When you are pregnant, there are many important decisions that you will need to make. Once you have chosen the perfect baby name, decorated your new addition’s room, and planned for your delivery, you will also need to decide who will take care of your baby once he or she arrives.
I have been on both sides. I have been a working mom and I have been a stay-at-home mom. Both have had their challenges as well as their rewards. I never expected to walk away from the job that I searched so long for. Until my time of becoming a mother, a career was something that I focused on. My goal was to find a job that I enjoyed, make good money, spend time with a man that I loved and then start a family. It was simple. Simple happiness.
I also knew that for as long as I could remember, when I grew up, I wanted to be a mom. When I was 12 years old, my two cousins and I “claimed” our little girl baby names. The sacred rule between the three of us was that we would never use each other’s baby names. Yes, I always hoped to be a mom.
I had every intention of being a working mom. That was what I thought would be perfect for me. But once my baby was born, what I thought that I wanted changed. Something happened to me when my first baby was born. I changed as a person. I had all new concerns, priorities and things that brought me happiness. With the birth of my baby, my goal had changed. I felt a want and need to be with my baby. The new struggle would be to find the balance between being a great mom and not losing the person I was before becoming that mom.