Started new job when my daughter was 5 weeks old - but only 2 shifts a week (8 hours per week).

My daugher is now 14 years and at the time that I had her I had just finished studying - postgrad. As part of my course I had interviewed a local library manager for an assignment so when I got really good results I used that as an excuse to visit her again and thank her and inquire about the possibility of part-time work. She was very keen to employ me immediately but I was 36 weeks pregnant at the time. She agreed to hold the part-time position open for me until the baby was old enough. When I visited again when my daughter was 3 weeks old I was asked if I could start the following week. I said "but she'll only be 4 weeks old". I knew they were getting desperate (as the regular full-timers were having to do extra shifts to cover the position) and I didn't want to risk losing the opportunity (my first career position) so I agreed to start when she was 5 weeks old.

I'm glad I did as the job was a great career stepping stone but I wouldn't have wanted to do it if it was alot of hours. I started working 20 hours a week when my daughter was 1.

Now I am finally 5 weeks pregnant (after 4 years on the TTC journey) but as I now work for myself I won't get any maternity leave etc so I'll probably aim to work as long as possible and try to see about working part-time when bub is a month or so old (though alot depends on how the business goes). Ideally I don't want to have to go back to full-time work until the child is atleast school age.

Lori