GainesvilleMoms.com

Well, after 8 months of staying home with my son, I have to start back to work tomorrow. I am deeply saddened but financially we have no choice. I actually never intended to stay home this long but fortunately it worked out for me. I will really miss my son and am quite depressed about leaving him. My husband will be staying home with him. I have and always will be the "bread winner" of the family. I knew this going in but I have to admit there are a few times when I am jealous that my husband gets to be the one to stay with our son. I hate to feel that way but I do.

How long did you get to stay home with your child and how did you feel going back to work for the first time?

Well that is sad. My husband is a SAHD and he said he envied me going to work this morning. The baby woke up and started to cry as soon as I was about to walk about the door. As he sleepily was making her bottle, our 3 year old hands him her favorite stuffed animal crying. It smells like pee pee she says so he has to wash it. There are pros and cons of both sides but at least one of you gets to stay home with him so its not the daycare who gets to see his first step or hear his first word so there is that.

I stayed home for two months with my first, three months with my second. I missed both my boys when I had to return to work, but I knew it was what our family needed, I knew they were in good hands at our day care, and, I used to feel guilty about this, I was actually looking forward to being back in the work environment.

What gets me through hard days at work is knowing how happy my boys are when I walk in the door at the end of the day. I love those smiles!

I know how hard it can be to leave your baby. I stayed home with my daughter for the first four months. At that time she want to preschool where I used to work, which was good and bad. I could look in through the window and check on her, make sure she was doing OK. But on the other hand, I oculd hear her every time she cried (the classroom where I taught was right next to hers), but there was really nothing I could do about it. Even though I knew I could calm her down in a second, I had to let her teachers do it.

Don't worry, you'll eventually get used to the new situation. But it sure can be a bummer at first! At least you know she is home with daddy who will take really good care of her. Maybe every once in a while they can meet you for lunch if you're able to.

With my daughter, I stayed home with her until she was two. This was actually not by choice. By the time she turned one she was extremely independent and we both needed the space. The economy wasn't doing well though and I didn't have enough experience to land a job that paid well enough for my working to make sense. With my son, I had to put him in a home day care when he wasn't quite three months old. I was able to stay home with him from the time he was 10 months old though until now. He's three. It's time for me to go back!

After my first son was born, I went back to work full-time when he was just under 7 weeks old. It was the hardest thing in my life! I cried and cried many times. But I knew that he was fine and in good hands (my husband stayed home with him when he didn't have class, otherwise we had some SAHM friends watch him).

After my second son was born, I was able to stay home for the first 3 months, then only went back part-time.

After my 3rd, I was able to be a full-time SAHM.

I will say, that although I am so thankful that I'm able to stay home with my boys now, it was nice to get a "break" and go to work. At home, there is no coffee or lunch break!

I know it's going to be really hard for you, and I won't lie and say it's easy, but take comfort in knowing that your husband will get to do something that a lot of dads don't get to do, and they will have a special bond!

I went back after 12 weeks but I wanted to stay home longer but I didn't have any leave left. But my husband stayed home with her for 12 weeks so we didn't put her in Daycare until she was 6 months old. It was rough for us at first and for her but she got used to it. But I think it was rough on me and my husband as well. we have no family close so our daughter was always with us. We never left her with anyone. So that was hard for us.