i am back at work and i am enjoying it. at the moment i work 3 days per week (mon-wed) and that balance works well for all of us. the $$ def helps us but i am also career driven and so it was important for me to go back... i guess we all do it for diff reasons. over the next month or so i will prob go up to 4 days and perhaps full time a few months later.
at the moment i like the balance i have, DS is in FDC which works beautifully for us and he has adjusted so well to it - he loves his FDC 'mum' and she is a great support to us as well (our family isnt here). i personally doint think i woujld have liked the fam to look after him if we were in melb as i prefer not to have the 'guilt' and for them to see him purely as leisure time - but that is our situation not yours.
i think once you adjust tp it you may like it esp if tyou are part time. for me it felt like mat leave was not 'reality' and this is more of an adjustment to the next phase of our life so i like that. i like DS being around other kids regularly too. my dh has managed to go dowen to 4 days per week so we have a 3 day weekend each week which is wonderful - my working allows us that freedom.
it has worked best for us to have consecutiove days - less disruptive for DS. I did trail a creche that wasnt for us (he was too young) but also it was 1` day per week and i think this was harder for him bc it was not consistent. if you do that i would recopmmend 2 days at least and in a row if you can.

good luck! we all make the choices and decisions that are best for us.

ps sorry abt spelling, i am typing quickly at work so no time to fix it!!!