What if you are expecting and you do not want to take time off? This is a choice you make but unfortunately it is still frowned upon in the twenty first century. Times have changed so much over the last fifty years but some things have not grown with time. One of those things is that some women just do not want or like to stay at home for weeks or months after birth.
Back in the olden days
One of the bigger differences is with "back then" and now is back then there was barely a choice to not stay home. In most cases you were forced to resign your job as soon as you got married, so after giving birth you almost had no chance of finding a job again. In the time we live in now it is more acceptable to go back to work after giving birth, but it is still frowned upon when you go back "too quick". What we still don't seem to understand is that people are different and there is no normal. Normal is a personal perspective not a norm.
How do I get back to work as soon as I can
From experience at Cradle Care I have noticed that the mothers that wanted to go back to work within two weeks after a natural and uncomplicated birth, they seem to have recovered faster. Their focus was different and therefore seemed to make a quicker recovery. What I kept telling those mothers is that the saying 'nine months in, nine months out' is very true. If you haven't heard it before, it means that since you have been pregnant for nine months, it will take at least nine months for your body to recover after birth. Even when you have planned to get back to what you did before you gave birth, it could be that your body won't allow you to because your body needs time to heal.
Don't plan to go back to work until after you have given birth
What I would like to share with you is that when you plan to go back to work quickly after you have given birth you could get disappointed. When it is your first baby, you might not realise that giving birth is not something you can plan. Yes, you can have a birth plan, yes you can write down what you prefer and how you prefer it but you must know that giving birth is very unpredictable. It gets even more interesting after you have given birth because you are then stepping in a new phase in your life. You thought you could prepare for it but it is anything but predictable. Please be gentle on yourself and remind yourself that you are open to anything that happens at birth or after birth because it is so unpredictable. The less promises you make to yourself or to others, the better.
When everything does go to plan
Of course there are births were everything does go as planned. When you had a uncomplicated and easy vaginal birth you could be up and about after two days. Your body will still need the chance to recover and it still needs time but you can (if you want to) go back to work. The best advice I can give you is keep listening to your body. You should not underestimate growing a human, giving birth and recovery. When you keep listening to your body and being honest with yourself about your recovery, you will be able to get back to the things you were doing before birth pretty quickly.
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