Back to work

Today marks the end of my first week back at work following six months maternity leave. Even though I acknowledge the ideal is probably some kind of version of part-time work, I decided to return full-time. Spanish law is such that had I wanted to reduce my hours, my company would have been required to oblige me, reducing my salary proportionally. Yet I wanted to give full-time a try – otherwise I would never know whether or not it was possible to find a decent balance between a career and family. I have a lot of things in my favour: a fabulous nanny who treats my son as if he were her own; a short commute, so minimum time is lost on the road; a good employer that offers a certain amount of flexibility; and finally, a very supportive husband who does his share of housework and childcare. With all this, if I couldn’t do it, I surmised, nobody could.
So how did it go? Well, it went okay… actually better than my expectations. I wasn’t crying in the bathroom, missing my baby, regretting my decision. I enjoyed seeing my co-workers again, dressing up in the mornings, using my brain. And I loved coming home in the evenings, seeing Adam, holding him, playing with him. Continuing to nurse his morning and night feeds ended up being a great decision. For a couple of hours a day, it’s as if I’m back on maternity leave. Yes, Monday was hard. I took a taxi to get home ten minutes earlier and didn’t even stop to pick up our mail. There was a minor hiccup on Tuesday when our nanny called me to tell me Adam was throwing up. But even that served to make me more optimistic: I was able to go home, nurse him, be with him for a bit, and return to work. I can be flexible and maybe, just maybe, I can be one of the lucky few who manages to find that elusive work-life balance and be happy.