I am going to start off by saying that I did not want to go back to work. I could not understand how America has a 6-week paid maternity leave. I feel like it’s too short then if you decide to do bonding (which is what I did) you have to ask for another 6-weeks off that is unpaid. Going back to work really hurt my heart. My work schedule was 6pm to 3am so I was unable to sleep with my baby and my boyfriend worked from 5:30pm to 2:30am. My mom told me she was able to have my child and told me that she didn’t want me driving late at night worrying about going to get her. She told me to just wait until 12pm to get her to spend time with her and then bring her back before work so to be honest it was only 4 or 5 hours that I got to spend with my baby.
The first time I had to leave her with my mama I cried. I didn’t want to have to leave my baby. I felt like a bad mom to leave her then to only spend a couple of hours with her and have to give her right back. I wanted to quit my job right then and there. I worked at a cable company at the time and when I first walked in, I saw a pampers box next to my supervisor’s desk and instantly started crying thinking who would do something like that. Next there was a customer who called in that was experiencing no internet because his modem wasn’t synced with his router. As soon as I fixed his internet there was a baby crying in the background.
I tried to hold it in and contain my emotions, but you got to give me some credit I was still breastfeeding at the time and very hormonal. I cried so hard my customer was trying to calm me down he automatically knew I just had a baby and understood. My coworkers heard what was going on and by the time I got off of the phone with him they were trying to cheer me up. Then one of them brought up their children and I started crying again. I felt crappy about me working like this for a couple of weeks. It was because of this why I don’t remember my child being at those stages. I knew then I would never compromise my family life for work again.
From there I was able to change my work schedule temporarily to 5:30am to 2:30pm. Which that schedule was perfect her Dad had her during the day then I had her after. The only problem is that it was short lived, and it was back to night shift. It was then I knew that I had to get a new job to better fit my schedule. I wanted to find a job where the work life balance was perfect for me and my family.
So, after being at a couple of different places and not feeling like they fit really well I was able to find a great job that allowed me to work from home without being on the phones. This allowed my baby to stay home and make as much noise as she wanted. With the flexibility of being able to take my daughter to the doctor without having to worry about whether or not is my job in jeopardy. Don’t settle for a job just because of the pay or benefits. If it doesn’t work out for your family, then that’s it you got to work your hardest to try to change the situation. The job will replace you in a day if something happens to you, but your family will mourn you forever.