A week ago my son was 6 weeks old and I realized that if I was still living and working in the US that would be the end of my maternity leave. I would have to go back to work... and I wasn't ready for that! He is so fragile, so dependent, how in world could I trust someone else to take care of him? Well, I had left him with my mother-in-law for a couple hours here and there... but now that she's gone I had to resort to a baby sitter: it was not easy. I kept thinking, "if something wrong happens to him it is all my fault. I hope he is still alive when I come back." And I was gone for only for 3 hours in an entire week! Now I am wondering how a mom can return to her full-time job, leaving her beloved baby with someone for long hours everyday, after mere 6 weeks... my dear American, working friends, I admire you in a whole new way!
After 6 weeks I can barely take care of myself and the house. I eat frozen food for lunch and count on my dear husband's mercy to bring something home or prepare something for dinner. Every time my son takes a "cat nap"- that's the most he will do during the day - I have to quickly choose something from the to do list. Should I run and try to put a load of laundry in the washer or try to eat a snack quickly before he wakes up? So not much gets accomplished in a regular day besides making sure the baby is fed, rested and changed. Putting a full-time job on top of the stack is just unthinkable. Working moms, I don't now how you do it, but you are my new heroes!
In Brazil every woman has the right to a paid maternity leave of 4 months, in some cases 6 months. That makes possible to breast-feed for that long and since mom is still getting paid she doesn't have to worry about what she'll eat. Dads are entitled 5 business days off. Nice, but what are moms supposed to do after that? What if they don't have their mom or someone else to help out? During my pregnancy I kept wondering how would I and the baby survive without dad here. Thankfully my mother-in-law and my aunt came and made all the difference.
So my request is 6 weeks of paternity leave so dad can be home and make sure mom and baby survive these first weeks and 6 months of paid, undisturbed maternity leave to all working moms. That is the least we can do to allow the most important job on earth to be done: care for our beloved children.
Well, now that I've been through the first 6 weeks I am still wondering what moms are supposed to do when their
Influences of time abroad on our daily living
