Work or the Baby
Today I woke up and shivered at the thought of waking up early in the morning in one week time and driving myself forcefully to work (not far from home), with one drowsy eye open and the other shut.
I’m really not so enthusiastic about returning to work because I’ll be leaving my baby at home, and I don’t think I’ll feel so great about missing some major milestones, and at the same time, going back to work is not an option.
I’m hoping for a compromise plan that would allow me to leave work early. I don’t know what are my chances?
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 1st, 2006 at 11:29 am and is filed under Work talk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 3rd, 2006 at 11:24 am
It hurts, I know. You just have to remind yourself that this is life, and you’re going to work for the sake of your family. It’s times like this when I wonder why the heck we women keep whining about equal rights!!! We’re far from having equal rights LOL! We raise babies, take care of the house AND NOW, thanks to our ridiculous whining, we have to work too!!! Smart, huh?:p
February 3rd, 2006 at 11:40 am
… at least we have a choice now!
February 4th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
I came across your blog and I HAD to say something.
I want to start my post by stating that “I am a breastfeeding mother”, I use the natural method of “breastfeeding on demand” which requires me to stay with my baby 24 hours for at least the first 2 years of his life. People who chose this life style truly believe that “you are ur child’s first teacher” and swear by the influence these first years have on your child’s personality and mental as well as physical health.
The need for the mother to actually stay with her baby is not only natural and common sense, its supported by science, evidently, babies “attached” to their mothers are smarter, happier, healthier, sleep better, potty train quickly, do not know what colic is, grow better, eat better, “behave” better. These babies trust their mothers, grow more independent o ma yseeroon de3la o daloo3eeen, they are comfortable babies who are interested in the world around them and do not fear strangers, in fact they are interested in people and study their reactions and attitudes.
Stay at home mothers can “read” their child, communication is very easy when you learn all his signals and develop new ways of communicating every day.
Stay at home mothers are calmer, more relaxed, and definitely get better sleep at night. The secure happy baby do not need to worry about his mommy going away.
Stay at home mothers lose the pregnancy weight by breastfeeding, playing and exercising with the baby.
Stay at home mothers do not worry about their baby with the “house keeper” or wain eyge6oona eb bait yaddeta or what he learned what he saw what he experienced today.
I used to work as a translator in Kuwait university and I ABSOLUTLY LOVED MY JOB! The people there are my friends, its close to home, I did what I do best (translate). when I had my baby, there was no doubt in my mind about where I want to be and what I want to do and who I want to hug all day!
Being a mommy is a full time job! Scheduling meals, breastfeeding, bath time, reading time, playing time, fun time fun time fun time! Educating your self to be a better mother, being in touch with your instinctive side also needs a relaxed body and mind.
my day is full with fun activities with the baby, and during nap time I take care of few things around the house, read online, take online courses, practice my yoga, practice my religion, work on my children’s book series ( you can see them at http://www.welovekuwait.com/books.htm ), call my husband, cook lunch, call my friends at work to hear them whine about their clients, their boss, the busy streets, the accident they almost had
my friends who chose to go to work after they had the baby usually talk about how worried they are about their babies who’s at granny’s house or how much coffee and tea they are consuming or how stressed they are, they talk about the new diseases they developed leading this busy stressful life. many even become very materialistic looking constantly for things money CAN buy, they get soo used to being away from their babies so instead of spending the rest of the day with them they go out with friends shopping mathalan. They all envy me because they are already looking for a magic shay for wrinkles
and im enjoying my happy years :”)
NOTE: if for any reason you couldn’t leave your job please do not feel guilty, this negative feeling will only pass on to your child, try your best to be the happiest mother you can be the rest of the day and do not give up on making it up to him, they are loving creatures and they love us no matter what.
February 4th, 2006 at 11:33 pm
WeLoveKuwait, I’ve struggled so hard for 3 & a half months with breastfeeding my son, and for some reason my baby was never content, so every time I had to substitute with a bottle. My supply was diminishing or at least that explains all the crying, and I couldn’t find a Lactation Consultant to see what was going on. Maybe it was because I had a c-section and I didn’t get off to a good start!
Anyways, I’ve learned not to feel down about this anymore because it was never meant to be. I’m really happy now, and I got over any guilt I had with bottlefeeding because at the end I tried my best, and that’s all I could offer my baby.
I’ve spent the last six months on a maternal leave and I’ve spent every second with my baby. I got to know my baby inside out, and I found out so many things I never knew or even imagined I would learn. I don’t believe I’ll ever forget this experience at all.
I must say you’re so right about a lot of points. But I need to work, like I said it’s not an option anymore. At the same time, and contradicting as it may sound, if I was told to choose between my ‘baby & work.’ I’ll choose my baby right away, over anything else in this world, lol.
And I’ve checked the website and I must say the ideas are quite new and very original. Thank you for suggesting it.
February 5th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
Awww …I always think that a woman’s place is next to her baby. Now don’t start shouting equal rights at me.. a woman should work, my wife is not gonna be a stay home wife. But let us be honest, the people who understand their children the most especially when they are so young are women. I can’t imagine myself leaving my child home with a nanny, or a maid, i simply can’t, this is not normal. I am all for a woman or man (i know men would think this is gayish and all, but really is is normal) to take 3 or 4 years off … to raise their child until they reach school. And for people who want to have more children with time, both partners will hopefully advance their careers and their timing would be more flexible to handle it.Life is tough i know, i am not married yet and i think about the subject, but the time you spend with your child right now will reduce the time you have to spend with him later trying to understand your child because you havn’t been with him in the msot critical years of his/her life
…
I am one of those children by the way, life demanded that my parents had to be travelling all the time, i spent a lot of time with my grandparents, and i lived for sometime on my own when i was 12 .. imagine that 12 …
Best of Luck Pearls.. BTW .. the way you write your blog is so nice. Keep up the good work
February 6th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Thanx fractal00. I know the best job ever is to stay-at-home and raise my own boy.
That’s exactly why I’m considering my options, and once I’m back to work I’ll see how things goes.
I might be able to take another 6 months off if I’m not allowed to leave earlier. It’s so important for me to be there for my baby’s feeding.
Because I work 6 hours a day, and one evening shift once a week (2 hours long). Thursdays and Fridays off.
I hope my baby wouldn’t miss me so much when I’m not around.