Like many mothers today, I can no longer afford the exciting life of a Stay At Home Mom. While I tremendously enjoyed each and every day I had with my son … waking up when we wanted, breastfeeding when he was ready, giggling, reading, and playing all day … life must now adjust.

I must admit, while I am excited to return to the world outside of my small home, ready to meet new friends and have an office to go to, I am also really nervous. This change has happened all so sudden for me and there are a few things I would like to get in order in the next … ooh … 10 hours.

Many mothers have walked this path before, and many more will continue to do it in the weeks/months/years to come, each having their own fears, worries, concerns, and dreams. These are just a few of the topics on my heart today as I begin to weed through my wardrobe searching for work clothes that fit my new motherly figure:

Childcare: How well will my child be taken care of while I am away? I am fortunate enough to be one of the lucky moms who live very close to their child’s ever-loving grandparents. My mother has lovingly offered to hang out with my son while I am at work (don’t want to say babysit – seems so impersonal). All I have to do is provide her with the cloth diapers, some pumped breast milk, extra clothes, some burp cloths, and a few toys. If I didn’t have her, I don’t think it would be worth it for me to return to work. Seems like the costs wouldn’t really justify it.

Continue to fully breastfeed: I am determined to not let anything come in between my goal of breastfeeding my son until he is ready to stop and weans himself. That means whatever job I have must allow me to take the necessary time and space to pump during his normal feeding time. From my close friends and social networks, I have learned that this is the time many breastfeeding mamas are put in the position to end their feedings early and turn to formula. For me and my son, no job is worth it. He is now only four and a half months old, so pretty soon I will also introduce home-made solid foods to him. Maybe we can work it out so that the solids meals are provided when I am at work. We’ll have to play with that one.

Providing good quality contact time with my baby: Okay, I may be overreacting a little bit. I am only returning to work part-time – in the mornings from 9am – 1pm – but for me, right now, that feels like an eternity. Those first morning giggles and wiggles are the best. I want to try my hardest to ensure that when I come home, I am dedicating some good quality time to him and filling our moments with heart-filled memories.

Maintaining a healthy amount of sleep: Ahhh sleep. I vaguely remember what that word means. I think it was something that used to occur between the hours of 10pm and 6am. Not any more. We have just recently established a fairly regular routine pattern of sleep which is now going to be thrown off just a little. I will basically be losing 3 hours of sleep until I can get little man to bed 3 hours earlier. No more staying up and partying until midnight.

Valuable performance at work: While most of my fears involve leaving the home, I do have one fear about life outside … will I be a good employee? Before I became pregnant, I believe I was a fairly good administrative assistant. I have grown over the years and established a pretty good work ethic. However, at that time I didn’t have the world’s cutest, sweetest, baby on my mind. Will I be able to focus and perform my duties to the best of my abilities? I don’t like to disappoint.

Managing house work: And lastly (purposely last), will I be able to keep up with the house work? My honest answer – I would just very well throw in the towel and say…”who cares…really.” So the laundry piled up a bit, the dirty dishes were not cleaned tonight, life will go on. But I vow not to allow that to be a habit.

What fears, challenges, obstacles and changes do you (or did) face when you head out to work? What have you done to overcome them and make each day work? Was finding that happy balance hard for your family?

You’ve heard me say it before. A working mom needs all the help she can get.

We need help with planning dinner, cleaning the house, work life balance, and time for ourselves.

So, I’m always on the lookout for new resources and sites that offer some tips.

I use delicious to keep track of all my resources, and I love to collect resources. But…that’s another conversation.

Here are a few resources I’ve found that I think you might enjoy.

Working Mom Resources

• Breastfeeding Working Moms
• Working Moms Forum at thebump.com
• 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers (2008)
• Working Mother Magazine
• Meals in Minutes from Kraft
• Mommy Track’d
• Work It, Mom! Community
  • Be sure to also check out the Full Time, All the Time blog
• BlueSuitMom.com
• Moms At Work blog at the Orlando Sentinel

Bonus!
American Academy of Pediatrics Working Mothers Q & A – A tad too generic (and maybe even archaic?), but it’s *official*.

What great working mom communities, blogs, forums, and other resources do you enjoy?
I can always add more to my working mom category on delicious.

Image from Jeffrey Place

I always thought it was weird that women back in the day used to have their nannies breastfeed their babies. It seemed wrong on so many levels. And, I wasn’t even a mami at the time.

Now, after having breastfed my own child and knowing how much joy it brought to both of us, it seems completely insane to think that I could let another woman breastfeed my child.

But, on the same token…if you’re a parent, then you know that you will do anything necessary to be sure your baby has what he/she needs.

When I heard on the radio this morning that Salma Hayek breastfed another woman’s baby while on a trip to Africa, I had to force myself to stop and think before I reacted. There had to be a reason. Surely, it wasn’t just a stunt.

After reading up on it, I had many reasons to praise Salma Hayek:

1. She was in Sierra Leone promoting her work with UNICEF and Pampers for fighting tetanus.
2. She saw a hungry, crying baby whose mother was unable to feed him and did what I hope most of us moms would have done if we had milk – she fed him.
3. Even if she didn’t intend to, she helped promote breastfeeding in general.

I then read that in Africa there is a belief that women can’t have sex if they’re breastfeeding. You know what that means for the men, right? They discourage the women from nursing, of course!

So, Salma Hayek…I already liked your short latina self. Now, I’m happy to call myself a fan. Definite props to you for doing this.

Watch the video to hear Salma Hayek relay the experience in her own words.

What was your reaction when you heard? Do you think it was a good thing for Salma Hayek to feed the baby?