Back to work thoughts

Is anyone else struggling with the thought of going back to work and consuming your thoughts more than it should be? I’m due to go back in January and now we’ve hit the half way mark I can’t stop thinking about my return and how I’ll manage to just resume back to normal, I want to put in a flexi request to reduce my hours but not hopeful it will be approved.

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Yep. I keep playing out different possible scenarios trying to figure out what the right thing to do is in terms of hours working - what’s likely feasible for my company/job role but also works for my family and desire to be fully present for both work while optimising my time and presence with my daughter. It feels impossible to figure out the “right” answer and honestly if I could afford to, I would love to spend 3-5 years with my baby before returning to work. It feels so difficult the idea of not being with her while she’s still a baby/ dependent on me. She’s 7 months now and I haven’t left her yet so it’s really so genuinely daunting but I know I have to bite the bullet. I just have to figure out if there’s some sort of happy medium 😩

I'm due back in Feb and already sent my flex request, hoping it gets approved. If it does, with my hour reduction and my untaken leave I should be able to stretch my mat leave until the first week of April. I know it's far but just the thought of leaving my baby makes me sad

I’m the same, I went to talk about going part time and the answer was basically a big fat no for the rest of this year (/the worst offer 😂) which for a while made me feel worse
But then my main boss just talked me through all the things he was going to do to make the transition easier, which made me feel better, but I just can’t fathom how I’m going to work with a baby?! How do people get out of the house on time? How do they spend proper time with them?!

Came here to say I felt like this with my first but it was much better than I’d imagined. My little one started nursery at 11 months and loved it from day 1. He’s now 2.5 and has come on so much at nursery. I did go down to 4 days which helped but it was nice to be back with adults as well and getting a bit of myself back. Going back in a few months after May leave no 2 and again nervous about my little one starting nursery but it really wasn’t as bad as I was anticipating. In terms of getting out of the house, we just try and be as organised as possible the night before making sure everything is ready to go and can get straight out the door. I’m definitely worried about getting a toddler and baby out the door on time though! It makes all times you’re all together even more special

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Does this seem fair.

I'm on maternity leave with a 4 month old and have a 2 yr old toddler.
On Mondays I have no childcare so I'm looking after both all day.
Rest of the week my toddler is in nursery for half a day.

My partner goes to a social group every Tuesday evening for 4 hrs and on Saturdays for 3 hrs.

I've said I want to have free time 9-3 on a weekend to do whatever i want to do - shopping, baking, seeing friends, etc etc.

I said I can't have free time any other time during the week as there's no point - my partner is out from 7am to 6pm Mon-Fri.

Does this seem fair?

Did you know

You can orgasm from anal sex. Apparently if you have no prostate according to some women you cant orgasm from anal sex.

Just advise on relationship and pregnancy apologies for long post.

Hello im going to apologise ahead of time for the post as its gunna probably be a long one.
I had a baby in jan 2025 then another baby who was preterm delivered by emegency c section at 31 weeks and 6 days which was in may 2026 i have just took 4 clear blue tests last week which are saying in 2-3 weeks which means conception was 4-5 weeks ago i told my partner that we should of been more careful as ive always been against terminations myself unless its medically necessary (no judgement to anybody as there are a lot of very valid reasons for terminations).
But all in all he doesnt really do much to help me i do all finances i do all the kids care i do all the housework he doesnt even work either so he just lays about either in my house or running around for other people which can make things difficult in the house sometimes.
Id just like a bit of advise really on what the best thing to do it due to so many complications can happen eith this pregnancy due to the issues i had with my last labour and im a little concerned as i had really bad hyperemesis in both my last pregnancies and he never gave me enough time to recover i had to discharge myself from the hospital most times due to the kids were inconveniencing him and what he had to do.
I feel bad writing this post but am i better terminating? Or am i better off just dropping the man who can not take any responsibility towards his children as things seem so much easier when hes not laying about asking me well what have you done today when i never stop.

??question

Has anyone actually made friends off this app I've had it for a little while snd haven't made any friends

Advice

I’m after some advice on my unborn baby daddy I told him yesterday I don’t feel happy in the relationship anymore and that I don’t trust him and I know I will be doing all the work as in all the night feeds as he is clueless i don’t really want the baby to have his last name either do you think I’m being too harsh

Loneliness and loosing my spark

I’ve been dealing with some pretty intense loneliness ever since I had my second baby. I feel like I completely lost myself and I have nothing outside of being a mom. And honestly no motivation to do anything for myself. I don’t have many friends. My husband works a ton so he’s barely home. I feel like a shell of a human honestly. Like how the heck do I get myself back?!