While the title of this post says “I”, I want to amend that here to say it was actually a “we” decision. My husband and I started talking about whether or not I should return to my corporate job pretty early on in my pregnancy. We both grew up with working moms but we weren’t certain if that was the right choice for us. There are of course a lot of different factors that go into a choice like this one but we had a couple of major ones from the get-go.
Firstly was the price of childcare in Seattle. It’s insane the amount that we would have spent on daycare. We both worked downtown so looking at options near our offices was mind-boggling. It’s pricey enough for a child but for an infant where the state requires one-to-one adult/child headcounts (for good reason) is even greater. And that’s assuming that we would have found a decent place AND been accepted. At least here in Seattle, daycares have waitlists that require you to pay to get your name on the list basically as soon as you find out you’re pregnant with no guarantees that there will be a spot available to you once your baby arrives.
It’s been proven that even paying for childcare, it’s financially advantageous to be a two-income family. But for us, another question was, “ok but at what cost?” Meaning, is that a lifestyle that we would want for our family? Because both of us working would mean getting up around 5-6 am to get ourselves and Teddy ready and out the door so we can start our workdays by 7:30 am on the other side of town, work all day, home, dinner, bed, repeat. I’m guessing that I don’t have to spell this out for you as many of you are probably working moms yourselves. I can’t imagine how hard that routine would be on a new mom, mentally, emotionally, or physically.
In the end, I decided that I would wait and see. Wait and see how things would change after I had Teddy. See if I could even handle being home 24/7 for the three months of my maternity leave. Well, you see how that turned out. The instant this kid was in my arms, there was no way that I’d be able to leave him.
Now that we’re almost 9 months in, I know to my core that this was the right decision for our family. Being with Teddy can obviously be tiring at times but it gives me so much joy to be able to serve my family in this hands-on way that nobody else could. And this isn’t an opportunity that I’ll have indefinitely. By the time Teddy goes to school, I’ll probably be back in the corporate world and that fact only makes me more happy that I’ve made this decision.
Yes, we’re in the age of “leaning in” and #girlboss but I’m 100% happy with my decision to be a stay-at-home mom for the time being and I’m so grateful that we have the resources as a family to make that happen.
To all you working moms out there, I tip my hat to you. You are the true unsung heroes of our age.
xo – Ana Luiza
Want to read more about my pregnancy? Here are some posts you may have missed:
- The Secret’s Out
- First Trimester Recap
- Second Trimester Recap
- Thoughts on Impending Motherhood
- How I’m Staying Active Throughout My Pregnancy
- Third Trimester Recap
- Welcome to the World
