My thoughts on going back to work

1 sleep til I’m back in work… I can’t believe it! I pretty much picked Jan 5th as my return to work day before baby W had even arrived, I figured ‘new year, new start’ and also knew that most people would feel blue about being back in work on that day after just a few weeks off so I’d be in good company!

What I hadn’t thought of is that the last few weeks have felt like a bit of a holiday, with my other half being off work since Christmas Eve. So it does feel like it will go from a high to low on Monday!

Having said that, I am looking forward to it. I’m fortunate to be in a job I love, surrounded by a great team and colleagues. Before I had baby W, work was a huge part of my life and I’m looking forward to getting a bit of that feeling back even though I know it won’t be the same as before.

Maternity leave can be bloody hard work. Baby W is generally good as gold but he has plenty of grouchy moments, and as I’m the person he spends the most time with I’m also the one he gets most bored with, sometimes nothing I do can make him happy and those days can be tough.

I know I did well keeping busy, taking him out and about, taking him to classes and groups. Both of us really enjoyed them but even then, maternity leave felt lonely at times and those days where we didn’t leave the house meant no adult conversation!

That’s one of the things I’m worried about… Interacting with people again… My social skills have taken a nosedive!! I’m worried about how long it will take me to get back into the swing of things and get up to speed. My team has changed while I’ve been off… Another challenge in proving to newbies that I am a worthy leader! (And proving to peers that I still have it!)

I’m not worried about leaving baby W. We did lots of settling in with the childminder so I know I’ll be ok with that and no tears, one less thing to worry about. Of course I will miss him like mad, and it feels like the end of an era, but if all goes well I will get home early enough to have a quality couple of hours with him everyday! And I’ll be working 4 days a week instead of 5 🙂

When daddy gets home from work, he gets lots of excited smiles and giggles. I’m hoping I get the same when I pick him up from the childminder everyday… In some weird way I’m hoping that me going back to work makes the time I have with him more special and quality.

It will be nice to dress up a bit every day and put make-up on…. and brush my hair! I will miss my companions Jeremy Vine and The Wright stuff. I’m not looking forward to the daily commute, that feeling of routine and having to get on with it as soon as I wake up – no lounging around!

I worry about the tiredness. W still wakes up at least once a night and our cats usually wake us once a night too! One of the most significant things I learnt on maternity leave though is that new mums can survive anything…. including extreme sleep deprivation!