It's working for Anna B
Minneapolis, Minnesota
2 children
"I was very fortunate to come into contact with a company in Minneapolis called Nourish Collection, run by a mom who is a passionate champion for working parents, paid leave, and breastfeeding, who allows me to work from home and bring my baby to work with me on office days."
What is one piece of advice you wish you could offer your former expectant self?
Put your family first. Kids grow up so fast. You’ve got your whole life to have a career.
FOR MOMS: If you breastfed, was there a place for you to pump that met your needs and was conducive to your success? If you breastfed, how did you decide to continue? FOR DADS: What, if any, adjustments did you (or your workplace) make to your schedule after having a baby? Was it specific to your manager or larger, whole work culture?
I worked a 3 1/2 hour shift with an hour round-trip commute, so I had to pump just once per workday. Pumping was terrible. My employer didn’t support pumping very strongly- I had to pump in my car most of the time, and I had to take an unpaid break to pump, and then stay longer at the end of my shift to make up for the time lost. Sometimes I was unable to take a long enough break and had to pump in my car while driving back to pick up my son.
How much leave did you take, and how comfortable were you taking it?
With baby number one, I took twelve weeks, and my partner took four. It was great to have that help. With our second baby, I took six weeks, and so did my partner. Six weeks wasn’t nearly long enough to recover from childbirth, it turns out, and I ended up leaving at noon on my second day back with a high fever and spent the next 24 hours in bed with mastitis.
How easy was it to put a childcare arrangement together and did it work for your family?
I felt uneasy about putting my son in childcare, and could not afford to pay a caregiver, so I swapped childcare with another mom in my city. Our families became good friends, and I quit my job after just a few weeks back to become their full-time nanny so I could keep my son with me and breastfeed him on demand all the time.
After my second child was born, I continued doing childcare for a short time but was unhappy and wanted to get back to a career I felt passionate about, but being apart from my baby was not an option for me. I was very fortunate to come into contact with a company in Minneapolis called Nourish Collection, run by a mom who is a passionate champion for working parents, paid leave, and breastfeeding, who allows me to work from home and bring my baby to work with me on office days. This is such an awesome solution and a progressive policy that could do wonders for our workforce if more companies would adopt it!
What was your biggest challenge going back to work?
Being apart from my son before he or I were ready, and also trying to get my fully breastfed baby to take a bottle, were very stressful.
Fill in the blanks: As a working parent, I never expected ____ would be so hard and ____ would be so much easier!
It takes longer than six weeks for your body to recuperate from childbirth.