Hi ho, hi ho, off to work me and my newborn go

[*MamaJen*]

Well, five weeks of maternity leave was fun and all, but Cyrus and I are back at work this week, and I'm enjoying being there. The newspaper office is looking like a nursury--one of the ad reps also has her newborn with her. It's pretty cool that I can bring the baby with me, and he's incredibly chill and mellow so it's working out really well for now. He just hangs out in my lap or in his Moses basket and people barely notice he's there. Memorable moments thus far include setting Cyrus down for a nap on a stack of newspapers, nursing him while interviewing state lawmakers on the phone, and expressing a spoonful of breastmilk for a coworker with an eye infection. I'm part time now and I'll transition back to full time over the next few weeks. We'll probably see if grandma can babysit a couple of half-days a week, and I may do some working from home. I also get the feeling I'll be out and about covering some breaking news with the baby in a sling. Should be interesting.
Anyone else back to work? Or getting ready for it? How's it feeling?

[matey]

That is so cool that ypu get to take him with you! I work with a small handful of emotionally disturbed students, and whilee they think bringing Jack with me when I return is a good idea, I do not. A little tooo much violence in there. I sure wouldnt want to have to protect him from the chairs that fly across the room.

I am scared to go back, scared to have a scedule, to leave him etc. I still have another two months, but I just dont know how I am going to do it. At least once I return I olny have to work for 28 days then it is summer break and I am done.

[mama2rey]

I go back next week-and I am really excited about it! I'll be able to have my LO with me sometimes. Since I work as a therapist-it's not a good idea to have a baby in a session with you ! However during times when I'll be there just doing paperwork I will probably get away with having him with me. (Nobody has kids, but someone else brings their dog-so I plan on just bringing him-and asking questions later!)

I love the woman I found who will take care of him. It will only be 20 hours a week. She is a grandmother who loves babies. She shares my philosophy that you need to hold babies alot, interact with them etc.... She takes care of one other child-a 5 year old whom she has taken care of since she was 3 months old. This little girl follows her around-and when I met her I could tell she was extremely attached to our caregiver. An added bonus-she only speaks Spanish. Both DP and I grew up bilingual-and I want DS to also grow up bilingual. This will expose him to Spanish alot! We try to speak to DS in Spanish-what I end up doing is some horrible Spanglish as I forget what language I'm speaking half the time with him. I don't want him to get confused!

[mom2liv]

Jen, that's so cool. I can just picture it! So glad they let you do that.

I was back full-time already at this point with my first, and right now I just can't imagine how I did it. Then again, I'm definitely finding things much more challenging this time around with the addition of a toddler in the newborn / postpartum mix. I'm so lucky with this baby, though, because not only do I get two more weeks before I go back (and with all the time during this maternity leave I've "lost" dealing with illness and hospitals, I need it!) but also because when I do go back to work it will be from home. Dh will do primary childcare but I'll be right upstairs in my home office and baby will be brought up when she needs to nurse, etc. So I feel much more at peace about the work situation! Until I start getting pressure for the first business trip, of course... :

[Pohuehue]

We've been back at work for a couple weeks. It's been nice, but I do worry about baby watching me interact with the computer so much and picking up some of my bad habits! I also worry about him getting bored here, but am glad he can be with me. I'm not as productive here, and often end up doing a bunch of computer work at home while baby sleeps. There are also other little kiddies here and it's a pretty family friendly office but sometimes I wish we had a grandma to watch baby--our parents all work and not too many sitter options I know of. Feeling very fortunate, but how do I make this a good experience for baby?