I am now two weeks away from going back to work in earnest (I’ve been able to work from home a bit thorough out this entire maternity leave).
I love my “pay” job. I work with young adults with disabilities and help them develop job readiness skills and (hopefully) obtain employment. Since moving two hours away from my previously full time job doing this – and now only working part time (mostly from home and one very long day away a week) – I’ve moved out of only working with these young adults directly to more of a planning and problem solving side of the program. I still am able to do instruction once in a while, however, which is always energizing!
As much as I love what I do and that I feel like I’m making a difference in people’s lives, it’s always hard to leave my family.
One day a week during the school year, I drive two hours (or more) one way. There and back. Fortunately I work from home the rest of the time.
Now that I’m leaving three people I love dearly (one of whom is teeny tiny), I will have to readjust to working again.
Frankly, I have NO idea what working from home will look like. I’ve done a couple Skype video conference calls and phone calls with baby bear en tow (thank goodness for the moby wrap!). But it took a lot of coordinating.
The biggest hindrance to my patience is having tasks to do…cooking, cleaning, working, errands, etc. And being productive – I’ve learned since getting married – is wrapped up in how I view my self-worth. It’s already a challenge to make food, and keep a clean and organized house with a 2 year old and a high need infant. I can’t imagine what finding more time for paid work hours into our lives will look like…
Fortunately at this point, I can still enjoy a “maternity leave”, which requires only 4 or 5 hours of paid work a week.
Unfortunately, the looming one long day away means I need a supply of mama’s milk stored up. Getting mastitis and the stomach flu the first month did not lend itself to storing milk up. During the second month, I really just didn’t want to pump.
I can’t stand pumping.
And with a high need baby who is literally at my breasts for hours each day and night, making time to pump is a not an easy task.
But I’ve started pumping because I don’t want to feed him formula if I can help it. And of course I will be pumping throughout the whole day I’m going (pumping and driving anyone?).
Here’s to hoping my supply doesn’t plummet like it did when I went back to work after having Roo.
