Nursery done? Check.
Newborn diapers purchased? Check.
Hospital bag packed? Check.
Car seat installed? Double Check.
Maternity leave plan signed off on by supervisor? Check.
Work delgated/maternity leave workload squared away? Hmmm…good question…
If I’m being super-duper honest? I’m kind of over the whole pregnancy thing at this point. When it comes to all things baby, we’re pretty much ready to go. Unless of course we’re talking about work.
Ugh.
When the topic of work comes up that’s when I start to go back and forth between being ready to go and not wanting to deliver this child one second before her due date.
We’re right in the middle of a complete company rebrand. Super fun stuff!…but not when you’re scheduled to launch your first day back in the office for part time work after 5 or so weeks of maternity leave.
Essentially, I’m a one {wo}man marketing show here. Basically, anything with a logo on it goes through me and when you’re talking about a complete company rebranding, that’s a lot of things…from packaging design and trade show graphics, right down to letter head and email signatures.
I plan on working right up until my water breaks, but who knows when that will be and how much of my to-do list I’ll be able to get taken care of before that point.
Being the compulsive list maker I am, I’ve created the “job list” of things that have to get done for the launch. I’ve started my “job packets” for each project and started gathering project info/data accordingly. I’ve lined up important meetings in order to get the ball rolling on most of these projects early next week. I’ve started giving people their “heads up I’m going to need this info from you” emails. I’m trying my best to dot my I’s and cross my T’s.
This is all well and good, but when it comes right down to it, there will be no one to coordinate and/or follow through on these jobs when I’m out. It’s all me. Even when I’m at home with a squishy little newborn. Sure, I can copy the VP of Sales on all of my emails so he’s “in the loop” on things, but that’ll only go so far.
Maternity leave looks different to different women. For some women it’s walking out of the office two weeks prior to their due date and not even thinking about work for 6-12 weeks post-partum.
For me, it will mean working up until the last second possible then trying to come out of the newborn haze sooner as opposed to later, checking emails and brushing up on my one handed typing skills between feedings and diaper changing and napping. It will mean printing out proofs on my home printer and following up with an occasional phone call.
My work family knows that my real family comes first, no questions asked and that sometimes emails will have to wait.
While I’m sure some women wouldn’t even look at my “maternity leave” as such, but to be honest, I don’t see how it could work any other way and for me? It will be the perfect mix.
{Not to mention, I’m way too much of a control freak to pass over my rebranding launch responsibilities to someone who has no clue what I’ve been working on. I mean really.}
What did your maternity leave look like? Do you have any pre-maternity-leave prep tips for me? Am I the only crazy lady that calls working from home maternity leave!?
Photo Credit: http://www.njemploymentlawfirmblog.com
I kept trying to suggest to people that I would be out pretty soon, but no one paid much attention. The first day home from the hospital I got a call from my boss saying ‘no one knows what you were doing on this project, or what he customer wants and needs done.’ My in-laws thought I was crazy for taking that call… I spent a few hours putting together everything I had done with thorough notes to hand it off. My other (better managed) projects were much smoother. In my annual review that year, though, my boss clearly remembered how willing I was to do what needed to be done. And really? It wasn’t that much effort and it was nice to have grown-up stuff to think about for a few hours in between hr diapers and nursing. As others have said here before, I was not meant to be a SAHM.
I feel like every time I’ve tried to remind people over the last few months I’ve been talking to a brick wall and now that I’m less than 3 weeks from D-day, they’re like, WAIT WHAT!?
I agree with you, I’m looking forward to having some grown-up stuff to think about. It will help keep me sane. And my bosses know that family comes first so they aren’t expecting anything crazy.
Katherine recently posted..Say Balls!
Twitter: lilmissrysmama
I was overdue with E, but my doctor only lets you work 1 week over your due date so I had a few days of “peace” prior to induction.
I’m an architect and thankfully all of my projects were either in construction or nearly there, so timing “worked,” using that term lightly. I spent the two weeks prior to my due date reviewing with Project Managers and other team members what the status was, any oustanding issues, etc. Everything was outlined in e-mails and spreadsheets and saved within each project.
After the first week of maternity leave, I did try to check work email at least once a day. Most of the time there was nothing requiring immediate attention, but there was an occassional question included that I would respond to based on decisions made during the design process. The only people emailing me were the PM and Principal of the projects, as no one else knew I was even checking email, which helped limit the number of emails and whether it was “urgent.”
It worked for me. It wasn’t taking up much time and I think it was easier than abandoning the firm for six weeks. I plan to do the same thing again this time around. If I was in your situation, I would probably be arranging something similar for a return to work. Good luck making it a smooth transition.
Thanks! The major projects are moving along pretty well at this point so I should be headed into maternity leave in a pretty good position. My bosses know family comes first and aren’t expecting anything too crazy as far as me working from home goes…it’ll be as much as I want to put into it. But I’m like you…I can’t imagine just abandoning work for 6 weeks.
Katherine recently posted..Say Balls!
Twitter: lilmissrysmama
I was off for ten wonderful weeks last summer. I wrote tons of job aids and kept my manager in the loop on everything. I thought I had it made since they had someone fill in for me. I didn’t worry about a thing.
Well, when I got back it took me three weeks to sort through everything he’d messed up. He had completely ignored all notes I left him and he left me nothing. I walked into a mess and had no paper trail!
It was a rough few weeks, but I survived. No one died and I got some peaceful time with my peanut.
Good luck!
Twitter: juneofthemoon
Oh NO! That would be the worst!! Last time around we had hired a marketing assistant a couple of weeks before my due date. I was able to get her trained on the basics then copy her on everything I was working on so she was at least in the loop. That was really, really nice, but it’s not the case this time around. Hopefully I’ll be able to get most of these projects going before I’m out…that would be ideal!
Katherine recently posted..Impromptu Blog Break
Twitter: lilmissrysmama
I really did not get leave with either of my children…. but it was all good. My son was two weeks late and came a few days after school got out. I also moved school systems and had a later start date, so he made it easy by being late. I did not have to hand my classes and finals off to a sub.
My daughter was adopted and she happened to arrive in the middle of summer, but ICPC kept us out of state until right up to the time I was to go back to work. I had just started a new job and could not really say “Hey, I adopted a baby and need time off.” We had not discussed this in the interview as we had not been matched. Our daughter was 100% a surprise. We got a call and had 24 hours to get 1000 miles to pick her up. Lucky for me DH works from home so he was able to rearrange his hours and I went to work full time when she was just 4 weeks old, one day after returning home from the longest ICPC paperwork fight ever.
My maternity leave was a blissful 12 week period of NO WORK! Sure there were a few calls from the boss with random questions but I had pretty much spoon-fed the gal covering for me so I felt pretty confident leaving. Like you, I’m also in charge of marketing so my boss declared my leave as, “the time marketing went dark.” I worked up until I went into labor. I even had a client event I was hosting the day my contractions started. When I came back from my leave I had to host our biggest event of the year within two weeks! I had left some “to-do’s” for the gal covering for me and although she executed them, they weren’t done how I would have liked.
I would not have traded those 12 weeks for anything in the world. My feeling was that I don’t get a do-over with my newborn. I wanted to have as much time with him as possible and be as in the moment as possible. Plus, I had a ton for PTO banked up so after blowing through that I also negotiated with my boss to pay 60% of my base for 6 weeks. When it was all said and done I only had about a week and a half of unpaid leave. I’m now pregnant with #2 and I don’t have nearly as many PTO days as I did last time and I’m super bummed that 12 weeks may not be a reality for me this time.
Kendra recently posted..Kid-Friendly Meal (Unless You’re My Kid)