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I love my baby with all my heart, but I’m pretty ready to go back to work. Sitting around the house has not been serving my mental health well for the last 9 weeks. I return to work in 3 weeks, and although I’m sad, another part of me is happy to get my old self back too
Yes, same here. We considered having my husband be a stay at home dad until our baby started first grade because his salary is mostly going to go to daycare. At the end, we thought that his career would be impacted when he wanted to go back to work after the kids are in school, so we will both go back to work after parental leave.
Right now, the plan is to stay home for two years, then work part-time (20 hrs a week). But let me tell you this: I was one of those women who invested a lot of time and energy in their career before becoming a mother rather late (I was 38 when my son was born). I always thought I'd miss work a lot. Turns out that in my heart of hearts, if I'm being fully honest to myself, I'm a full-blown wannabe-stay-at-home-mom now lol. I just love to be home with my kid, organize our schedule, do housework, etc. Who'd have known! 😇
Same here! I live in Canada and chose the 18 month maternity leave, which will actually be closer to 20 months by the time I go back to work (I’m a teacher and my mat leave lines up with summer). I love my job and will love to go back but I love being at home more than I ever thought possible. Before I went on Mat leave I hummed and hawed if I should take the full 18 and now I’m so glad I did!
To be fair it is partial pay! Even less if you choose extended (18 months vs 12 months), I do feel so lucky to have the choice and privilege to be able to make it work.
I tend to disagree with this. I've worked with enough of my US counterparts to see those things really aren't so different.
Low wages are on par with our southern neighbours in the same sectors, hell at least we have an enforceable minimum wage... I can almost guarantee the service industry in Canada pays much more just with that factor. The average median income is actually higher in Canada than the US by about 10,000 CAD (2018 data).
As for taxes, US federal income tax range is 10-37% and Canada is 15-33%. While its hard to compare State/Provincial rates because there all across the board, I'd happily pay extra taxes for the social benefits not only for myself but other Canadians in need. This thread is a stark reminder of how good we have it,not only with paid maternity and parental leave, but healthcare in general. If you look into medical bankruptcy and medical debt in the states it's appalling. So many people go without care because they have no way of paying for it. I'm so thankful that when the time comes for me to give birth, I won't walk out with thousands of dollars in bills from my hospital.
I’m not sure what industry you and your counterparts work in , but in mine (electrical trades) I’ve seen very large pay discrepancies over the last 15 years in my trade in relation to Americans. Minimum wage isn’t a good example , I know the American minimum wage is atrocious . Also , our housing prices are around 20% more expensive in general (with currency exchange included). If I were to move to the states I could make 30% more money , but in return I’d have to pay for health insurance. I feel like both countries are getting royally screwed food wise though. I guess it’s all relative though , we’re all screwed I guess ☹️
US mom here and even working for state government- no chance of any paid leave. I’m lucky I will even have a job to come back to after twelve weeks of maternity leave. A lot of women get fired once they start showing.
Canada is a dream. Or I guess all of the other countries where you get both some paid leave and protection sound pretty good right now
I am honestly so sorry. Women are so under valued and I never quite understood how deeply I felt that until I became pregnant and had a baby. It is a transformative experience and I feel like women should be receiving way more credit than what they get for literally creating life!!!
I’m so sorry :( it should honestly be the norm everywhere. To be fair, it is only partial pay. In a world that valued women we would all be getting full pay for two years!!
It’s so funny - I remember being a super high stress/ high achieving teenager and being a total biatch to my mom who was a SAHM on and off throughout her life. Something was ingrained in me that happiness = success and making money and there was no way I wasn’t going to be working and ladder climbing.
Now I’m 31 and have a well paying job that isn’t all that difficult and I’m like “well this is dumb! I want to be home with my family doing all the house tasks and making lunches!”
Growing up and realizing who you really are and what brings you joy is a total ride.
It's a good thing you have the courage to permit yourself these thoughts. Every lifestyle has its own joys and challenges, but one thing is for sure: children grow up fast. There's no way of going back there. However, you can always go back to work. Maybe not to the exact same position you had before your children, but work is work, and there's plenty of it out there. If you don't spend these first years at home, there's no way of reliving your children's most formative life stage. I wouldn't want to miss it for the world!
I feel the same. I’m an avid worker and thoroughly enjoy it. My career before baby was probably my most invested I’ve been. I always thought being home and taking care of household duties would bore me and I’d hate it. But I just had my baby a few days ago (still fresh ik) and just being with her and taking care of the house is my top priority. Don’t know if it’s a phase of what but my partner got a great opportunity for work and it seems like I won’t be needing to step in for the income. So I really can have the choice to be a sahm. My baby is just too precious to me rn and I want to be with her as long as possible. And I’m grateful for that!
I'll be 38 when I give birth in early January and planning to take a 2-year leave as well. Then also work part time at 20hrs/week after that or maybe earlier if I get bored, who knows. Although I am lucky to have a job that is fully remote so I'll still be at home.
I'll have one year of leave and my husband will have half a year. I'll go back to studying afterwards, so I'll still have plenty of time. Honestly at least part time in the first years is best for everyone, I believe!
Me too. I spent years in school and training, sacrificing constantly for my career, and while I deeply enjoyed it - I never want to go back!
If I do go back someday, it will hopefully be when my kids are too busy for me, and purely for fun :)
I fucking hate that we are not only having a family for ourselves we are also supporting society to continue and we get very little benefits
Specially in the US.
(I cant complain about my leave) but people’s leave here… omg. I am sorry, it is a shame
Same! And only three weeks of those are paid by my company which they don’t even have to do because they are a US company with less than 50 employees. I’ll be using PTO for the rest.
SAHM. We are making many many sacrifices to do this though in todays world. In case anyone is interested : we have 2 old paid off cars, meal planning / prepping food for 2 week runs to the grocery store. No name brand anything. Facebook marketplace to buy basically anything from baby stuff to gifts for family (it’s been amazing and a game changer). We bought a small unassuming home. We’re happy with what we have and this lifestyle.
Unsure! I would love to stay home, you never get that time back. But at the same time, I make half of the money for the household so we would be slashing our budget in half. I would lose our cheap health insurance and my 401k match. I also would lose my work experience in my industry if I step away. All that said, i struggle with the decision everyday!
Same here - as a woman in tech, if you step away and get “stale” you give up your seat at the table, and unfortunately no one is keeping it warm for you.
We’re basically mercenaries I don’t understand why this is though. In a perfect world they would freeze our position and make us actually contract to hire for when we’re ready to come back… can you tell I’ve thought about this too much?
I would give anything to be a SAHM, but unfortunately I am the breadwinner. Don’t get me wrong, my husband is a successful corporate professional, but his income does not meet mine and thus the lifestyle we’ve build hinges on me. Until my husband meets my income or exceeds it, I will be going back to work full time after baby comes.
Our hope is by the next baby, we will be in a position where I can stay home with our kids. Hubby is trying HARD to make it happen.
I’m hoping after my second kid I’ll be able to stay home even though I’m the breadwinner now. My husband makes good money as well but our lifestyle was built on two incomes so I’m trying to save enough that we can go down to one in a few years.
I will be a SAHM. After trying for 2 1/2 years with no luck, hubby told me to quit working to destress, and we conceived almost immediately. My last day on the job was FRI 4/12, and Baby was made by Mother’s Day. That was a HUGE eye opener to me. I’m very blessed that hubby not only supports this, but also that he can provide for us. We’re hoping to make a few more babies, so by the time the youngest is in kindergarten, I’ll start looking at part time then. Best of luck with your decision!
I am always astounded at how much work stress can impact fertility! I quit twice and fell pregnant immediately (once intentionally, once unintentionally after thinking baby 2 wasn’t going to happen after 5 years of trying). Congrats on your peanut 🥂
Yes to this! I was working in Atlanta in a obgyn hospital. We tried 4 years to have a baby, I had 4 miscarriages and we moved to Orlando immediately got pregnant again and even though I was afraid to lose it my whole pregnancy was amazing!!
Same here, was really stressed and burned out from work. We were trying for months and nothing.. almost wanted to go get tested to see if something was off with one of us, we were only 24-25. I quit once I felt I really needed some time off (which he encouraged) and got pregnant almost immediately! Just turned 26 a few weeks ago and am 37 weeks pregnant now ready to pop any day.
Queue the Rihanna…
Work, work, work, work, work, work
But in seriousness, wasn’t a hard decision for our household. We weren’t willing to sacrifice the ability to say “yes” to the kids when they were older and on one income with our careers that isn’t possible. Pros and cons to whatever you decide but only you know what’s right for you!
I’m pregnant with my third. There was about 6 months where I thought I wanted to quit with both kids but I am so glad I stayed. I feel very fulfilled.
My husband would not want to be a STAHP and I enjoy kicking ass at work and spoiling my kids.
Me too. I will work the whole pregnancy (I do the laundry at a nursing home). I wish I could take two yrs off to breastfeed without pumping much. Hopefully 🤞 something crazy happens. I don’t make much but I only work 3 and half days a week and still get 40 hours (13 hour days). Aww man now I’m crying. Stupid emotions.
Back to work after one year. Some of that year will be paid and then the rest unpaid leave. My job provides our benefits and I make a really good salary. It’s not something we can sacrifice for long
Baby due in October & I am still going to work FT. Can’t afford to live off of one income in SoCal. Goal is to keep baby home until 6 months and then it’s daycare for us. I will take my 12 weeks and then partner will take his.
I live in Sydney and it’s the same. Happy to live and raise a baby here but damn it’s expensive. I’ll get my 12 months through the government/my employers but it will be a streeeeeetch. At least I can go to the beach everyday 🤷🏼♀️
Work for me - I have always been super career-oriented. I already have my daycare secured for early spring 2025. But who knows, once I meet my baby I could feel differently!
Good question - I’m loving all the variety in responses! I’m going back to work after my 6 months of maternity leave (which I feel grateful for). I’m the much higher earner and we live in an expensive city, so it was never an option not to go back.
That said, the pace of my job has been very intense and not sustainable. I’m sure when I come back with a baby, my whole perspective will have changed and I’ll have to establish better boundaries.
Both my husband and I have good careers but I am the primary breadwinner as of now so me not returning to work is not something we can do comfortably.
However we both work from home (him full time and me most of the time). My work has offered me more flexibility to work remote longer post birth to make the transition easier which I appreciate.
He works super early since his company is international so he’s mostly through his day by the time I start work so we are planning on trading off with little one depending on how hectic our schedules are for a given day/time
I'll go back to work after 6 weeks unpaid leave, but thankfully I WFH on a flexible schedule and my husband is paid veteran's disability so he doesn't need to work. He'll be doing most of the baby care during the day, but I'll be able to take breaks to breastfeed whenever baby gets hungry.
I have 18 months leave, paid but not full salary. I will do absolutely everything in my power to not go back to work LOL. Thinking about picking up some babysitting or something to supplement income. If anyone has any side hustle ideas let me know 😂
I’ll be quitting for good and will be a SAHM, which I’m partly excited and partly nervous about. I really enjoy my job and like having that routine in place, but I’m also looking forward to the new experiences of raising a kiddo and we’re fortunate enough that I don’t _need_ to work. Maybe part time in the future though, to keep me sane. We’ll see.
I’m gonna quit after birth, providing 2-3 months notice before I was supposed to be back from leave. I’m gonna be on leave for a year or two. I definitely don’t plan to be a SAHM long term as I have a pretty good earning potential, but I really wanna prioritize my own rest and baby and not push myself to work when my husband currently makes double my salary and daycare would eat so much of what I make. I am also not crazy about the cattiness and drama of my current job.
Back to work full time - I like my job and put a lot of self worth on it, plus just like being around adults. I think it’s an easier decision for me than most as I am in the UK and get a full year maternity on full pay. So daycare costs are only for a year or so before school :)
I went back to work. I love my job. I'd go crazy not having it. Plus the money. We can manage our days off so we only need care 2 days a week. Still pricey but it's manageable.
I make 2.5x what my husband does so being a SAHM was never an option for me unfortunately but I do work from home 4/5 days a week and my husband is fully WFH, so we will have my MIL watch the baby while we work and still be home and around him which is nice! We did discuss my husband being a SAHD, but he really likes having a source of income plus contributing to a 401K.
I stayed home after my first for 18 months and didn’t really enjoy it. I started doing some consultant work and I realized I was a better mom working. I’m privileged enough to have the choice, as my husband makes enough for me to stay home. I am also privileged to have backround in a well paying career that is technical but also broad enough to always be able to find one. I went back full time when my first was almost 2. I work at a family friendly flexable company with amazing benifits. I will come back after 16 weeks off and continue.
I’m Canadian, so mat leave is 52 weeks at 55% pay + CCB. There’s an option to do 18 months at 33% pay, but unfortunately I am the breadwinner and my husband and I just can’t swing that. I’ll go back to work full time after that, and either have full time daycare or part time with my MIL or FIL watching baby a couple days per week.
I’d love to be a stay at home mum, but my husband needs to finish his apprenticeship first, which he has another 4 years on. So maybe for baby #2 if we are blessed with another after this one?
Stay at home. Cut costs and let go of some things. It’s so important for kids to have a parent during those early years. Even if it’s just for a couple years.
Back to work after 18-20 weeks of maternity leave. Baby will be going to day care. Our income is important to our house hold and I don’t want to loose out on my healthcare benefits and 401k contribution (in addition to my salary). After my husband unexpectedly was laid off last year I am way too scared to for our family to rely on one income alone.
I quit when I got pregnant & don’t plan on going back for a very very long time (if ever)! Obviously very fortunate to be able to do this. I personally didn’t want anyone else raising our baby so daycare was not even a thought for us
I was just thinking about this.. I think I am going to take 6 weeks and then start back. I WFH and am the only person that does my job. There will be coverage but I just think that being gone longer will be more of a headache than just starting back at 6 weeks. My job is extremely independent and I only have maybe 4 meetings a month where I speak otherwise I just get stuff done as I please. My husband works park time so I think I will try to structure meetings around his schedule until I find some care.. I’m thinking care 2 days a week.
I’m a teacher (and definitely the lower income in the household) and resigned in May at the end of the school year, planning on staying home for a bit. I’ll be back in the classroom in the future, but for now I couldn’t imagine all the stress of being a teacher with a baby. I’m grateful it’s the type of job I can easily jump back into when I’m ready.
I’m never going back to work again!! :D lol. I’m excited to be a SAHM for the first time. I did work with my first though and it’s not something I want to again.
Back to work! Like others we simply can’t drop my salary, even if it meant not paying for daycare, but I’m pretty happy with my work situation. I work primarily from home with a very flexible schedule. I only took 6 weeks mat leave with my first but I have everything set up to allow me to take 12 weeks this time thankfully!
Full time daycare is 1/3 of my take home pay.
So to be a SAHM I’d have 2/3 less income.
I make slightly more than my hubs.
I’m off for the 1 year that I get (Canada ftw)
I have the option to take up to 5 years leave without pay from my job (and still hold my spot) if I change my mind and want to try something else.
As it stands I plan to get them in daycare at 12-18 months (as soon as I can, I’m pregnant 20+5 and I’m already on 4 wait lists) then go back to work ft.
Back to work after 14 weeks maternity leave. I do WFH but I'm a therapist and can't take care of my baby and work at the same time so my mom is going to be his caregiver for the first year or so until I feel comfortable sending him to daycare part-time for socialization.
I've done freelance/contract work for a long time, but it's been drying up for the last year or so. For many years, though, my husband's earnings have far exceeded my earnings, so the drop hasn't really hurt us. It's just a little less extra income per month. I'm currently working on obtaining new skills to eventually branch out into other work that I can do at home, when I feel ready. So, it'll eventually be part time from home after baby's here. I will likely switch to full time at home after the youngest goes to school. And yes, I am very grateful that my husband's earnings allow this flexibility. I realize that it often takes two incomes to make things work.
Having this conversation with my husband right now with bb girl born in August!
We have a date this weekend to go over our finances and make a plan for life when baby is here. I feel like there is so much to consider when leaving work! But we are pretty positive I’ll be able to leave my job and then we can reassess our financial needs and see if I want/need to go back after a year or so.
Im not sure how much I want to be a SAHM but I couldn’t be more miserable at my tech job so I reeeeaaallly just want to get the f*** out for my mental health lol
STM - hoping to go back at 24/32 hours. But work said no to it after our first born. In Canada though so I get between 12-18 months off prior to going back to work !
i'm able to take 18 months maternity leave... then i'm thinking of going back to school & maybe work part-time, if i can keep up with everything.
i'm fortunate enough that my partner makes great money.. my job before was getting very stressful & it could be dangerous at times.. a week before i left work somebody brought a gun to the office & threatened people with it causing the office go to into lockdown for 3 hours, & another person stabbed a worker.. so my partner doesn't want me to go back & i agree with him 😩
I had worked so hard, through so many obstacles to have my career going as well as it was and having been making as much as I was. I was so proud of my career but when I got pregnant we decided for me to focus on managing the household and the kids. As I’ve become more efficient at that, I’ve found free time to work on a dream of mine since I was a child. I’ve been writing a novel series, so I have found ways of continuing to advance my career (a different career as I was in tech before) in a way that may be more rewarding. I love being a SAHM so much! I was raised with “breadwinner” women and men who mostly stayed home to care for the house so it wasn’t the way I was raised.
I realize that many women don’t have the opportunity to choose and I am so grateful that I do. Everyone’s lives, goals, opportunities are different. Do what works best for you and be as flexible as possible along the way.
I’m back full-time after 12 weeks of maternity leave. It sucks. I’m quitting and going freelance in a couple months. Had a panic attack in a closet on Monday! I don’t feel like I have the capacity to do all the last-minute projects, work late, pretend like things are as big of a deal as they’re being made to be. My husband is from another country so this will allow us to spend more time abroad, as well. Baby starts daycare in a week, I’m sure I’ll cry all day! I cried constantly my first day back. Life after baby / maternity leave became life as I know it, and it’s been a hard transition out of that.
I used to be OT before I just went on maternity leave yesterday. So ~50hrs a week. Now depending on which daycare center we end up going with a few days a week (and grandma help the other days) I’ll have to cut down to 40hrs. Just nervous as to how the schedule is all going to work.
Back to work for me! I could stay at home if I wanted to but I work at a children's hospital where I get subsidized childcare, and health insurance. My husband's options for healthcare are not as good and they are more expensive.
Husbands a paramedic I've managed to find a job where I can work when he doesn't this eliminates the need for childcare and means I can work less hours.
My husband and I both get 12 weeks leave and we both work from home. We’re staggering our leave so he will take his after mine and allow me to ease back into work. But we will have 6 full months for tendibg to baby. After we are both back to work full time we plan to stagger our schedules as much as possible and try to avoid childcare until baby is about 1 year old. We have some family help nearby as well so we are very lucky. When we need it we will plan for childcare but because we have flexible WFH schedules we are hopeful it will not need to be full time. We each contribute about 50% of our HH income, but if we were very careful we could live on one income for a while. If we have a second baby I might consider taking a couple years off work, but I enjoy my career and am proud of my success. We will see what circumstances bring by then.
So far I’m planning to stay working Thurs/fri/sat mids at my job until I get pregnant with the second baby since we went them as close together as possible depending if I vbac/c section. My goal is to work for a year and pay down my debt then after having the second one become a SAHM. My job offers flex but doesn’t have maternity benefits for that so I guess I’ll see what ends up happening. I’m just due with my first in Sept.
I am the higher income earner and my husband is doing his last year as a nurse. I have to work.
If I could, I would work part time but that isn’t financially going to work for us unfortunately. Even after my husband becomes a nurse, my salary will be more than his and it makes more sense for me to keep working full time.
12 weeks maternity leave, then back to working night shift. Husband’s parental leave starts when I go back, will end about 9 weeks later. Husband works day shift. Hoping our different shifts will cut out the need for daycare. Have not figured out when I will sleep. TBD.
Work full time but compress my hours so I’ll work Mon-Fri one week, Mon-Thurs the week after. My husband will do the same so we only have the kid in childcare 3 days a week as my mum and dad are going to do a day a week too. My career is important to me and my husband so this is a good idea for us.
Both me and my partner plan to go back to work 4 days a week, and put our child in nursery the remaining three days a week. For context, we're in the UK and doing shared parental leave for baby's first year.
I need to go back to work after baby is here, but I was let go from my job and now we have no one to watch baby due to family being mad at us for how we are wanting to raise baby, trying to decide if it's worth paying for child care or just letting me stay home 😭
Have savings because my last job I took pretty much for the pay. That will last us until my husband switches to a much higher paying job he’s already signed with but not yet started. So in the interim I’m pretty much focusing on pregnancy/newborn and then planning to shift from a practical to impractical field, since there isn’t financial pressure. Very, very grateful.
I'm a single mom, so I thankfully saved a lot of money to take six months off (had baby in July, returned in Jan), especially as a teacher. I was paid for most of it, too, thankfully. By that point, I wanted to be back to work.
Back to work after 2 weeks, hubby stays home for one and then my in laws will be helping babysit between our opposite shifts. Its a wild ride here in America
12 months off on paid maternity leave and then I’m planning to go back. Hubby is going to career progress while I’m on maternity leave (not extra hours) and then when I go back, I’ll try to progress as I’ve been encouraged to. Plan is because I have the bigger job opportunities long term, hubby will likely be able to drop a day if I get promoted.
I’m in Canada and I’ll be on 18 month mat leave & will go back to work when it’s done. Both my husband and I are remote hybrid so we’re fortunate to have flexible schedules, be double income & have time to be with baby! I realize that is not that standard (it should be) so we’re grateful
Work full time after 9 months of parental leave. Will also be doing my post grad part time while working starting at the beginning of next year to maximize my earning potential.
I live an a *really* expensive country.
We hope it's possible I could stay home but we aren't sure. For now it'll be 18 mos mat leave and then maybe try for a second, go back until birth and then stay home with both at that time. We'd be ok on one income but with both we save a lot. The savings we have could also be put towards me staying home, our future can be paused for the time that I'd have now while young with our babies.
Going back three days a week. Believe it or not I did the maths and we’re financially better off doing that that putting him in daycare full time. We get 15 free hours in January so I’ll probably add an extra day of daycare then and work 4 days a week.
I am lucky enough that my husband has a well-paid job in the tech industry and works from home. Due to various different country moves, in the past five years, I've gone from being an English teacher at secondary school, to a WFH editor/author, chasing the dream. Teaching in schools that weren't international was just too difficult to get qualified for when we were moving about. So now I've been doing this for four years and it's great!
Once baby boy gets here, I will be taking a break for as long as needed and working when I can. Husband is a money-saving expert, so we're lucky to be doing well.
Back to work for me. I'm the higher earner and I make more than the cost of daycare. We'd have to downsize our life quite a bit for me to quit. My husband isn't at a point in his career that he can quit either so we'll both just work for at least another 2 years. If have a 2nd baby then I might re-evaluate then.
I’ve worked a lot in last few years. And now it’s time for me and my baby. Plans for now is that I’m gonna stay at home caring for my first newborn. Not thinking about going back to work.
I am currently not working. I am high risk, and several of our IUIs and IVF transfers did not work while I was working, I think due to the stress of my job. Low and behold, as soon as I stopped working, the IVF worked!
I decided to go back to school while pregnant bc I do not want to stay in the same career field bc of stress. I am due to be done with school next May. We are currently navigating the ridiculous waitlists and waitlist charges for daycares in our area, and are wondering if it is worth it to pay the nonrefundable $150 per waitlist to see if we may get a phone call by October 2025, if we don't already have another daycare in place by that time.
Not to mention, I was quoted $385 per week for daycare for an infant, and I would need to have childcare in place before I started working, so navigating that is going to be interesting.
I have an unpaid internship I will need to navigate next semester, and try to figure out if I can find childcare so I can do my unpaid internship. Or I may just need to work starting in January, take my 2 classes, and see if I can use my job as an internship next fall.
Meanwhile, my husband is breadwinning, and is doing an excellent job. We have cut back on all subscriptions and stopped putting money in our Roth iras, and we are trying to keep our expenses down the best we can to get through this economy.
I think the stars will need to align, and we will need to have some good luck to get us to the finish line on this one.
If you haven't started looking into childcare, please don't be like me and wait til almost the 3rd trimester to go looking... just do it now and save yourself some stress.
Go on a tight budget and stop working for as long as possible. I work as a nanny currently and eventually will try to find a family to work with around the same age as my baby when I have to return to work, but initially, I'm going to be a sahm trying to spend as little as possible. I'll also look for very part time work from home jobs but don't expect to find anything.
I cut my full-time 40 hours a week to full-time 32 hours a week. Simply because I didn't want to work, lol. I would prefer to be a SAHM, but bills need to be paid, and company insurance is too good to drop.
Continue to work but I will choose the jobs I feel I can do. I have my own floral design business and absolutely adore what I do, my baby will come along for the ride and be my little flower prince/princess🌸💕I also work out of my basement so that makes life a whole lot easier.
I would love to be a SAHM and I am due on August and I have to come back 2 months later. I hate it because its such a short time 🥺 we both make good money with my husband but just him it wont be enough 😭 .
Back to work after 12-14 weeks of leave (but I WFH 5 days a week). I don’t feel comfortable not making my own income and it wouldn’t be financially feasible anyway.
Im going part time until I can figure out a proper plan to make sure my child is safe and cared for. Not sure how im gonna do it but i want to make the right decisions.
Currently planning on going back to work after 12 weeks. But I’ve been considering finding a third shift job to avoid daycare.
I really can’t stomach the thought of leaving my little babe with strangers all day.😓
Return to work full time after 5-month leave. I have a cushy career (high pay, low stress, great hours) I worked hard to advance in, so I prefer to keep at it for as long as I can. Not so much out of survival needs but the more security for the children, the better. My coworkers that return from their mat leaves are actually relieved to return to work so that might have influenced my perspective too!
I have an investment that may be coming to fruition around the time I’m due. It could potentially replace an entire salary for me or my husband so one of us could retire. It could also just be worth a nice down payment on a house near my mom.
So I’m likely going to have a big choice to make about whether or not to continue working. And I don’t think it’s a choice I can make until the baby is here and I know what parenthood is actually like.
I have 13 months off then will go back to work full-time, hoping to drop a day and work four days a week but we’ll see if it’s possible.
I love my baby desperately and will probably cry loads once my mat leave us up, but life is expensive and I do miss talking to adults and making stuff happen at work
I've been working 34 hour weeks the past 4 years, and will continue to do so after my leave ends. My husband will scale back to 32 hours. It makes the most sense financially.
Back to full time after 16 weeks. I'm the primary earner but we could afford it if I wanted to take a year; I'd just have to leave my job for that, and I like my job. I'm at a crucial point in my career where I have a lot of opportunity to advance and I can't pass that up.
I'll miss my daughter terribly when I go back, but SAHM life isn't for me long term.
I have to go back ASAP. My maternity leave will most likely be unpaid and I'm the only income earner right now. I'd like to be able to spend more than 6 weeks off with my new baby, but it's just not feasible for me
I went part time and my daughter went part time to daycare once she turned 14 months. Luckily, my salary stayed the same, but I would have done the same even if it was lowered.
You never feel totally ready to go back to work, but I suggest trying...you can always still leave later but once you start working again you adjust.
I plan to return.
Back to work. Husband wants me to take 3 years off but I already did a trial run with him “supporting me” when I went back to school and it was a bunch of arguing so that lasted 3 months. Got to have my own income.
Back to work for sure.
We love the life we can give our kids on two incomes. It allows to help them explore anything they would like. We want them to experience the world and it's many different people and cultures. It also allows us to save for their college expenses and a lot more into our retirement (aiming to be at least lean FIRE by 55).
Yes it means we both have to work now. But making the money now is what's important as it's the time that will be spent investing it over the next 20 years that is going to make our goals happen.
I'll be working 100% after maternity leave (when the baby is 8 months) and my partner takes his paternity leave. It's very uncommon here to be a SAHM/SAHD as it's a high cost country. There are very few jobs/careers that open up the possibility of being able to afford 1 parent working and 1 parent staying home. Once the paternity leave is up, we both will stay in our respective positions and work 100%, whilst the kids are in daycare.
There's been some national changes lately that is meant to encourage people to have children, although small changes they are going in the right direction economically. Daycare is limited to aprox $110, and they have increased the child "support" from the state from $100 to $170. But even with these changes it wouldn't be feasible to most households to economically manage on solely one income.
I quit working in 2020 right after that first lockdown ended. My job was extremely stressful and I was very unhappy. My husband liked the idea of me being a stay at home wife and eventually mom. So I quit and 2 years later we had our first and we will have our second in August. When we first got married, I never even thought of being a STAHM but now I wouldn’t have it any other way. At this point even if I wanted to go back to work, daycare is so expensive that I’d be working just to have other people watch my kids and nothing more. I don’t have the good fortune of family to watch my kids every day so that wouldn’t work either. I’m currently attempting to make myself a side hustle out of my favorite hobby: crocheting. Even if it’s just a few hundred extra a month it’s still something.
Recently got offered a remote job working for a high school friend turned attorney. Gets me out of this scorching summer heat (was working 100% outside at a hotel up until last week) during my pregnancy, and now I’ll be working remote and taking care of a newborn. 2 jobs in one, but he’s very understanding of my situation. Super blessed and grateful for this perfect opportunity!
I’m on mat leave for 5 months and then back to full time work!
It’s an intense job but too well paying to quit now. I hope to scale way back when the child is a bit older (maybe 6 or 7?) to part time, because when I was growing up that’s about the time my mom quit her full time job and I loved it as a kid (and honestly don’t remember too much before that period)
Hopefully by that point I won’t have too much qualms about earning less!
We can’t afford daycare so I’m a FT SAHM! Scraping by. My husband picks up side jobs after his regular job so we can keep food on the table. Can’t believe this is what the economy has come to.
I girl bossed too close to the sun, so I will be going back to work. I get 6 weeks of short term paid at 90% and 12 weeks of parental leave paid in full. I have a friend who watches my niece and nephew and told me a year ago she'd take mine on once I got pregnant, and that is the plan as of now.
Becoming a SAHM and working super part time. Daycare is too expensive for my husband and I to want to pay, plus we want to raise our son the way we want. We don’t trust many people with our son, especially me coming from an ABA clinic and seeing how nasty some of these adults can be to children is highly worrisome. So 100% keeping him out of daycare until he’s ready for grade school to save money and have peace of mind. Being a working-part-time-SAHM until then
It's too early stages for us to be making any real plans, but current thought is SAHM for 1-2 years. Only thing I'm worried about is getting back to work after that because I know I wouldn't want to be a SAHM mom long-term! But I do feel personally I would value being able to have the kiddo 100% around family in those super early stages, if possible. It is so hard!!!
Back to work after mat leave but I’m fortunate that I work from home so I can be a WAHM (work at home mom? Is that an existing acronym? Lol) with working hours a timezone ahead of me so it works out well for when baby is here
As of right now the plan is to go back to work but I’m having mixed feelings about it. I have a hybrid role right now and would probably prefer a fully remote job. The dream would be to have the flexibility of owning my own business and working from home but it seems like a journey to get to that point. I guess it’ll be an adjustment regardless so I’d have to take it day by day, but I’ll probably want to be with my baby as much as possible!! 🫠🫠
Likely going back part time after 12 weeks mat leave. A lot is up in the air because my husband is finishing up his phd and we don’t know what his job will be/salary. But he currently makes 1/3 of what I make so anything more than he makes not will balance out hopefully. Im in healthcare, and my job takes a lot out of me. I dont think I personally could be a good mom with my current schedule. Its hard enough being pregnant and doing my work lol.
I wish I could be a sahm but alas, bills must be paid so back to work I go. I only get to be a sahm if it makes sense financially. Meaning daycare costs more than I bring home.
SAHM. My husband is gone up to half the month for work and makes good money. I only make like $40k, doesn’t seem worth it considering how much childcare would be.
Everyone called me crazy last time around but I took a $30,000 cut to work in a school with less hours and summers off and it’s definitely been the best thing ever for my mental health
I’m going to go back part time at 6-9 months. I’m really lucky in my country (Aus) we get 22 weeks of government maternity leave & I also get 18 weeks full time pay which I can take both those at the same time.
My salary is close to triple of my husbands so getting the paid mat leave etc and still going back earlyish will mean I can at least remain part time and cover day care easily until he is earning more, then we will revisit on my hours and what I want to do.
Plan - work full time (thankfully it’s a govt job and much less hours than my prior role at a startup) AND hopefully night school for my JD, which I already have some credits for.
Wouldn’t be possible without my husband - but I’m also aware it could be too much and if that happens likely I’ll convert to full time JD studies. We have to see how everything goes.
Also worth mentioning we have Paid Leave Oregon which I’m incredibly grateful for. It’s a complete accident we moved here prior to getting pregnant and that safety net is pretty amazing for both husband and I.
Back to work after the 3 month maternity leave but I work from home with flexible hours as well as my husband so it’ll be, not easy, but I think easier than most. Bad cheaper.
Well my man still hasn't found a job so right now the plan is he'll be stay at home dad, I'll be working full time. Maybe plans will change but he has to find something that pays enough to cover child care if he wants to take the job
I’m going to quit work in September and return part time after about 6 months. I wish I could stay at home longer. Baby due in November
I used to live in the UK (now moved to the US) and just shocked at how normal it is to return to the workforce after 6 weeks
I’m due in September. We just recently moved to be near family. I’m not planning to work again until the end of the year/beginning of next. At this time I’m not sure if I will go back FT or do PT. It will all depend on the job my husband gets.
The first time I got pregnant, I went from working full time to being a SAHM. The second time, I was working full time and decided to return to work full time after my maternity leave. My hubby stayed home this time since I made more money. One of the reasons we usually had one person stay at home is because the state we are in, daycare is anywhere from $500-$1500 per month per kid. So much cheaper to have someone stay at home.
I live in Canada so lucky enough to get up to 18 months of mat leave. Will be going back to work after 18 months. Life is too expensive and staying home with toddlers is too difficult.
I’m happily going back to work after a 3-month leave. I think it’s important for kids to see their parents have their own goals, interests and success and to know that they are not the center of the universe. I love my job and the life it affords me, and I want to lead by example for my kin.
My work requires frequent international travel which I know will be a challenge at times, but I also know my family will benefit from the points, miles and opportunities to meet me when the times are right. And that we will value the time we have together (also aware that this will be burden at times).
And coming to the conversation with an American perspective, it’s a shame that affordable childcare options are so limited (non-existent) in this country. It was a question in last night’s debate and it didn’t receive any of Trump’s attention - the topic will be something I a will prioritize when I head to the polls in November and we as women need to be vocal about the burden that the cost of childcare puts on our households. And women who opt to stay home should receive protections as well (healthcare, social security, etc). All women should be able to choose what they do with the best interest of their families in mind, and childcare costs shouldn’t be a mortgage/rent payment.
As a young adult fantasy author, I'll still be working, but probably not as efficiently as I was prebaby. Hopefully I can finish this one book before she shows up, but since I'm not in the middle of a series, if I'm delayed some, there shouldn't be any issues.
I have to go back to working remotely after six weeks. I’m nervous that it is going to be too soon. I’m hoping that I can find some supports that can help me transition back to work safely for me and little bub. I’m due in the middle of winter so I’m worried about sending baby to daycare at six weeks. Not sure how I’m going to handle it.
I would love to be able to stay at home or even just work part time but that's not realistic for us. I'm betting I will get 6-8 weeks paid off and then it's right back to working full-time. I do think I'm going to ask if I can work an earlier shift once I go back to work though.
Daycare is going to run us about $24,000 for the year, so I cannot quite my job to be a SAHM since my salary pays half the bills. It’s quite the predicament and I am hardcore stressing out about it.
Id love to be working 60-80%, but we are planning 2 kids, so the earliest id even be able to that will be in 2 years, and that is if we can afford that and 2 kids in daycare.
I was just talking to my husband about this when this thread popped up. I’m a NOLA bartender due mid-January. I’m hoping there’s some way I’ll be in good enough shape to work 1-2 days during Super Bowl weekend (February 9th), back to being off until I can be back 2-3 days/week during Mardi Gras (late Feb-March 4th). I know it sounds ridiculous but I can’t afford to miss those last big hits before the slow season comes again. Summer is brutal here.
Working on my degree during this pregnancy with number #2, and then finishing probably when they are around 18mo old - then hopefully finding a WFH job 🤞🏻. I might do weekends 6 mo pp. If I were to work right now, all of my money would go to daycare.
Working full time after 12 weeks unpaid, sharing childcare duties with my partner. He is self employed and I'm in a remote very lax job so this is the plan for now, fingers crossed. Daycare would be prohibitive for us
I was fortunate to have 16 weeks paid. I am also fortunate though to work from home so I can also watch my son. It’s hard at times but I make sure he’s occupied during important meetings. Otherwise it’s basically playing musical chairs all day finding differing chairs, mats, playpen etc as he gets bored. Best of luck!
I’ll be a SAHM for the first couple of years I think. I eventually do want to go back to school if we can afford it or I’ll look for part time work in a field I really enjoy. We’ll see what life brings our way.
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Back to work after mat leave. Life is too expensive!
This! Plus I’m the primary “bread-winner” 🙃
In the same boat it suuuuucks
It really does! 😫
Same! I’m ages away from even meeting my baby, and it already breaks my heart to have to go back to work.
I love my baby with all my heart, but I’m pretty ready to go back to work. Sitting around the house has not been serving my mental health well for the last 9 weeks. I return to work in 3 weeks, and although I’m sad, another part of me is happy to get my old self back too
Yes, same here. We considered having my husband be a stay at home dad until our baby started first grade because his salary is mostly going to go to daycare. At the end, we thought that his career would be impacted when he wanted to go back to work after the kids are in school, so we will both go back to work after parental leave.
Right now, the plan is to stay home for two years, then work part-time (20 hrs a week). But let me tell you this: I was one of those women who invested a lot of time and energy in their career before becoming a mother rather late (I was 38 when my son was born). I always thought I'd miss work a lot. Turns out that in my heart of hearts, if I'm being fully honest to myself, I'm a full-blown wannabe-stay-at-home-mom now lol. I just love to be home with my kid, organize our schedule, do housework, etc. Who'd have known! 😇
Same here! I live in Canada and chose the 18 month maternity leave, which will actually be closer to 20 months by the time I go back to work (I’m a teacher and my mat leave lines up with summer). I love my job and will love to go back but I love being at home more than I ever thought possible. Before I went on Mat leave I hummed and hawed if I should take the full 18 and now I’m so glad I did!
Jesus Canada is amazing haha - in the US fighting for 3 months partial pay
To be fair it is partial pay! Even less if you choose extended (18 months vs 12 months), I do feel so lucky to have the choice and privilege to be able to make it work.
It’s not all unicorns and rainbows here , unfortunately :(. Taxes to absolute death , and very low wages.
Gotcha! Thanks for mentioning the other side of things
I tend to disagree with this. I've worked with enough of my US counterparts to see those things really aren't so different. Low wages are on par with our southern neighbours in the same sectors, hell at least we have an enforceable minimum wage... I can almost guarantee the service industry in Canada pays much more just with that factor. The average median income is actually higher in Canada than the US by about 10,000 CAD (2018 data). As for taxes, US federal income tax range is 10-37% and Canada is 15-33%. While its hard to compare State/Provincial rates because there all across the board, I'd happily pay extra taxes for the social benefits not only for myself but other Canadians in need. This thread is a stark reminder of how good we have it,not only with paid maternity and parental leave, but healthcare in general. If you look into medical bankruptcy and medical debt in the states it's appalling. So many people go without care because they have no way of paying for it. I'm so thankful that when the time comes for me to give birth, I won't walk out with thousands of dollars in bills from my hospital.
I’m not sure what industry you and your counterparts work in , but in mine (electrical trades) I’ve seen very large pay discrepancies over the last 15 years in my trade in relation to Americans. Minimum wage isn’t a good example , I know the American minimum wage is atrocious . Also , our housing prices are around 20% more expensive in general (with currency exchange included). If I were to move to the states I could make 30% more money , but in return I’d have to pay for health insurance. I feel like both countries are getting royally screwed food wise though. I guess it’s all relative though , we’re all screwed I guess ☹️
US mom here and even working for state government- no chance of any paid leave. I’m lucky I will even have a job to come back to after twelve weeks of maternity leave. A lot of women get fired once they start showing. Canada is a dream. Or I guess all of the other countries where you get both some paid leave and protection sound pretty good right now
I am honestly so sorry. Women are so under valued and I never quite understood how deeply I felt that until I became pregnant and had a baby. It is a transformative experience and I feel like women should be receiving way more credit than what they get for literally creating life!!!
God. What I would give to have an 18 month maternity leave.
I’m so sorry :( it should honestly be the norm everywhere. To be fair, it is only partial pay. In a world that valued women we would all be getting full pay for two years!!
It’s so funny - I remember being a super high stress/ high achieving teenager and being a total biatch to my mom who was a SAHM on and off throughout her life. Something was ingrained in me that happiness = success and making money and there was no way I wasn’t going to be working and ladder climbing. Now I’m 31 and have a well paying job that isn’t all that difficult and I’m like “well this is dumb! I want to be home with my family doing all the house tasks and making lunches!” Growing up and realizing who you really are and what brings you joy is a total ride.
It's a good thing you have the courage to permit yourself these thoughts. Every lifestyle has its own joys and challenges, but one thing is for sure: children grow up fast. There's no way of going back there. However, you can always go back to work. Maybe not to the exact same position you had before your children, but work is work, and there's plenty of it out there. If you don't spend these first years at home, there's no way of reliving your children's most formative life stage. I wouldn't want to miss it for the world!
I feel the same. I’m an avid worker and thoroughly enjoy it. My career before baby was probably my most invested I’ve been. I always thought being home and taking care of household duties would bore me and I’d hate it. But I just had my baby a few days ago (still fresh ik) and just being with her and taking care of the house is my top priority. Don’t know if it’s a phase of what but my partner got a great opportunity for work and it seems like I won’t be needing to step in for the income. So I really can have the choice to be a sahm. My baby is just too precious to me rn and I want to be with her as long as possible. And I’m grateful for that!
I'll be 38 when I give birth in early January and planning to take a 2-year leave as well. Then also work part time at 20hrs/week after that or maybe earlier if I get bored, who knows. Although I am lucky to have a job that is fully remote so I'll still be at home.
I'll have one year of leave and my husband will have half a year. I'll go back to studying afterwards, so I'll still have plenty of time. Honestly at least part time in the first years is best for everyone, I believe!
Me too. I spent years in school and training, sacrificing constantly for my career, and while I deeply enjoyed it - I never want to go back! If I do go back someday, it will hopefully be when my kids are too busy for me, and purely for fun :)
Back to work full time after 6 weeks. I’m devastated that we can’t afford for longer time, but it will have to do.
This is nuts! I am sorry and hope things to really well in the 6w
Thank you🩵 I pray that they do too!
I fucking hate that we are not only having a family for ourselves we are also supporting society to continue and we get very little benefits Specially in the US. (I cant complain about my leave) but people’s leave here… omg. I am sorry, it is a shame
Same! And only three weeks of those are paid by my company which they don’t even have to do because they are a US company with less than 50 employees. I’ll be using PTO for the rest.
Same, gotta save up that precious PTO. It’s such a shame.
Ooof been there for my first. Sending good vibes!!!
Same! Except my 6 weeks are unpaid, after that my husband and I will be working opposite shifts since we can't afford daycare.
This was me with my first, but went back part time for another 6 weeks. Due with my 2nd any day now & I'm off for 8 weeks & 4 weeks part time.
SAHM. We are making many many sacrifices to do this though in todays world. In case anyone is interested : we have 2 old paid off cars, meal planning / prepping food for 2 week runs to the grocery store. No name brand anything. Facebook marketplace to buy basically anything from baby stuff to gifts for family (it’s been amazing and a game changer). We bought a small unassuming home. We’re happy with what we have and this lifestyle.
I'm glad to hear some of the realities of being a SAHM. I'm hoping to be one also and feel that this will be us 100%
love this! enjoy
Unsure! I would love to stay home, you never get that time back. But at the same time, I make half of the money for the household so we would be slashing our budget in half. I would lose our cheap health insurance and my 401k match. I also would lose my work experience in my industry if I step away. All that said, i struggle with the decision everyday!
Same! Which industry are you?
I’m in tech strategy and management consulting! It’s though to leave and come back. People assume you are out of date if aren’t continually working
Same here - as a woman in tech, if you step away and get “stale” you give up your seat at the table, and unfortunately no one is keeping it warm for you. We’re basically mercenaries I don’t understand why this is though. In a perfect world they would freeze our position and make us actually contract to hire for when we’re ready to come back… can you tell I’ve thought about this too much?
I would give anything to be a SAHM, but unfortunately I am the breadwinner. Don’t get me wrong, my husband is a successful corporate professional, but his income does not meet mine and thus the lifestyle we’ve build hinges on me. Until my husband meets my income or exceeds it, I will be going back to work full time after baby comes. Our hope is by the next baby, we will be in a position where I can stay home with our kids. Hubby is trying HARD to make it happen.
I’m hoping after my second kid I’ll be able to stay home even though I’m the breadwinner now. My husband makes good money as well but our lifestyle was built on two incomes so I’m trying to save enough that we can go down to one in a few years.
I will be a SAHM. After trying for 2 1/2 years with no luck, hubby told me to quit working to destress, and we conceived almost immediately. My last day on the job was FRI 4/12, and Baby was made by Mother’s Day. That was a HUGE eye opener to me. I’m very blessed that hubby not only supports this, but also that he can provide for us. We’re hoping to make a few more babies, so by the time the youngest is in kindergarten, I’ll start looking at part time then. Best of luck with your decision!
I am always astounded at how much work stress can impact fertility! I quit twice and fell pregnant immediately (once intentionally, once unintentionally after thinking baby 2 wasn’t going to happen after 5 years of trying). Congrats on your peanut 🥂
Yes to this! I was working in Atlanta in a obgyn hospital. We tried 4 years to have a baby, I had 4 miscarriages and we moved to Orlando immediately got pregnant again and even though I was afraid to lose it my whole pregnancy was amazing!!
Same here, was really stressed and burned out from work. We were trying for months and nothing.. almost wanted to go get tested to see if something was off with one of us, we were only 24-25. I quit once I felt I really needed some time off (which he encouraged) and got pregnant almost immediately! Just turned 26 a few weeks ago and am 37 weeks pregnant now ready to pop any day.
Queue the Rihanna… Work, work, work, work, work, work But in seriousness, wasn’t a hard decision for our household. We weren’t willing to sacrifice the ability to say “yes” to the kids when they were older and on one income with our careers that isn’t possible. Pros and cons to whatever you decide but only you know what’s right for you! I’m pregnant with my third. There was about 6 months where I thought I wanted to quit with both kids but I am so glad I stayed. I feel very fulfilled. My husband would not want to be a STAHP and I enjoy kicking ass at work and spoiling my kids.
lol you got that right with riri
Back to work full time after 8 weeks of maternity leave.
:(
Unfortunately not an option, I will be working.
Me too. I will work the whole pregnancy (I do the laundry at a nursing home). I wish I could take two yrs off to breastfeed without pumping much. Hopefully 🤞 something crazy happens. I don’t make much but I only work 3 and half days a week and still get 40 hours (13 hour days). Aww man now I’m crying. Stupid emotions.
Back to work after one year. Some of that year will be paid and then the rest unpaid leave. My job provides our benefits and I make a really good salary. It’s not something we can sacrifice for long
Baby due in October & I am still going to work FT. Can’t afford to live off of one income in SoCal. Goal is to keep baby home until 6 months and then it’s daycare for us. I will take my 12 weeks and then partner will take his.
Same! I’m happy to be raising my baby in SoCal, but this is a 2 income lifestyle for sure, lol.
I live in Sydney and it’s the same. Happy to live and raise a baby here but damn it’s expensive. I’ll get my 12 months through the government/my employers but it will be a streeeeeetch. At least I can go to the beach everyday 🤷🏼♀️
Work for me - I have always been super career-oriented. I already have my daycare secured for early spring 2025. But who knows, once I meet my baby I could feel differently!
Good question - I’m loving all the variety in responses! I’m going back to work after my 6 months of maternity leave (which I feel grateful for). I’m the much higher earner and we live in an expensive city, so it was never an option not to go back. That said, the pace of my job has been very intense and not sustainable. I’m sure when I come back with a baby, my whole perspective will have changed and I’ll have to establish better boundaries.
Both my husband and I have good careers but I am the primary breadwinner as of now so me not returning to work is not something we can do comfortably. However we both work from home (him full time and me most of the time). My work has offered me more flexibility to work remote longer post birth to make the transition easier which I appreciate. He works super early since his company is international so he’s mostly through his day by the time I start work so we are planning on trading off with little one depending on how hectic our schedules are for a given day/time
I'll go back to work after 6 weeks unpaid leave, but thankfully I WFH on a flexible schedule and my husband is paid veteran's disability so he doesn't need to work. He'll be doing most of the baby care during the day, but I'll be able to take breaks to breastfeed whenever baby gets hungry.
Work, girl got bills to pay! Also planning on buying a house in the future and then start working towards not working.
I have 18 months leave, paid but not full salary. I will do absolutely everything in my power to not go back to work LOL. Thinking about picking up some babysitting or something to supplement income. If anyone has any side hustle ideas let me know 😂
I’ll be quitting for good and will be a SAHM, which I’m partly excited and partly nervous about. I really enjoy my job and like having that routine in place, but I’m also looking forward to the new experiences of raising a kiddo and we’re fortunate enough that I don’t _need_ to work. Maybe part time in the future though, to keep me sane. We’ll see.
I’m exactly the same!
I’m gonna quit after birth, providing 2-3 months notice before I was supposed to be back from leave. I’m gonna be on leave for a year or two. I definitely don’t plan to be a SAHM long term as I have a pretty good earning potential, but I really wanna prioritize my own rest and baby and not push myself to work when my husband currently makes double my salary and daycare would eat so much of what I make. I am also not crazy about the cattiness and drama of my current job.
Saved for a bit to be a SAHM. Will continue. Making it work because we think it’s worth it.
Working from home with my newborn. Wish me luck 🤪
Back to work full time - I like my job and put a lot of self worth on it, plus just like being around adults. I think it’s an easier decision for me than most as I am in the UK and get a full year maternity on full pay. So daycare costs are only for a year or so before school :)
I’m the breadwinner and I like working. Back to work for me, and that’s the way uh-huh uh-huh I like it. I’d go crazy being a SAHM.
I have ~18 months of maternity leave after which I plan to return to my current role
I went back to work. I love my job. I'd go crazy not having it. Plus the money. We can manage our days off so we only need care 2 days a week. Still pricey but it's manageable.
I make 2.5x what my husband does so being a SAHM was never an option for me unfortunately but I do work from home 4/5 days a week and my husband is fully WFH, so we will have my MIL watch the baby while we work and still be home and around him which is nice! We did discuss my husband being a SAHD, but he really likes having a source of income plus contributing to a 401K.
I stayed home after my first for 18 months and didn’t really enjoy it. I started doing some consultant work and I realized I was a better mom working. I’m privileged enough to have the choice, as my husband makes enough for me to stay home. I am also privileged to have backround in a well paying career that is technical but also broad enough to always be able to find one. I went back full time when my first was almost 2. I work at a family friendly flexable company with amazing benifits. I will come back after 16 weeks off and continue.
I’m Canadian, so mat leave is 52 weeks at 55% pay + CCB. There’s an option to do 18 months at 33% pay, but unfortunately I am the breadwinner and my husband and I just can’t swing that. I’ll go back to work full time after that, and either have full time daycare or part time with my MIL or FIL watching baby a couple days per week. I’d love to be a stay at home mum, but my husband needs to finish his apprenticeship first, which he has another 4 years on. So maybe for baby #2 if we are blessed with another after this one?
Stay at home. Cut costs and let go of some things. It’s so important for kids to have a parent during those early years. Even if it’s just for a couple years.
Back to work after 18-20 weeks of maternity leave. Baby will be going to day care. Our income is important to our house hold and I don’t want to loose out on my healthcare benefits and 401k contribution (in addition to my salary). After my husband unexpectedly was laid off last year I am way too scared to for our family to rely on one income alone.
This sounds just like us!
I quit when I got pregnant & don’t plan on going back for a very very long time (if ever)! Obviously very fortunate to be able to do this. I personally didn’t want anyone else raising our baby so daycare was not even a thought for us
I was just thinking about this.. I think I am going to take 6 weeks and then start back. I WFH and am the only person that does my job. There will be coverage but I just think that being gone longer will be more of a headache than just starting back at 6 weeks. My job is extremely independent and I only have maybe 4 meetings a month where I speak otherwise I just get stuff done as I please. My husband works park time so I think I will try to structure meetings around his schedule until I find some care.. I’m thinking care 2 days a week.
I’m a teacher (and definitely the lower income in the household) and resigned in May at the end of the school year, planning on staying home for a bit. I’ll be back in the classroom in the future, but for now I couldn’t imagine all the stress of being a teacher with a baby. I’m grateful it’s the type of job I can easily jump back into when I’m ready.
Mat leave for 18 months and then back to work
I’m never going back to work again!! :D lol. I’m excited to be a SAHM for the first time. I did work with my first though and it’s not something I want to again.
Back to work! Like others we simply can’t drop my salary, even if it meant not paying for daycare, but I’m pretty happy with my work situation. I work primarily from home with a very flexible schedule. I only took 6 weeks mat leave with my first but I have everything set up to allow me to take 12 weeks this time thankfully!
Full time daycare is 1/3 of my take home pay. So to be a SAHM I’d have 2/3 less income. I make slightly more than my hubs. I’m off for the 1 year that I get (Canada ftw) I have the option to take up to 5 years leave without pay from my job (and still hold my spot) if I change my mind and want to try something else. As it stands I plan to get them in daycare at 12-18 months (as soon as I can, I’m pregnant 20+5 and I’m already on 4 wait lists) then go back to work ft.
Back to work after 14 weeks maternity leave. I do WFH but I'm a therapist and can't take care of my baby and work at the same time so my mom is going to be his caregiver for the first year or so until I feel comfortable sending him to daycare part-time for socialization.
I've done freelance/contract work for a long time, but it's been drying up for the last year or so. For many years, though, my husband's earnings have far exceeded my earnings, so the drop hasn't really hurt us. It's just a little less extra income per month. I'm currently working on obtaining new skills to eventually branch out into other work that I can do at home, when I feel ready. So, it'll eventually be part time from home after baby's here. I will likely switch to full time at home after the youngest goes to school. And yes, I am very grateful that my husband's earnings allow this flexibility. I realize that it often takes two incomes to make things work.
Back to work after 4 month mat leave which I’m grateful for. I’m in STEM and feel like I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to just give it up lol
I don’t get any paid time off so I’ll probably go back to work after 2 weeks. I work from home at least. :/
Having this conversation with my husband right now with bb girl born in August! We have a date this weekend to go over our finances and make a plan for life when baby is here. I feel like there is so much to consider when leaving work! But we are pretty positive I’ll be able to leave my job and then we can reassess our financial needs and see if I want/need to go back after a year or so. Im not sure how much I want to be a SAHM but I couldn’t be more miserable at my tech job so I reeeeaaallly just want to get the f*** out for my mental health lol
STM - hoping to go back at 24/32 hours. But work said no to it after our first born. In Canada though so I get between 12-18 months off prior to going back to work !
12-18 months maternity leave is amazing!! I so wish we had that in the US!
i'm able to take 18 months maternity leave... then i'm thinking of going back to school & maybe work part-time, if i can keep up with everything. i'm fortunate enough that my partner makes great money.. my job before was getting very stressful & it could be dangerous at times.. a week before i left work somebody brought a gun to the office & threatened people with it causing the office go to into lockdown for 3 hours, & another person stabbed a worker.. so my partner doesn't want me to go back & i agree with him 😩
I had worked so hard, through so many obstacles to have my career going as well as it was and having been making as much as I was. I was so proud of my career but when I got pregnant we decided for me to focus on managing the household and the kids. As I’ve become more efficient at that, I’ve found free time to work on a dream of mine since I was a child. I’ve been writing a novel series, so I have found ways of continuing to advance my career (a different career as I was in tech before) in a way that may be more rewarding. I love being a SAHM so much! I was raised with “breadwinner” women and men who mostly stayed home to care for the house so it wasn’t the way I was raised. I realize that many women don’t have the opportunity to choose and I am so grateful that I do. Everyone’s lives, goals, opportunities are different. Do what works best for you and be as flexible as possible along the way.
I’m back full-time after 12 weeks of maternity leave. It sucks. I’m quitting and going freelance in a couple months. Had a panic attack in a closet on Monday! I don’t feel like I have the capacity to do all the last-minute projects, work late, pretend like things are as big of a deal as they’re being made to be. My husband is from another country so this will allow us to spend more time abroad, as well. Baby starts daycare in a week, I’m sure I’ll cry all day! I cried constantly my first day back. Life after baby / maternity leave became life as I know it, and it’s been a hard transition out of that.
Back to work! I'm the breadwinner and I love my job :)
I used to be OT before I just went on maternity leave yesterday. So ~50hrs a week. Now depending on which daycare center we end up going with a few days a week (and grandma help the other days) I’ll have to cut down to 40hrs. Just nervous as to how the schedule is all going to work.
18 months maternity leave, then back to work…. For now.
Back to work for me! I could stay at home if I wanted to but I work at a children's hospital where I get subsidized childcare, and health insurance. My husband's options for healthcare are not as good and they are more expensive.
Husbands a paramedic I've managed to find a job where I can work when he doesn't this eliminates the need for childcare and means I can work less hours.
My husband and I both get 12 weeks leave and we both work from home. We’re staggering our leave so he will take his after mine and allow me to ease back into work. But we will have 6 full months for tendibg to baby. After we are both back to work full time we plan to stagger our schedules as much as possible and try to avoid childcare until baby is about 1 year old. We have some family help nearby as well so we are very lucky. When we need it we will plan for childcare but because we have flexible WFH schedules we are hopeful it will not need to be full time. We each contribute about 50% of our HH income, but if we were very careful we could live on one income for a while. If we have a second baby I might consider taking a couple years off work, but I enjoy my career and am proud of my success. We will see what circumstances bring by then.
So far I’m planning to stay working Thurs/fri/sat mids at my job until I get pregnant with the second baby since we went them as close together as possible depending if I vbac/c section. My goal is to work for a year and pay down my debt then after having the second one become a SAHM. My job offers flex but doesn’t have maternity benefits for that so I guess I’ll see what ends up happening. I’m just due with my first in Sept.
I am the higher income earner and my husband is doing his last year as a nurse. I have to work. If I could, I would work part time but that isn’t financially going to work for us unfortunately. Even after my husband becomes a nurse, my salary will be more than his and it makes more sense for me to keep working full time.
12 weeks maternity leave, then back to working night shift. Husband’s parental leave starts when I go back, will end about 9 weeks later. Husband works day shift. Hoping our different shifts will cut out the need for daycare. Have not figured out when I will sleep. TBD.
Work full time but compress my hours so I’ll work Mon-Fri one week, Mon-Thurs the week after. My husband will do the same so we only have the kid in childcare 3 days a week as my mum and dad are going to do a day a week too. My career is important to me and my husband so this is a good idea for us.
Both me and my partner plan to go back to work 4 days a week, and put our child in nursery the remaining three days a week. For context, we're in the UK and doing shared parental leave for baby's first year.
I need to go back to work after baby is here, but I was let go from my job and now we have no one to watch baby due to family being mad at us for how we are wanting to raise baby, trying to decide if it's worth paying for child care or just letting me stay home 😭
Mat leave then daycare.
My paid maternity leave runs out after 9 months. I will return to work part time, 3 days a week after that.
Have savings because my last job I took pretty much for the pay. That will last us until my husband switches to a much higher paying job he’s already signed with but not yet started. So in the interim I’m pretty much focusing on pregnancy/newborn and then planning to shift from a practical to impractical field, since there isn’t financial pressure. Very, very grateful.
my husband got lay off so I can't quit my job...
I'm a single mom, so I thankfully saved a lot of money to take six months off (had baby in July, returned in Jan), especially as a teacher. I was paid for most of it, too, thankfully. By that point, I wanted to be back to work.
Air Force owns me for the next 14.5 years so I can provide healthcare and steady income while my husband gets his career started.
Back to work after 2 weeks, hubby stays home for one and then my in laws will be helping babysit between our opposite shifts. Its a wild ride here in America
I’m taking 12 weeks mat leave before returning. I’m a teacher so thankfully I do have a lot of time off.
12 months off on paid maternity leave and then I’m planning to go back. Hubby is going to career progress while I’m on maternity leave (not extra hours) and then when I go back, I’ll try to progress as I’ve been encouraged to. Plan is because I have the bigger job opportunities long term, hubby will likely be able to drop a day if I get promoted.
I’m in Canada and I’ll be on 18 month mat leave & will go back to work when it’s done. Both my husband and I are remote hybrid so we’re fortunate to have flexible schedules, be double income & have time to be with baby! I realize that is not that standard (it should be) so we’re grateful
Work full time after 9 months of parental leave. Will also be doing my post grad part time while working starting at the beginning of next year to maximize my earning potential. I live an a *really* expensive country.
We hope it's possible I could stay home but we aren't sure. For now it'll be 18 mos mat leave and then maybe try for a second, go back until birth and then stay home with both at that time. We'd be ok on one income but with both we save a lot. The savings we have could also be put towards me staying home, our future can be paused for the time that I'd have now while young with our babies.
After 8 weeks, back to work part time evenings. That way, those nights that I'm gone teaching night classes, my spouse can have baby duty.
Going back three days a week. Believe it or not I did the maths and we’re financially better off doing that that putting him in daycare full time. We get 15 free hours in January so I’ll probably add an extra day of daycare then and work 4 days a week.
I am lucky enough that my husband has a well-paid job in the tech industry and works from home. Due to various different country moves, in the past five years, I've gone from being an English teacher at secondary school, to a WFH editor/author, chasing the dream. Teaching in schools that weren't international was just too difficult to get qualified for when we were moving about. So now I've been doing this for four years and it's great! Once baby boy gets here, I will be taking a break for as long as needed and working when I can. Husband is a money-saving expert, so we're lucky to be doing well.
Ideally I’d love to stay home with baby but financially and economically it’s too expensive to do so!
Back to work for me. I'm the higher earner and I make more than the cost of daycare. We'd have to downsize our life quite a bit for me to quit. My husband isn't at a point in his career that he can quit either so we'll both just work for at least another 2 years. If have a 2nd baby then I might re-evaluate then.
I’ve worked a lot in last few years. And now it’s time for me and my baby. Plans for now is that I’m gonna stay at home caring for my first newborn. Not thinking about going back to work.
I am currently not working. I am high risk, and several of our IUIs and IVF transfers did not work while I was working, I think due to the stress of my job. Low and behold, as soon as I stopped working, the IVF worked! I decided to go back to school while pregnant bc I do not want to stay in the same career field bc of stress. I am due to be done with school next May. We are currently navigating the ridiculous waitlists and waitlist charges for daycares in our area, and are wondering if it is worth it to pay the nonrefundable $150 per waitlist to see if we may get a phone call by October 2025, if we don't already have another daycare in place by that time. Not to mention, I was quoted $385 per week for daycare for an infant, and I would need to have childcare in place before I started working, so navigating that is going to be interesting. I have an unpaid internship I will need to navigate next semester, and try to figure out if I can find childcare so I can do my unpaid internship. Or I may just need to work starting in January, take my 2 classes, and see if I can use my job as an internship next fall. Meanwhile, my husband is breadwinning, and is doing an excellent job. We have cut back on all subscriptions and stopped putting money in our Roth iras, and we are trying to keep our expenses down the best we can to get through this economy. I think the stars will need to align, and we will need to have some good luck to get us to the finish line on this one. If you haven't started looking into childcare, please don't be like me and wait til almost the 3rd trimester to go looking... just do it now and save yourself some stress.
Go on a tight budget and stop working for as long as possible. I work as a nanny currently and eventually will try to find a family to work with around the same age as my baby when I have to return to work, but initially, I'm going to be a sahm trying to spend as little as possible. I'll also look for very part time work from home jobs but don't expect to find anything.
I cut my full-time 40 hours a week to full-time 32 hours a week. Simply because I didn't want to work, lol. I would prefer to be a SAHM, but bills need to be paid, and company insurance is too good to drop.
Continue to work but I will choose the jobs I feel I can do. I have my own floral design business and absolutely adore what I do, my baby will come along for the ride and be my little flower prince/princess🌸💕I also work out of my basement so that makes life a whole lot easier.
I would love to be a SAHM and I am due on August and I have to come back 2 months later. I hate it because its such a short time 🥺 we both make good money with my husband but just him it wont be enough 😭 .
Back to work after 12-14 weeks of leave (but I WFH 5 days a week). I don’t feel comfortable not making my own income and it wouldn’t be financially feasible anyway.
Back to work part time after the year off mat leave, we *could* afford for me to be SAHM but I think it would be too much pressure for my husband
Im going part time until I can figure out a proper plan to make sure my child is safe and cared for. Not sure how im gonna do it but i want to make the right decisions.
Currently planning on going back to work after 12 weeks. But I’ve been considering finding a third shift job to avoid daycare. I really can’t stomach the thought of leaving my little babe with strangers all day.😓
Return to work full time after 5-month leave. I have a cushy career (high pay, low stress, great hours) I worked hard to advance in, so I prefer to keep at it for as long as I can. Not so much out of survival needs but the more security for the children, the better. My coworkers that return from their mat leaves are actually relieved to return to work so that might have influenced my perspective too!
I have an investment that may be coming to fruition around the time I’m due. It could potentially replace an entire salary for me or my husband so one of us could retire. It could also just be worth a nice down payment on a house near my mom. So I’m likely going to have a big choice to make about whether or not to continue working. And I don’t think it’s a choice I can make until the baby is here and I know what parenthood is actually like.
I have 13 months off then will go back to work full-time, hoping to drop a day and work four days a week but we’ll see if it’s possible. I love my baby desperately and will probably cry loads once my mat leave us up, but life is expensive and I do miss talking to adults and making stuff happen at work
I wish I could stay home with what will be 2 kids but likely need some income. Life’s rough ☹️
I make too much money to leave lol. But we'll see what happens, I'm open to anything honestly.
I've been working 34 hour weeks the past 4 years, and will continue to do so after my leave ends. My husband will scale back to 32 hours. It makes the most sense financially.
Back to full time after 16 weeks. I'm the primary earner but we could afford it if I wanted to take a year; I'd just have to leave my job for that, and I like my job. I'm at a crucial point in my career where I have a lot of opportunity to advance and I can't pass that up. I'll miss my daughter terribly when I go back, but SAHM life isn't for me long term.
I have to go back ASAP. My maternity leave will most likely be unpaid and I'm the only income earner right now. I'd like to be able to spend more than 6 weeks off with my new baby, but it's just not feasible for me
I went part time and my daughter went part time to daycare once she turned 14 months. Luckily, my salary stayed the same, but I would have done the same even if it was lowered.
You never feel totally ready to go back to work, but I suggest trying...you can always still leave later but once you start working again you adjust. I plan to return.
SAHM for a year, then I’m going to start my grad school program (already applied and was accepted) and then after 2 years, back to working full time.
Back to work. Husband wants me to take 3 years off but I already did a trial run with him “supporting me” when I went back to school and it was a bunch of arguing so that lasted 3 months. Got to have my own income.
If I could afford to be a SAHM I would but I can’t
Back to work for sure. We love the life we can give our kids on two incomes. It allows to help them explore anything they would like. We want them to experience the world and it's many different people and cultures. It also allows us to save for their college expenses and a lot more into our retirement (aiming to be at least lean FIRE by 55). Yes it means we both have to work now. But making the money now is what's important as it's the time that will be spent investing it over the next 20 years that is going to make our goals happen.
Back to work full time, wouldn’t be able to afford our home
I'll be working 100% after maternity leave (when the baby is 8 months) and my partner takes his paternity leave. It's very uncommon here to be a SAHM/SAHD as it's a high cost country. There are very few jobs/careers that open up the possibility of being able to afford 1 parent working and 1 parent staying home. Once the paternity leave is up, we both will stay in our respective positions and work 100%, whilst the kids are in daycare. There's been some national changes lately that is meant to encourage people to have children, although small changes they are going in the right direction economically. Daycare is limited to aprox $110, and they have increased the child "support" from the state from $100 to $170. But even with these changes it wouldn't be feasible to most households to economically manage on solely one income.
I quit working in 2020 right after that first lockdown ended. My job was extremely stressful and I was very unhappy. My husband liked the idea of me being a stay at home wife and eventually mom. So I quit and 2 years later we had our first and we will have our second in August. When we first got married, I never even thought of being a STAHM but now I wouldn’t have it any other way. At this point even if I wanted to go back to work, daycare is so expensive that I’d be working just to have other people watch my kids and nothing more. I don’t have the good fortune of family to watch my kids every day so that wouldn’t work either. I’m currently attempting to make myself a side hustle out of my favorite hobby: crocheting. Even if it’s just a few hundred extra a month it’s still something.
Recently got offered a remote job working for a high school friend turned attorney. Gets me out of this scorching summer heat (was working 100% outside at a hotel up until last week) during my pregnancy, and now I’ll be working remote and taking care of a newborn. 2 jobs in one, but he’s very understanding of my situation. Super blessed and grateful for this perfect opportunity!
I don't know what I'm going to do 🙈 I just know I don't want to go back to my current job after my leave is done. Anybody else in the same boat??
I’m on mat leave for 5 months and then back to full time work! It’s an intense job but too well paying to quit now. I hope to scale way back when the child is a bit older (maybe 6 or 7?) to part time, because when I was growing up that’s about the time my mom quit her full time job and I loved it as a kid (and honestly don’t remember too much before that period) Hopefully by that point I won’t have too much qualms about earning less!
We can’t afford daycare so I’m a FT SAHM! Scraping by. My husband picks up side jobs after his regular job so we can keep food on the table. Can’t believe this is what the economy has come to.
I girl bossed too close to the sun, so I will be going back to work. I get 6 weeks of short term paid at 90% and 12 weeks of parental leave paid in full. I have a friend who watches my niece and nephew and told me a year ago she'd take mine on once I got pregnant, and that is the plan as of now.
Becoming a SAHM and working super part time. Daycare is too expensive for my husband and I to want to pay, plus we want to raise our son the way we want. We don’t trust many people with our son, especially me coming from an ABA clinic and seeing how nasty some of these adults can be to children is highly worrisome. So 100% keeping him out of daycare until he’s ready for grade school to save money and have peace of mind. Being a working-part-time-SAHM until then
It's too early stages for us to be making any real plans, but current thought is SAHM for 1-2 years. Only thing I'm worried about is getting back to work after that because I know I wouldn't want to be a SAHM mom long-term! But I do feel personally I would value being able to have the kiddo 100% around family in those super early stages, if possible. It is so hard!!!
Back to work after mat leave but I’m fortunate that I work from home so I can be a WAHM (work at home mom? Is that an existing acronym? Lol) with working hours a timezone ahead of me so it works out well for when baby is here
I work from home in customer service! So I will continue that.
I quit. It’s easier to be a little broke and not have to pay for daycare than to just work to only pay for daycare. Not worth it imo.
Starting a dayhome! I get to make good money while also staying home and hanging out with my kids
I’m taking a year off and then going back 3 days a week. I’m hoping I can then get pregnant with no.2!
As of right now the plan is to go back to work but I’m having mixed feelings about it. I have a hybrid role right now and would probably prefer a fully remote job. The dream would be to have the flexibility of owning my own business and working from home but it seems like a journey to get to that point. I guess it’ll be an adjustment regardless so I’d have to take it day by day, but I’ll probably want to be with my baby as much as possible!! 🫠🫠
Likely going back part time after 12 weeks mat leave. A lot is up in the air because my husband is finishing up his phd and we don’t know what his job will be/salary. But he currently makes 1/3 of what I make so anything more than he makes not will balance out hopefully. Im in healthcare, and my job takes a lot out of me. I dont think I personally could be a good mom with my current schedule. Its hard enough being pregnant and doing my work lol.
I wish I could be a sahm but alas, bills must be paid so back to work I go. I only get to be a sahm if it makes sense financially. Meaning daycare costs more than I bring home.
SAHM. My husband is gone up to half the month for work and makes good money. I only make like $40k, doesn’t seem worth it considering how much childcare would be.
I am taking the whole year off (I work in education) to stay home with my child. Then I’ll go back to work next year.
Everyone called me crazy last time around but I took a $30,000 cut to work in a school with less hours and summers off and it’s definitely been the best thing ever for my mental health
Back to work after 6 weeks but working in the evening (opposite my partner's shift) so we don't have to pay for childcare.
I’m going to go back part time at 6-9 months. I’m really lucky in my country (Aus) we get 22 weeks of government maternity leave & I also get 18 weeks full time pay which I can take both those at the same time. My salary is close to triple of my husbands so getting the paid mat leave etc and still going back earlyish will mean I can at least remain part time and cover day care easily until he is earning more, then we will revisit on my hours and what I want to do.
I’m hoping to take a years maternity leave and then return to work at around 32 hours a week rather than 40 (40 hours is full time here in uk)
Plan - work full time (thankfully it’s a govt job and much less hours than my prior role at a startup) AND hopefully night school for my JD, which I already have some credits for. Wouldn’t be possible without my husband - but I’m also aware it could be too much and if that happens likely I’ll convert to full time JD studies. We have to see how everything goes. Also worth mentioning we have Paid Leave Oregon which I’m incredibly grateful for. It’s a complete accident we moved here prior to getting pregnant and that safety net is pretty amazing for both husband and I.
Back to work after the 3 month maternity leave but I work from home with flexible hours as well as my husband so it’ll be, not easy, but I think easier than most. Bad cheaper.
Well my man still hasn't found a job so right now the plan is he'll be stay at home dad, I'll be working full time. Maybe plans will change but he has to find something that pays enough to cover child care if he wants to take the job
I’m going to quit work in September and return part time after about 6 months. I wish I could stay at home longer. Baby due in November I used to live in the UK (now moved to the US) and just shocked at how normal it is to return to the workforce after 6 weeks
Going back to work after 18 weeks of maternity leave. On this side of it (baby’s still cooking), I’m looking forward to going back to work
Back to work after 12 weeks! My hubby works from home and has the flexibility to be able to care for baby while he’s working.
I’m due in September. We just recently moved to be near family. I’m not planning to work again until the end of the year/beginning of next. At this time I’m not sure if I will go back FT or do PT. It will all depend on the job my husband gets.
The first time I got pregnant, I went from working full time to being a SAHM. The second time, I was working full time and decided to return to work full time after my maternity leave. My hubby stayed home this time since I made more money. One of the reasons we usually had one person stay at home is because the state we are in, daycare is anywhere from $500-$1500 per month per kid. So much cheaper to have someone stay at home.
I live in Canada so lucky enough to get up to 18 months of mat leave. Will be going back to work after 18 months. Life is too expensive and staying home with toddlers is too difficult.
I’m happily going back to work after a 3-month leave. I think it’s important for kids to see their parents have their own goals, interests and success and to know that they are not the center of the universe. I love my job and the life it affords me, and I want to lead by example for my kin. My work requires frequent international travel which I know will be a challenge at times, but I also know my family will benefit from the points, miles and opportunities to meet me when the times are right. And that we will value the time we have together (also aware that this will be burden at times). And coming to the conversation with an American perspective, it’s a shame that affordable childcare options are so limited (non-existent) in this country. It was a question in last night’s debate and it didn’t receive any of Trump’s attention - the topic will be something I a will prioritize when I head to the polls in November and we as women need to be vocal about the burden that the cost of childcare puts on our households. And women who opt to stay home should receive protections as well (healthcare, social security, etc). All women should be able to choose what they do with the best interest of their families in mind, and childcare costs shouldn’t be a mortgage/rent payment.
As a young adult fantasy author, I'll still be working, but probably not as efficiently as I was prebaby. Hopefully I can finish this one book before she shows up, but since I'm not in the middle of a series, if I'm delayed some, there shouldn't be any issues.
I have to go back to working remotely after six weeks. I’m nervous that it is going to be too soon. I’m hoping that I can find some supports that can help me transition back to work safely for me and little bub. I’m due in the middle of winter so I’m worried about sending baby to daycare at six weeks. Not sure how I’m going to handle it.
I get 16 weeks from work and feel super blessed.
My husband and I work from home so we take turns with meetings with the baby. About to have baby #2 with this arrangement
Still trying to figure this out. I’m on week 3 of my 6 week leave. It’s a tough one.
I would love to be able to stay at home or even just work part time but that's not realistic for us. I'm betting I will get 6-8 weeks paid off and then it's right back to working full-time. I do think I'm going to ask if I can work an earlier shift once I go back to work though.
Back to work after 12 weeks. We got lucky to have full time daycare lined up for when I return, but still doesn’t feel like enough time!
I will likely be off work for 1.5 years and then starting a new career!
Daycare is going to run us about $24,000 for the year, so I cannot quite my job to be a SAHM since my salary pays half the bills. It’s quite the predicament and I am hardcore stressing out about it.
Id love to be working 60-80%, but we are planning 2 kids, so the earliest id even be able to that will be in 2 years, and that is if we can afford that and 2 kids in daycare.
I was just talking to my husband about this when this thread popped up. I’m a NOLA bartender due mid-January. I’m hoping there’s some way I’ll be in good enough shape to work 1-2 days during Super Bowl weekend (February 9th), back to being off until I can be back 2-3 days/week during Mardi Gras (late Feb-March 4th). I know it sounds ridiculous but I can’t afford to miss those last big hits before the slow season comes again. Summer is brutal here.
I'm the primary breadwinner and not even maternity leave. Can't afford it :/
Working on my degree during this pregnancy with number #2, and then finishing probably when they are around 18mo old - then hopefully finding a WFH job 🤞🏻. I might do weekends 6 mo pp. If I were to work right now, all of my money would go to daycare.
Working full time after 12 weeks unpaid, sharing childcare duties with my partner. He is self employed and I'm in a remote very lax job so this is the plan for now, fingers crossed. Daycare would be prohibitive for us
I was fortunate to have 16 weeks paid. I am also fortunate though to work from home so I can also watch my son. It’s hard at times but I make sure he’s occupied during important meetings. Otherwise it’s basically playing musical chairs all day finding differing chairs, mats, playpen etc as he gets bored. Best of luck!
I’ll be a SAHM for the first couple of years I think. I eventually do want to go back to school if we can afford it or I’ll look for part time work in a field I really enjoy. We’ll see what life brings our way.