The countdown begins as I officially go back to work in exactly 1 week. I can’t help being overcome with sadness but at the same time, I feel extremely blessed.

Everyone knows that in the U.S. parental leave for both parents is TRASH. Absolute garbage. Most men don’t even get parental leave and if they take off it’s unpaid.

My fiancé for example, when our first daughter was born in Aug 2021, he was off 3 unpaid days. Then he went back to work. He does work a trade and for a small business so taking off for a week or more just wasn’t obtainable.

With our 2nd baby, she was 4 weeks early which caused me to stay longer in the hospital so he took about 4 days unpaid. Luckily she was born in the middle of the week so we had the weekend to break up the work days.

Unfortunately for most men, you are either looking at unpaid time off or if you have paid vacations, you’re taking those days. And it doesn’t leave you a lot of time to help a mama out with the newborn. All in all, it sucks.

Now us beautiful one of kind creatures who literally birth a human from our bodies – We get two scoops of nothing.

Other countries like Canada & Finland offer maternity leave anywhere from 12-18months. Here, your lucky if you actually get 6/8 weeks leave. I know some woman who go back to work 1 or 2 weeks after birth because it’s impossible for them to take the unpaid leave. Then you have those who are fortunate to get paid leave, but 6/8 weeks is still so little time when you look at your babe. And that doesn’t include the added stress that comes with finding/paying for childcare for a newborn.

So when I say I feel blessed, I really am because for my past 2 pregnancies I’ve been able to take 9 and 14 weeks with pay. It’s not full pay but hey anything is better than nothing when you have bills to pay and mouths to feed.

My circumstances do still differ in the fact that I am also a remote worker. So even going back to work, I’m not physically gone for 8 to 9 hours during the work week.

I’m beyond grateful for the job that I have and that it has allowed me the time I have with my babies. But the sadness that comes with having to split my time between work and home is just natural.

I’ll be soaking up this last uninterrupted work-free week with my littles because we mamas don’t get these moments back.

XOXO – A Busy Mama