Working Mums?

K

Kiwi Family

Registered User
Hi, I am due Jan 3rd and looking for strategies of making life easy (physically & mentally) as I work full-time.

Any other full-time working mums out there that plan on working as close to your due date as possible? Would love to to hear from you.

I find myself a little nervous (not sure why) I worked full-time with my first (happy little man is now 4 yrs).

Perhaps because were at home so we had full family support?

It would be great to chat with others to swap "chill out strategies".

So far my strategy is to keep a really possible attitude......
and keep really busy (thats always the easy part.)

:yeah2
 
I gave birth to my baby boy in March, I also work full time and was entitled to the standard 10 week maternity leave. I was planning to have 2 weeks off before delivery (that is as close as they will let you ) and 8 weeks after delivery, but i started showing signs very early so I ended up giving birth on the first day of my maternity leave! You are lucky that you can still stay busy but during the later stage of my pregnancy, my brains were so fuzzy and all I wanted to do was eat and pee!
 
I worked up until the day before the birth with my first, but that was mostly due to bad planning! This time around I will be taking at least a week off before.

That said, I am much sicker than I was with the first and really struggling .... Nauseous and exhausted all day every day. You are right about keeping busy, it's worse at home as I lie around feeling sorry for myself - work is at least diverting. Hope it's just the first weeks that are like this.

Letting my helper help more with my first is my big strategy, not thinking that I have to change every single nappy when i'm home etc. and taking as much rest as possible when I can.

Spoke to a friend yesterday who said it's not quite twice the work with two which gave me some hope!
 
louislouis,
Congrats on your little one! I guess we can never predict our little angels coming early... I am trying to plan for all possibilities just in case, but am not sure how I would manage if he/she was too early...Have you gone back to work, how was the transition for you?

LeahH, how far along are you? You made me laugh re your friends comment about "not quite twice the work". My sweet mother told me it was definitely twice the work (thanks mum, a bit late now) maybe she was just implying that I was twice as much work as my brother (ha ha).

My son is 4 years so I figure its a "convenient" age gap... what about yours?

As for work, I am just trying to get lots of sleep and getting little and often to alleviate the hunger pains that seem to stop me in my tracks sometimes.
 
Hi TeamNZ, I'm also having no.2 in Jan and I work full time. I am planning to work up to as close to the birth as possible. last time, I stopped work about 10 days before, and was soooo bored at home. I would rather save my maternity leave for after the baby is born. As for coping after the baby arrive, I'm in the same boat as you, so don't have any advice. Do you have a helper? We have one, but some people I know seem to get another when they have no.2. Not really an option for us, as we don't have a big enough bedroom for 2!
 
Pookey, we have 1.5 helpers now (as we have a 1yr old + a dog which is like an extra child!). When number 2 comes, we'll probably ask the 0.5 to go full time. ours will only be 18 mo's apart and the extra help will mean a bit less pressure on everyone. Both our helpers live out so we don't have the bedroom issue - flat is too small even for one! Maybe you could get part time assistance from a helper working/living for someone else but with a bit of time spare? We have a few childless friends who let their helpers supplement their income in this way.

I'm sure not everyone 'needs' more than one helper for 2, but with daily dog walking and the fact I'm a below average cook and hate cleaning - it's a necessity for us!
 
that sounds like a great solution LeahH! I have been worrying about how my current helper iis going to cope with 2 when I go back to work. Do you mind me asking how you found them? how much you pay them? Are they local or from o/s?
 
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