Back to Reality
3:19 PM
The day has come. The day that I have to "man up" (or woman up) and head back to work. That's right, 12 weeks of maternity leave have come and gone and now the date that seem so far away back in early June is here. *Sigh*
It's never, ever easy to leave your baby and return to work, but I am hoping it won't be as traumatic for me since I've done this once before and we all lived through it. However, I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to returning to being a full-time employee.
So I've decided to make a list of pros and cons to illustrate how I feel about this major transition in my life.
Shall we?
Pros:
I will receive a pay check.
I will keep my wonderful insurance.
I will get to wear cute clothes again.
I will get to have adult conversations.
I will be able to type an e-mail and return a phone call without snapping or using a quiet finger (at the older child) or rocking a baby at the same time.
I will get to see my work friends.
I will be using my education/degrees that I worked so many years to attain.
Cons:
I have to wear cute clothes again. Goodbye yoga pants, tank tops and t-shirts.
I will have to fix my hair. Every day.
I will have to leave my PRECIOUS baby girl. The sweet moments when it's just me and her. When I feed her, when I hold her and when she coos and talks to me. (I could stop the list here, but I'll go on.)
I will miss coffee and lunch play dates with friends.
I will have to rise at an ungodly hour to get myself, the baby and Libby ready for school.
I will have to deal with the general public.
Long days.
The STRESSFUL after-work rush to pick up the girls, start dinner and wind down just to start the same routine over again the next day.
Someone else will be caring for my children during the day.
The guilt of being a working mother will return.
Most of my friends are working mothers. And I know I'm not the only mother to ever feel these feelings. This day and age in our society most women work. We do it to have ALL the things we want and to provide for our children. But just because we all do it, well, it doesn't make it any easier. So to all those who have and all those that will some day have these same mixture of emotions, we must lean on each other to make it through. And of course I can't overlook that God has gifted me with a wonderful husband who is a true team player when it comes to parenting. He isn't too good to change a diaper or drop kids off. And he never complains. So together we can do this!
Thanks for your encouraging words and prayers. And if you see me at work with spit up in my hair or my shirt on backwards, just smile and know I'm earning my badge as working mother.
12 comments
I know it's hard. I will be thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteWorst day ever going back to work but I adore your Pros and Cons list. It will be nice to have adult conversations but it's never fun leaving them with others.
ReplyDeleteTerribly hard! I often think it a little odd that in my generation (and I am older than you of course) it was NEVER an option to stay home. We were all just going to college and work - period. Child or not. Which is why I picked education to have the same schedule as my (at that time hypothetical in the future) kids. When I was in my early 20s, if anyone even mentioned such a thing as being a homemaker, they were considered "lazy". Well, we all now know that is totally untrue, and if I had it all to do over....
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