Is everybody going back to work?

[lisaalove]

Plan on taking at least 2 months for just baby and I then if we can afford I'll go back part time for a month or two and then start up full time again.

 

[mel28nicole]

Before DD was born I was a social worker, barely making anything, but paying back on student loan debt. Told myself I would go back after 3 months.

DD is going on 7 months and I'm still at home DH works in the gas/oil industry and has crazy hours/out of town work. He makes enough money for me to stay home. Plus I'm paranoid about childcare, and even if I did work my income would probably pay for childcare expenses so I didn't see the point.

I do want to find part time work, maybe 3 days a week just to get myself out of the house and have my MIL watch DD. Haven't found anything yet.

 

[LadyBug923]

Thanks for the input ladies. It's definitely making me feel better about my decision.

Where I work I started as an Resident assistant, basically a CNA. I took on a promotion as activities coordinator right before I found out I was pregnant. I'm only 22 and dealing with some major issues in my personal life. I'm finding that I have no budget for activities, my residents are all like 90 years old and not very active, and they have dementia which makes activities difficult. I am supposed to be responsible for daily activities, weekly activities, holiday parties, field trips, fundraisers, community events.....I can't even coordinate my own life right now and it's only going to get harder with a baby at home.
Which is why I want to step down positions to just the CNA work right now, and there would be no change in hourly wage.
And if I took only part time then I would have basically 100% free child care.
Things with OH are bumpy right now though so I'm not sure if I can count on his financial support as much as I need to feel comfortable.

Sorry for the long post, but thank you guys for sharing your stories! I honestly feel really guilty for wanting to step down and take less hours. So it helps to see lots of other mommies working part time and still making things work.

 

[Tattoo]

I went back to teaching full time when my eldest daughter was four months old. It wasn't easy, but we needed my income. Now my husband is earning a lot more money, and he actually out-earns me, so I'm able to take a year of maternity leave this time. I am going back to work afterward, but I'm applying for a job share on my return. Three people at work have all expressed an interest in sharing a class with me next year, so I know it's a workable situation, and I'd be surprised if my boss turned down my request. I wouldn't want to leave my job completely, I worked too hard to get here!

 

[Button#]

I've been a SAHM since DS was born. I wouldn't have had much money left over after childcare and travel if I went back to work, also with the commute and the expectation to put in unpaid overtime I wouldn't see much of DS in the week at all.

 

[aknqtpie]

As much as being a SAHM would be awesome, my DH's job is more of a seasonal one (busy in the summer, slow in the winter), so my job gives us the steady income. But it works out good that he will be bringing in more money in the summer so I can take time off with the baby.

Also, I don't think my personality would handle being a SAHM very well. I spent so much time going to school to be where I am at now, and I feel that if I took even a couple years off, it would hurt the professional side of my life. Especially because the company I am at has a lot of room for growth and opportunities to move up the ladder. I am on the older side of things when it is coming to having my first baby (I will be 31 in July), so my job is really a big part of my identity.

 

[LadyBug923]

I'm from Alaska too....does your husband fish? Mine is a fisherman, busy with seining all summer and crabbing from February to April usually. But the income is so undependable.

 

[glitterfly]

I'll be going back full time in jan 2016... Financially it works out just a little bit better for me to return to work.

Xx

 

[d_b]

I'll be going back after a year of maternity leave. I found it much easier to go back after my second than it was with my first.. I needed a break from them! So with 3 I might be begging to go back to work early, haha! Financially we would be ok on just OH's salary but it would be hard for me to get back into my career if I took s lot of time off... I think I would want to go back once the kids are all in school. I've already taken 2.5 years of mat leave on my first 2 kids and about to take another year and I do find it has really impacted my career. I would love to do part time but it would be hard with my job, tho I might try for 4 days/week when I go back.

 

[Mintastic]

So jealous of those of you taking six months to a year off. I told someone at work today that I probably won't be back until August and she was horrified.
Baby is due May 8th so if I start my leave mid-priced that is more than three months (the US standard).

She made me feel bad so I backtracked saying "well it just depends on when the baby actually comes I guess..."

 

[haleiwamama]

It really depends on your support system I guess. I can't go back because my work requires a minimum of 9 hours per day, when you add that to 1 hour commute and the fact that I dont have anyone to help baby sit for free and that my employer is very unreasonable and inflexible about work hours, I have to stop working and stay at home. Plus after paying for childcare whatever is left would be not sufficient to justify. Childcare in Hawaii is very expensive, well over $2k if you have to work full time.

 

[LadyBug923]

My LO is due June 7th and I would be going back to work mid august. But since I live on a small island in AK and we can't deliver babies at the hospital here I have to relocate to Juneau a few weeks before my due date which is going to take a few weeks of my maternity leave. So I will be taking 3 months off, but going back to work when baby is only 2 months old. The idea of leaving her to go back to work full time is killing me! Especially since if I went back full time it would be a child care facility with someone I don't know taking care of my 8 week old baby!! If I go back part time and work evenings MIL can watch her for free. But my boss REALLY doesn't want me to give up my position. A supervisor is trying to tell me that union rules would prevent me from taking a cut in hours anyways....which I think is BS! I LOVE my job and am very attached to my residents and I could never afford to stay at home full time so I'm not sure what I'll due if they tell me it's full time or no time

 

[Catiren]

im currently part time and i dont have anyone to watch my baby. my boyfriend works with me at the same job and he gets more hours than i do, and he plans on getting two jobs(side by side buildings) when i take maternity leave. i feel bad for deciding not to go back to work but i cant afford to pay the baby sitters around here. my brother pays hundreds for 3 of his kids childcare while they work. theres no way im paying a stranger that much. id rather be a stay at home mom until she reaches an age where i can go to work while shes at school.

i talked to my manager about what i should do because i was asking if i should put in my 2 weeks notice a month ahead of time and she told me she thinks i should really just take my maternity leave instead of quitting. that kind of makes me feel appreciated to be honest. so i just called for maternity leave this morning. it will be when im 35 weeks so the week of april 18th.

 

[BabyJayne]

I'll be taking about 10 months off and returning to work 3 days a week. I reduced to three days when DD was born, so not a lot will change for us. MIL will have baby one day a week, and it will spend two days in nursery (which is what DD did). DD is in full time school now, and they have after school clubs which we will use when I go back to work. My DH has a very good job and we could probably do it on his salary - but I have a good job too and I love it, so I want to go back and three days is perfect. In saying that, I appreciate the fact we can get up to 12 months maternity leave here in the UK. The US sucks on that score and their support of new mothers in the workplace.

 

[aknqtpie]

LadyBug - I am also in AK.. but up here outside of Anchorage.