Off To Work With You Mama

Going back to work early after having a baby is extremely stressful for a mom.  Dads ... they can handle it but moms ... its almost impossible to get a mother to switch off baby and turn on work but it can happen.  My baby girl is only 3 months old and I unfortunately have to be back at work.  Its still too early and she is still too little for me to leave her.  So me and my husband decided to split our parental leaves.  I took the first 3 months and had to go back to work and he took his and will work from home for a few months so he can take care of her during the day.  It is a difficult situation but its working out well for us so far.  

After my husband is back at work we decided that we will get an in house nanny who will take care of the baby while both of us are at work.  I was never comfortable with the idea of leaving a baby at a day care center or a nanny who does not come to your house.   A baby needs their own comfortable environment and the best way to do that is to hire someone who will come to your house before you leave for work and take over and leave after you get home.  

Even though my husband is the one taking care of our daughter I am still a really paranoid mom.  I miss my baby and I always wonder if she is OK.  And because I am the queen of organization, I have made a list of things that need to be done during the day with her and all the activities she needs to do.  I gave that list to my hubby and he was relieved that he had that to help him in the beginning.  Now hes a pro ... but it still took him a while to get used to getting everything done while our daughter was asleep and attending to her while she was awake.  It takes a lot out of you.  So to keep my mind at ease and to stay concentrated on my work I asked my husband to send me a picture of her doing whatever she is doing every  hour or so.  That way I don't miss her as much and I can get some work done because I know she is doing fine.  

When we hire a nanny to take care of our daughter I will make an updated list and give it to her.  I will of course ask her to check off all the items off the list as she does them but because I'm paranoid I will ask her to take a picture every time she does something new and checks off the list so I can be sure shes OK.  And plus this is a good way of keeping an eye on the nanny and making sure she is doing all the activities with the baby as well.  But of course you have to do this without making the nanny feel like you don't trust her and are watching her.

Don't worry mama.  Your baby will be fine =)