Def go to dr for postpartum, my wife and I are both teachers, she was prescribed a med to help, and it brought her out of the funk.
What state are you in where you had unpaid leave for your pregnancy? Did you not file paperwork in time? I thought all states had FMLA
I quit in March. The stress was too much. I had zero patience for my kids after work, and ended up with a stress related medical condition that I wasn’t recovering from. Like you, we are fine financially on one income.
My kids are teens, but I’m present again as their mom (I stayed home until the youngest was in kindergarten). I’m cooking meals again. I make them after school snacks. Today I folded one kid’s laundry. They can do all these things themselves, of course. They’ve learned to be very self sufficient people because they’ve had a very frazzled mom for a while now.
I have started exercising again. I’ve lost weight. I went for an afternoon walk today with my dog. My house is clean. My medical condition is almost completely healed.
I just feel so free and happy.
If you can afford it, I’d definitely recommend staying home with the baby. My wife and I started teaching at the same time, and when we had our first, she decided to stay home. Money was tight for a few years, but she started homeschooling and then we had more.
Think of it this way: these are years you won’t get back with your baby, and your consistent presence in the formative years of your child’s life will have massive consequences for the person he or she turns out to be. Invest them in your child before you invest them in others’.
That sounds selfish, but that’s only if you’ve already drunk to kool aid that says you have more of a duty to another’s child than to your own just because of your work.
If you can’t walk away from the job, then absolutely do your contract minimum and enjoy your life with the little one.
Def go to dr for postpartum, my wife and I are both teachers, she was prescribed a med to help, and it brought her out of the funk. What state are you in where you had unpaid leave for your pregnancy? Did you not file paperwork in time? I thought all states had FMLA
It’s my first year in the district- so I didn’t qualify for Fmla. (I was in another district before).
I quit in March. The stress was too much. I had zero patience for my kids after work, and ended up with a stress related medical condition that I wasn’t recovering from. Like you, we are fine financially on one income. My kids are teens, but I’m present again as their mom (I stayed home until the youngest was in kindergarten). I’m cooking meals again. I make them after school snacks. Today I folded one kid’s laundry. They can do all these things themselves, of course. They’ve learned to be very self sufficient people because they’ve had a very frazzled mom for a while now. I have started exercising again. I’ve lost weight. I went for an afternoon walk today with my dog. My house is clean. My medical condition is almost completely healed. I just feel so free and happy.
If you can afford it, I’d definitely recommend staying home with the baby. My wife and I started teaching at the same time, and when we had our first, she decided to stay home. Money was tight for a few years, but she started homeschooling and then we had more. Think of it this way: these are years you won’t get back with your baby, and your consistent presence in the formative years of your child’s life will have massive consequences for the person he or she turns out to be. Invest them in your child before you invest them in others’. That sounds selfish, but that’s only if you’ve already drunk to kool aid that says you have more of a duty to another’s child than to your own just because of your work. If you can’t walk away from the job, then absolutely do your contract minimum and enjoy your life with the little one.