I went back to work a few weeks ago. Just part time, not full anymore, but it's still so hard to leave Eisley for those 24 hours a week. I figured it would be difficult, but I wasn't ready for just how emotional it really is.
It's really made me think about how behind our country is compared to the rest of the world when it comes to maternity/paternity leave. I feel blessed that I was able to take almost a full 12 weeks off with my daughter. Not all of it was paid, but we were able to make it work. Lots of women aren't that lucky. 6 weeks seems to be pretty average as far as maternity leave goes. 6 weeks. Really? It takes your body that long just to HEAL. It takes that long just to get a good breastfeeding routine going.
All of our other first-world counterparts get much more generous paid leave. In some countries it's up to around 6 months. I'm not going to get too far into this here, because there are a lot of articulately written blogs about this out there about this very subject. I will say this. I'd give up a lot to be able to stay home with my daughter. To never know what it was like to worry that my milk supply will dry up because I'm not able to nurse on demand, or worry that my daughter isn't eating because she is refusing to take her bottle. To be able to nap in order to catch up on sleep so I'm not exhausted to the point of depression. To be to make sure that my daughter never feels like she's been abandoned because she's too young to understand that I'll be back in 9 hours.
Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful to have a good-paying job so that we can live comfortably, and a husband that works his butt off with the goal of allowing me to stay home some day. I just can't help but wish that it was possible today. Leaving my baby is hard. I have to give mad props to all the single moms out there. I don't know how you do it. I know it's hard, and it's sometimes really sad.
I know this was a rambling rant of a post- but it's just where I'm at right now.
Word up. America's maternity leave policies are positively abysmal. I'm happy to be back at work, but sweet baby carrots if it wouldn't be easier to breastfeed to 6 months or--better!--a year if I had paid maternity leave. This pumping business is for the birds. I can barely pump enough, have been put on Reglan, which is HORRIBLE, to boost my supply, and have to lug around a pump everywhere I go. Can't I just strap on my baby and call it good? I wish we had better policies in place to ensure moms and dads both get the time to bond and care for their babies in the first year. It's so important for happy, healthy families.
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