Ask:
I know some on this board are fortunate to be SAHMs. I envy you and wish that financially we could do it. To those of you who returned to work after baby...
I was thinking that if I was returning to work in 2 weeks, when Kaylee is 6 weeks old, I really don't think I could do it. I am taking 12 weeks so I am going back mid-January instead. I just don't know how I am going to do it with the sleep thing. I don't end up getting to sleep until 11pm or so and then I feel like sleeping all morning. Kaylee is great and only wakes up every 3 hours or so to get a new diaper and nurse and then goes right back to sleep. I am up a max of 40 minutes, if I don't fall asleep nursing! (Sleeping is what she likes to do, she was born asleep and slept for her first 3 hours of life)
Do you all just go to sleep earlier? Or go to work later? I am used to getting to leaving the house around 7:30am for work, before the baby came. I am secretly hoping that the lactaction room at work has a couch so maybe I can sneak some naps during the day. I guess I will get used to the sleep by January, but can only hope!
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I just got used to having less sleep, especially since my first child hardly slept at all and I went back to work when she was only 4 weeks old.
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I had quit nursing before I went back to work so my husband and I would take turns getting up.
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Luckily, I have a GREAT husband who was more than willing to take turns getting up with DD at night, so I went back when she was 12 weeks. With DS, Iwas lucky to be able to stay home other wise I don't know what I would have had to do, I was exhausted all the time after him.
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I went back to work after my first dd was born and DH and I shared the night time responsibilities until she started sleeping thru the night. Good luck.
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With DD#1, dh & I shared the nights. She was up maybe twice a night. It really wasn't that bad.
With DD#2, we got lucky and she sleeps through the night. SHe goes down at 9 or so and I go down about 11. If she doesn't wake me up before, I'm up at 5:30 getting ready for work.
You adjust. Your body adjusts. It gets easier with time.
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i agree, you adjust to it. I was one of those who could never sleep unless it was dead silent and it would take forever to get to sleep. if i never got my 8 hours I would gte migrains.
Now with two kids and a fulltime job, I sleep 9.30pm to 5.30am and used to wake up for feedings too. I never got migraines and would go right back to sleep in seconds of hitting the pillow! I didnt care how loud it was I was asleep in seconds. Only sound could wake me up was the kids crying!
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I'm glad to hear the body adjusts. I was worried for a minute, as I used to be someone who REQUIRED 9 hours of sleep a night. I am planning to continue nursing and it is just easier to do that during the night as I can carefully catch some z's while she is nursing. Last night I only got 6 or 7 hours and I feel fine.
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I feel sad and lucky at the same time when I read about maternity leave in the states. Here in Canada we get a full year paid leave. And if you have to leave before you are due, (bed rest, complications etc..) it does not count. It starts when the baby is born. I went back early on DS#2. He was 10 months old. I was accepcted in to a position that I couldn't refuse.
Alana
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I am very jealous of your 1 year of maternity leave. I got some unpaid pregnancy leave before she was born and I used 4 days just beacuse I was a week overdue and tired. If I had been on bed rest or had complications, it would have been paid. Then I get 12 weeks after birth and I only get half of that paid.