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was very painful. All I was thinking was ‘I’ve got to get the heck out of here!’”
Creating a successful re-entry strategy Developing a successful re-entry
strategy can also be difficult for return- ing moms. Meyers thought changing to 3 longer
days would allow her to spend more quality time with her daughter, Maisie. “I would probably never do that again,”
she says. “I would be at work for a 10-hour shift, and, then, with my commute, I’d be gone almost all her waking hours. “Before I had a child, working four
10’s or three 12’s was awesome because I felt like I had so much free time. When you’re a mom, you want to be home when they’re awake. “If I were to do it again, I would prob- ably do short days, maybe just a couple of hours at first, until I got into the swing of things and could get used to being away from her.” Even though Mielke was assigned hourlong appointments to help her ease back into her job, her return to work was stressful nonetheless. “I’m usually a fun-loving person,” she
admits. “On my first day back, I was so stressed out that one of the other doc- tors told me, ‘I really don’t like who you are today.’”
Sleep deprivation also took its toll. Mielke often awakened at 2 a.m. to pump milk to make sure there would be enough at day care that day. Many of the new moms interviewed for this story worried about losing their edge while they were away. “Coming back, everything seemed busier and more hectic, and it was hard to get everything done within the day. Remembering all the practice manage- ment software features was also a prob- lem,” says Rawson. “I was on maternity leave for 7 weeks
and never had been away from work that long,” says Meyers. “I remember my first day, it was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I have to do a blood draw!’ It wasn’t hard at all [however], like riding a bicycle.
Trends magazine, September 2011
“Even in that short time, so many policies had changed. This patient had passed away or this doctor does it this way now. Catching up with those things was difficult.” To assure a smoother and less stressful
re-entry, Rawson suggests, “Don’t hold yourself to too high of a standard when you come back because there will be times when things get chaotic, and you just need to take a deep breath and real- ize that you can’t be back in your old self immediately. Give yourself some time to get back into the swing of things.”
No protocol Gardner, who works with a staff of
120 employees, says that it is virtually impossible to have written protocols or guidelines for helping new moms return to the workplace. “There are so many different vari-
ables,” he says. “The best way to ease the transition is to have a clear understand- ing of what each person’s needs are. “Breastfeeding is a perfect example.
It’s not something they kind of need to do. It’s something that just has to happen. “As a practice, we have an obligation to accommodate that. That’s not just say- ing, ‘OK, you’ve got 20 or 30 minutes to do what you need to do.’ You have to consider where they’re going to do their pumping and the privacy issues involved. “You also need to make sure they
understand they shouldn’t feel guilty for having to do that.” Another thing Gardner struggles with, as hospital manager and a new father, is scheduling. “A lot of practices are only open dur- ing the day, so you have a pretty good idea about when the end of your day is going to be,” he says. “We’re a 24-hour facility. While you may be scheduled from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., that doesn’t mean your day ends at 5:30 p.m. You can never anticipate what emergency may come in that you just have to be avail- able for.”
That is where communication comes in, says Meyers. “One of the greatest
challenges is breastfeeding.” — Melanie Mielke, DVM
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