Enjoy your Maternity Leave from Day One!!

SO many times while I am working, I have new mothers, with 24hour old babies asking about pumping for work. I realize this may be their only chance to speak to a LC and they want to be prepared, but I fear that they never fully enjoy their short time away from work. I myself took 12 weeks off, I am half way through and could definitely take another 6 months off. Yesterday I was reminded that I have a job when I had to call in and figure out exactly when I was coming back. It was a little bothersome, but had to be done. So to all those new moms, enjoy every moment that you have when your home with your new little one. My new little girl is starting to smile at me and coo, she is bigger and going through her onsies pretty fast. We have seen as many movies as possible, and we just came back from a trip to the mountains. All of this we have enjoyed and breastfed through. The best part about being in the mountains is that we could sit outside on the deck of the Cabin we were in and breastfeed. Pumping I haven't been consistent on, but now that I am about 6 weeks away from going back to work, I am going to start being more diligent. My husband has enjoyed giving the baby a bottle of expressed milk when I go for my evening run. He felt that it was important for him to feed the baby as part of his bonding wtih her. As much as I didn't want to give that  up, she was already 5 weeks old, and again sooner than I would like she will be going to a baby sitter while I work. SO to all new moms who are concerned about work, chances are you are a good employee, other wise why would you worry, and your work will be patient wtih you and wait for you to come back with no issues. Most moms really don't have breastfeeding down until they are about to go back to work, which means it is very even more difficult to leave the home and go back to work. The moral of my story is, when preparing yourself for having your baby forget about work whether your taking four weeks or 12 weeks or half a year, cherish every day and every moment..and take pictures!!!