What is one piece of advice you wish you could offer your former expectant self?

Things will be okay. Deep breaths. It usually all works out, so, statistically speaking, it should work out this time, too.

What was your primary motivation for deciding to return (or not) to work? How early did you tell your employer?

I planned to come back to work, but plans changed. I told I was expecting when I was five months pregnant. I had a closed-door meeting in the office, hoping word wouldn’t spread too quickly.

How much leave did you take, and how comfortable were you taking it?

The company I was with had a very generous maternity policy and I had planned on returning to work five months after taking leave. My commute to work was interminably long and, although I had lobbied for it, I was not permitted to go back to work part time or work partially from home after my daughter was born. So my back-to-work reality turned out to be very different than what I had planned. I never returned to my former company. And it turned out to be the best thing.

How easy was it to put a childcare arrangement together and did it work for your family?

When did the “new normal” set in for you?

!

Who was your biggest source of support in returning to work? What was your biggest pregnancy indulgence?

My husband. We make a great team, juggling work and kids, constantly.

Well, during my first two months pregnant with Gabe, I ate nothing but sugar cereal all day long. It didn’t feel quite like an indulgence then, but perhaps a strange indulgence now?

Fill in the blanks: As a working parent, I never expected ____ would be so hard and ____ would be so much easier!

I never expected finding great child care would be so hard and being okay with working (on most days anyway) would be so much easier

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