemes to move so I could quit my job) but as much as he tried to understand and empathize, I needed to vent to other women experiencing what I was.
3: Make pumping as easy as possible (if you choose this route!): Maintaining my supply so I could exclusively breastfeed my son was a big deal for me. So another thing that made the transition easier was planning ahead for what pumping at work would look like.
4: Consider speaking with your supervisor before returning: About a week before I was due back at work, I scheduled a meeting with my supervisor to talk about the transition. We briefly checked in about what had been going on since I left and what projects would be coming up.
5: Remember your why: This one is both helpful and heartbreaking. As I got ready to return to work, I constantly found myself asking why? Why should I go back to work and leave my baby with someone else all day when I know I am the best person for the job of taking care of him? It all just seemed so unfair. He needs his mama! For me, staying home just wasn’t an option financially. I want to be able to provide the best experiences for my son and we need the second income to do that well.
6: Give yourself grace: Okay. This one is cliche and, to be honest, annoyed the heck out of me when people told me this as I prepared to return (it’s right up there with “just relax” while trying to conceiveThis transition is hard. I constantly feel like I am only giving 50% of myself at work, at home, and to myself.
For Melissa’s full post please visit https://blowoutsandbottles.com