It's working for Lisa Kline
New York
2 children
"More than anything, having a community of women in the same situation made a big difference in feeling comfortable with the emotions of returning to work."
What is one piece of advice you wish you could offer your former expectant self?
Be prepared to lose control! We spend our adult lives trying to create order and make sense of things. Parenthood quickly reminds you what an impossible task that really is!
What was your primary motivation for deciding to return (or not) to work? How early did you tell your employer?
With the Christmas holidays and busy schedules getting in the way, I ended up telling my CEO I was pregnant when I was about 15-16 weeks along. I’m a fairly petite person who showed pretty quickly. My boss laughed and said he suspected something was up. I guess I looked like I’d overloaded on Christmas cookies!
How much leave did you take, and how comfortable were you taking it?
I took 12 weeks maternity leave each time, although with my second child I negotiated my return to be a couple of weeks earlier so I could have a shorter work week to ease the transition back. This actually helped my plan feel like more of a reality because I wasn’t mentally trying to be in two places at once.
Who was your biggest source of support in returning to work? What was your biggest pregnancy indulgence?
I was lucky enough to go through my pregnancy and return to work alongside a few other terrific women in my company. We really helped support each other and had great guidance from the veteran moms in the office. More than anything, having a community of women in the same situation made a big difference in feeling comfortable with the emotions of returning to work.
Both pregnancies were different. As a first-timer I was very by-the-book, making sure each meal I ate looked like something straight off the ‘choosemyplate.gov’ website. There were very few indulgences, but chocolate milk was really hard to resist! The second pregnancy was much more indulgent!!!
Fill in the blanks: As a working parent, I never expected ____ would be so hard and ____ would be so much easier!
I never expected keeping enough food in the house would be so hard and getting over a bad day at work would be so much easier!