Maternity Leave and Beyond

One of the many questions you will get asked when you're pregnant is "How much time will you be able to take off of work?" which is always followed by "Will you work after the baby is born?"

Both are completely legitimate and valid questions. I think it's good to have a conversation with other women and moms to see what they did, are doing, or are planning to do, to gauge what is expected, allowed, or even legal once you are in the same situation.

First, a little background on my post-college work life:
I double majored in Arts Administration and Music in college. I was dead set on being a high-powered production person for some big-time Broadway Musical in Manhattan. After college, I was hired as an assistant in Fundraising at the Metropolitan Opera and I thought I had made it. The day I was offered the job, I ran around my parent's house screaming with excitement - the dog barking behind me. Working at the Met was really cool. I attended tons of Met Opera Galas, opening nights, and various other events in which many celebrities were in attendance. I've checked in a frenzied Barbara Walters who was running late and showed her to our event. I chatted very briefly with Shawn Connery and stood just a few feet away from Joshua Jackson, to name a few. I attended tons of operas, made some very good friends, and every day this was my view as I walked into work:

Source

Life was glamorous for awhile but unfortunately, after 2 years, the glamour and allure of it wore off for me, and I was kind of over it. Yes, I had become..."a jaded New Yorker". Really what it came down to was the fact that I didn't really like/respect/care for my boss, mostly because she didn't really like/respect/care for me (or any other of her employees). Also funny enough, I didn't really like opera. I appreciate opera as a beautiful art form, and I saw some amazing productions in my time there. But I quickly discovered that opera is not my go-to form of entertainment. So I began looking for other jobs....and looking...and looking...and looking. I went on a few interviews, but this was at the beginning of the market crash and no one was really hiring. Day by day I grew more and more frustrated. I had asked around to many friends and old co-workers to keep an eye out for any job opportunities, and one day a former co-worker called me to say that she knew someone who was looking for a new Personal Assistant. I was a little weary at first - it wasn't that arts involved, and not nearly close to what I ever expected to be doing...but I was at the point where if she had called to offer me a job at McDonald's, I probably would have taken it. I was called in to interview with him the next morning and by 1:00 that afternoon, had a job offer. On a whim, hope, and prayer, I took the job and put in my notice at the Opera.

Fast forward to now:
Now, I've been a Personal Assistant to a wealthy business-man in Manhattan for over 3 years and I am so unbelievably happy. It's much less drama, much less stress, and a much more nurturing, caring, accepting environment. Sometimes, I've gone through periods where I've asked myself "What exactly am I doing here?" I'm not really on any "career path" and there isn't really anywhere to move up to here. But, I believed that this job came to me for a reason.

The view from my office

Chris and I have long discussed and planned for the possibility of me not working, or only working part-time once we had kids. It was very important to me, and to us, that I be home as much as possible in the early years of our children's lives. I also knew that there was no way I could continue tolerating a 1 hour commute (on a good day) into Manhattan each way, every day - that adds up to a whole 10 additional hours each week that I'd be away from my baby! Some days, I don't get home until 7:00, and I see other friends with kids who have already put their children to bed!

Waiting for trains = story of my life

What makes this job so much better for me is that I really respect and appreciate my boss, and I feel the same in return from him. We work well together and are very open and honest with each other. When the subject of maternity leave came up after I announced my pregnancy, he asked me "How much time do you want?" When he asked me what I wanted to do after my maternity leave, I was open about my concerns continuing with full-time work. He in turn, offered to work out a flexible situation for me in which I work part-time, fully from home.

What's nice for me is that I'm the only person in my particular position at work, and the first one of his employees, ever, to have a child. So we're all just making it up as we go along, and no one else is in a position to argue for this, or argue for that.

I will be earning half my full-time salary, but can still stay on with my fully covered health benefits. Even better, my long-term goal has always been to open up a piano studio in my home. I have taught many piano students since I was 20 years old, and enjoy teaching piano immensely. This part-time position, should hopefully allow me the time to start, and gradually grow, a piano studio out of my home for extra income, which has long been a goal of mine.

These days, I could pinch myself. I'm not exactly running production for the next big Broadway Musical, but I realized long ago that that wasn't what was important to me anymore. It became more important to me to be happy at work and to like who I work for. It became more important to me to have a job that would not interfere with my personal life and offer me some flexibility when the time came to start a family. Somehow, that's exactly what I fell into. I still remember the day my friend called me about this job. I had no idea at the time just how pivotal that moment would be, but I cannot thank her, or my boss, enough for what they have given me and my family.