This post on returning to work after maternity leave was originally posted in late October 2009. My how my life has changed since that point! I discovered that I DIDN’T like being away from my baby so much, and was a stay-at-home mom 2 weeks after she turned 1. And then I discovered that the stay-at-home mom gig was the hardest thing on earth (shout out to all the at-home parents out there!) and that I needed to carve a new path for myself. As we celebrate our second daughter’s first birthday today, I can’t help but wonder what my life will look like in another few years! 

Isn’t she a cutie? How could I ever leave her? I simply had to, unfortunately. Yesterday was day 1 back at work after 12 wonderful weeks of maternity leave. I honestly missed my job while I was away,but I assumed that my first day back would be entirely miserable.

It actually wasn’t.

Yesterday was a novel experience. I was getting to do something that I had not done in almost 3 whole months. I got to fix my hair, put on makeup, and dress up a bit. I got to be an expert in something not related to infants. It was actually a little bit fun! I suspect, however, that the novelty will wear off after a few days. My prediction is that I’m going to have my hardest day about a week from now, when it starts to sink in that I have to do this 4 out of 7 days each week for as far into the future as I can see (I have a 4 day work week).

One thing parents need are family and friends to offer support. We don’t have any family anywhere close to us, geographically, unfortunately. Fortunately, though, I have a mother-in-law in California who will go to great lengths to help us out whenever she can. She flew in late last night and will be here to help out with Darah for about 3 weeks (Darah has to be 4 months old before she can go to her daycare). I am so grateful for that, and knowing that my little one is getting some quality time with her Grammy really makes me happy.

Since I’m pretty sure that my overall positive emotions about this experience are not permanent, I’d love to hear from other working moms out there. If you went back to work after the birth of a child, how did you handle the transition? Any tips for those of us going back to work after having a baby for the first time?