Telling Work: Month 3

written October 1, 2011
11 weeks

What will work say?

I'm not sure what my work is going to think when I tell them the news. My thought is they'll be happy for me. But you never know. I'm scared, which I think is normal.

The thing is there aren't many females at my place of employment who can have babies anymore.

Plus, I haven't fully accepted the fact that I am preg. It just seems so surreal to me. So it's hard for me to blurt it out. Twelve weeks is sort of the safe zone.

So with that said, I felt these past few months I needed to prove a lot to myself and to work. I wanted to be able show work that, yes, I could be faced with some major life-changing news and still get projects done. I could still remain focused. I could still manage a team. I wasn't broken or needed to be treated any differently. I didn't need to miss work or leave tons early. I could do it. Yes, the trails of overpowering perfume of some employees knocked me on my butt. The lunch smells killed my stomach at times. And little things did annoy me very easily, but I took deep breaths and kept my head buried in my computer. Yes, there were days I wanted to throw up. Yes, there were mornings I had to dive back into bed in tears. I had no idea how I'd dig past the grossness so I could walk into work for eight hours and act like nothing was wrong. But I survived!!!!! I did it!!! This too shall pass!!!

So on Monday I plan on sitting my boss down and breaking the news. My goal is to take 8-12 weeks maternity leave. 

Thankfully I have been saving just a little bit of each paycheck in an ING account ever since we got back from South Africa almost two years ago to cover my butt. I want to enjoy maternity leave comfortably. I have enough to cover me for eight solid weeks. And I think I'll still be able to continue some freelance work with AOL so I can get some cash flow. Short term really only covers 60% of two weeks because I have to burn through my vacation first. But I will say some of the BEST advice I have ever been given is.... It's not how much you make, it's how much you save. If I never saved, I would've never been able to take maternity leave. And what? I had to give up going out to dinner with Karl once a month or had to turn down a fun night out? It was worth it!!! Now I'll have time to heal and get to know baby!!! Because I have NO IDEA what I'm doing!!!

We'll see what happens!