A Real Maternity Leave

Let's get right to it. What's your plan for maternity leave? Three months? Two months? Six weeks? Four? Or are you not planning to go back to work and have an unspecified maternity leave? Do you work for yourself and picture that you will just figure it out as you go? Have you given as much thought to your maternity leave as labor and delivery or the baby registry?

Here's the truth. Labor and delivery usually lasts between one and three days. If you are adopting and need to travel to get your baby, things can take a bit longer. But regardless, your transition into being a mother takes many weeks and months. This is also true if you already have kids. You still need space and time to transition into being a mother of two, three, etc.

You need and deserve a real maternity leave! What that looks like is different for each woman, but there are two common priorities.

1. Take care of yourself.
2. Take care of your baby.

What ISN'T a priority is cooking, cleaning, paying bills, running errands, catching up on little projects, sending out thank you notes, or trying to work. This is YOUR maternity leave. Your time to be absorbed in yourself, your healing and your changes. Your time to be absorbed in your baby and his or her needs and changes. And if you already have kids, it's your time to be absorbed in connecting with your children and enabling them to connect to the new baby.

The quantity of time is important, but the quality is even more important. Whatever time you block off, ensure that you will be able to focus on your priorities. It's your responsibility to do whatever it takes to create the time and space you need and deserve to become a mother.

COACH YOURSELF: Take 5 minutes right now to start designing your maternity leave. Jot down how much time you REALLY want and what that time would ideally look like.

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maternity leave, transition

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