Times today: businesswoman on going back to work four days after birth

[mrsbaldwin]

Interesting interview in the Times today, with Michelle Done, founder of Ultimo Bras, on going back to work 4 days after having a baby (following the Rachida Dati story of recent days).

Click here
women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article5518256.ece

I have also posted to Employment section.

I mean the Going Back To Work Section of course!

lazy cow why did she need all that rest

Aw. that's such a sad article. I was reading it thinking 'she has control isssues, poor thing, she could have delegated this' and the final paragraph says 'I have OCD'. It's actually extremely sad IMO.

ANYWAY what I want to know is, how on earth does anyone sit in meetings when they are sitting in a pool of lochia? I just have no idea how that works? I scrubbed and scrubbed but STANK of blood, the stench of it was in my nostrils for about a month.

LOL at jumpingdizzy.

What about the bit at the end of the week when the family gets together with a flip chart and mark how the week has been and whether they have met their 'key performance targets' etc!!!!! She sounds completely beserk to me.

I should think her children will completely flip their lids when they become teenagers, being treated like that.

On the other hand, they may grow up to be highly successful businessmen/women, who knows. They'll certainly be possessed of a different vocabularly to the normal teenager...who knows.

I agree morningpaper. It sounded a bit like she had no choice to start with, and then further down she talks about her 17 minute nocturnal house tour, and how "well run" her house is.

Mega control issues.

I'm not usually a Miss Judgey Pants, and I work 4 days a week, but lord, that is one depressing article.

OCD is a recognised issue though - there is no way of controlling it without CBT or something similar

i think it is more than controlling/trying to be supermum

i found it really sad TBH and agree with MP - the physcial stuff after birth - engorged boobs, lochia etc mustn't have been easy to deal with whislt trying to sit in a meeting

I actually feel very sorry for the woman. It seems that for whatever reason, she feels like she has to do it all and have it all, and the only person who understands how she feels and who doesn't judge her for it is her mum.

'I've got this perfect baby but unfortunately she has arrived too early for my plans. '

Does she really think children should always fit in with her plans?!

Well at least her kids get private schooling, a big house and lots of holidays - that definitely makes up for only seeing their mother 2 or 3 times a week, right?

I was quite struck by something FloweryBeanBag said on the other thread on this under Employment - to the effect that it seemed a bit of bad planning, if you yourself were in control of a product launch, to launch it in the last few weeks of being pregnant. I can't claim to know anything about selling underwear - and I guess there are better times of the year than others to launch a range of bras - but I'd be interested to know the answer to why she did the launch then rather than 3 months previously or six months later.