Because Whitney is forcing me to take a maternity leave, I have asked several online friends to help out with guest posts. I am grateful to Kristen Chase for sharing her version of how to take a maternity leave from blogging so I can share it with you and learn from her example. I hope you enjoy the many great voices coming together this month!
Kristen with Drew, Bridget, Quinlan, and Margot
Because my job is so incredibly flexible and I’m a little Type-A, I relied on the persistence of my friend and co-publisher Liz Gumbinner to force me into a maternity leave.
My rationale, especially with my 2nd through 4th kids, was that I wasn’t really getting a break anyway since I had another kid (or two) to chase around, so the work, for me, was a distraction and a way to pass the somewhat boring breastfeeding hours, particularly late at night.
For my other writing gigs, I did my best to finish my work in advance, and then give them an idea of when thought I’d be ready to return. The beauty of working with (and for) moms is that they are very understanding about post-partum recovery. If only all employers (and colleagues) were like that.
I do, however, think that it’s important to take a break, whatever that means to you, and if you don’t have someone like Liz or a team supporting you, then I’d remind friends and family to insist on it, even if they know you’ll push back a bit.
photo credit: Kelly from Amerine Photography
Kristen writes so many places, I’m sure you are already reading her somewhere: Cool Mom Picks, Motherhood Uncensored, The Pioneer Woman (ok, she’s not THE woman, but she writes there sometimes!), Momanatrix, and more. I am so grateful to my online, real life friend for sharing her tips.
I was very lucky in that my boss was a woman when I had my first child. I did get laid off right before my son was born, but they still called me in a couple of days a week as a subcontractor, and took me back full-time when he was 1-year-old.