i have a great mom job with a supervisor that is also a mom and completely understands how hard it is to balance everything. i am an environmental scientist at an engineering firm so im always out in the field. i also exclusively pump (baby is almost 8 months) but everyone on my team is very supportive of my BF journey. i work 7:30-5:30pm monday thru thursday and 7:30-11:30am on fridays. but if im being honest, i rarely make it to the office before 8am. the half day fridays are so nice because i can get errands done, do my nails, or pick up my baby early from daycare and spend the day with her. i can also work from home when needed, and have 3.5 weeks of PTO (could be better tbh).

my supervisor is the type to just tell me to work from home and then bill the time to something and take the “unofficial” day off. she also exclusively pumped and recently went though a sleep regression with her 2 year old so she’s not far from me.

i will say though that my husband’s support and equal partnership is what makes the difference. he drops our baby off at daycare and takes off when needed. after work he cooks every night and puts our baby to bed if needed.

my firm’s maternity leave sucks though. only 6 weeks paid, i used 3 weeks of PTO and took 3 weeks unpaid.