Maternity Leave

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Absolutely. Mat leave is really tough. Life revolves around feeding and pumping and trying to get the baby to sleep. No time to have meal, watch TV or read a book in peace, have a nap, or God forbid try to work out or study something new. And all the house tores piling up, laundry and cooking and cleaning, etc. It's really overwhelming and lonely sometimes. And money gets tight

Wow!

I love maternity!!! Nothing like that at all! Yes it’s an adjustment but it’s also so much fun!!! Lots of chilled time and the pace of life has slowed down which is enjoyable!! Maybe my life before was just hectic but I’ve got more time now and perspective on what is actually important!! And I even get to go ride my horse which was always difficult to fit in before Kx

I imagine maternity leave as 24/7 skin to skin with baby while breastfeeding and binging shows in my room. My mom is moving up 11/2 months before my due date to help me transition into a mom. I’m very fortunate that the women in my family will be rotating to help us every couple months.

Wow 100% get this! I was struggling to manage the simplest of things and I said no I can’t keep doing this I want to enjoy it so I started working from home a couple hours a day just to have a little normality and then only do a little around the home and enjoy myself more!! 😃

I think it should be called motherhood not maternity leave because all that stays after the maternity leave ends.

Depends how you feel about chores and childcare. I love being home with my kids so I go out of my way to make my husbands life easy during maternity leave and I ask him to carry a lot more household weight when I’m working so he sees the value in me being home! I’m also hoping to only work part time after we’re done having kids and I don’t get any more leave so there’s obviously some strategy and I see it as an investment or a sales pitch hahaha

That's exactly how I feel! I live in the UK and am only taking 6 weeks Maternity Leave and 2 weeks annual leave because I am the one with the better job and my boyfriend doesn't make as much. I thought it would be like a vacation to be home with my little one but I was so wrong! It'll be really tough soon because in three weeks I'll be back at work - 3 days at home and 2 days office and boyfriend will be looking after our baby for the two days. That's gonna be a challenge, but the two office days will feel like a vacation...apart from the sleep deprivation of course.

I feel this represents me still now! I’m not on maternity leave, I have a almost 7 yr old, almost 3 yr old and 8 month old. I work from home & have all the house duties of a full time mum also! It’s certainly a struggle!

I haven't took my maternity leave yet but I'm coming close to it and I always been thinking like what am I going to do before the baby come and then worry about having money after the baby come even though my boyfriend still going to be working but I like having my own money

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We do all that and have trust the lil money thats left over after we pay bills we slip and i have money to do things i want to do i am new to this its my first time doing this

When you stop working you'll stop seeing it as "your" money and "my" money is will be come "our" make sure you sit down and go over the bills together. It builds trust and respect.

Totally captures the sentiment. Maternity leave is a leave of absence from an office job- nothing more. Your older kids still need you 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 🍽 ⚾️ 🚘 📚, hubby takes off, what? A week?! 💆🏾‍♀️

I didn't feel like this until I went back to work but I remember how hard and frustrating it was. Very meaningful photo thank you for sharing!!

So powerful this image. I feel every single thing.

Yes! That's how I felt and why I couldn't wait to get back to work. Haha

What a powerful image!!

Yes!!! I loved the first few weeks and then I started to feel like a cleaning/cooking/diaper changing milk machine. My husband had to force me out of the house alone so I could have some me time! I felt much better once I started back at work!