From the Nursery to the Boardroom: Returning to Work After Maternity Leave

You finally decide that your maternity leave is over and you're ready to get back to work. Or are you? Making that transition from full-time mommy to full-time employee can be difficult as you find yourself driven to be both.

Before you jump back into your career, make sure you are ready both mentally and physically to take on the new challenges you are about to face. You can do this with a little bit of planning and a whole lot of patience.

Know What You're Getting Yourself Into

You've just found out you're pregnant and you're looking to your future as a mother and a career woman. You're contemplating how you will balance both. Good. This is when you should start thinking and planning what your home and work life will look like after baby arrives.

Talk to other mothers and ask them about their experiences to see what suggestions they can offer as working moms. This might include everything from how to transition back into the workforce to what to do to help a newborn sleep through the night to their thoughts about breastfeeding. In fact, some states have laws regarding your right to pump while at work. So know your lactation rights and legal accommodations (i.e. private lactation room, refrigeration) beforehand.

In addition, find out about child care, leave of absence and health benefit options with your current employer. Know if your company is covered by the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and/or state pregnancy leave laws and how much leave time you have available, whether it is paid or unpaid, and how it coordinates with your accrued paid sick and vacation leave.

Look into flexible work options (79 percent of employers allow changes to starting and stopping times) such as part-time hours, job sharing, compressed work week, and teleworking. You may even want to consider returning to work mid-week, making your first week short and helping you to acclimate easier. This also gives you the weekend to make any needed adjustments to your return-to-work plan.

Making the Transition from Home to Work...Work

Take it slow. Know that you may be working through some guilty feelings leaving your newborn behind, so be honest with yourself and your boss regarding your particular situation. You can always make adjustments accordingly.

To help make the transition a bit easier, you may want to work a flexible schedule at least initially. Regardless of your schedule, when you are at home, be sure to spend quality time with your baby without distractions to help ease the time away.

Be willing to ask for help. Whether that means having family or friends babysit so you and your spouse can still share time alone together or asking your boss and coworkers for whatever assistance you need in order to be successful on the job.

Yes, your natural inclination might be to act like super woman, balancing your baby in one arm, while single-handedly pounding on the keys of your laptop with the other; however, no one expects you to be more than you can be. It is still important to do all those things you need to do to remain healthy - eat well, exercise regularly and get plenty of rest (well, as much as you can). And with a little advance planning you'll find you'll quickly be able to return to work after maternity leave.