My maternity leave plan was finally settled and approved at work.

I’m having mixed feelings. On the one hand, I get to take the full 3 months off this time around, which is obviously wonderful. So much better than last time!

On the other hand, there was a period between the end of that 3 months and the beginning of next year where I had requested that I be able to work from home (full time) with the new baby. This portion of my proposal wasn’t approved. I had hoped for this extra time at home for two reasons. 1) the baby would then be over 4 months old before starting daycare, which is how it worked out with Lewis, and 2) it would help with the financial aspect of everything.

I understand why it couldn’t be approved, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m a little bummed out. Not to mention that now I have the added pressure of getting the new baby a spot in daycare that much sooner. I put us on the waitlist ASAP after finding out I was pregnant, but there is no guarantee they’re going to have a spot for us, well… ever. And sooner is even harder.

So I’m feeling some stress about meeting my employer’s requirement for physically returning to the office, and I’m feeling immense stress about the impact of taking 3 months without pay and then paying for double daycare before I thought I’d have to. Double daycare = half my take-home pay each month, so it is no small hurdle!

Everything always works out, and as I work through our budget and plan things out with the new game plan, I’m sure the stress will subside somewhat. For now, though, it is there and weighing on me. I’ll buy a few lottery tickets to see if we can solve the problem once and for all. Wish me luck!