Maternity leave coming to an end

[Seriously79]

I only have about 5 weeks left of my maternity leave, and then sadly I have to go back to work.

I know it's just a new routine to get used to, and within weeks it will be like I've never been away, but I'm gonna miss my little girl and the time we have had together. I've got her into a lovely Childminder and I've made my peace with this, but I'm just wondering - what did you 'do' on your maternity leave that you still remember now?

We go for walks, baby groups, visit grandparents i think this is all normal stuff, but is there anything that I'm not doing that I will look back at and think 'damn I wish we'd done that'

I’ll be honest, I didn’t do anything apart from drink a lot of coffee with friends.

Perhaps, take her to somewhere akin to kew gardens or some sort of historical house where you can have a nice potter and cream tea together. Take her to have a go on the swings at the park, feed the ducks or some sort of petting zoo. Actually, why don’t you go to a paint your own pottery place, and get her handprint on a mug that you can take to work.

I mostly remember being exhausted because DS slept really badly until a month before I went back from maternity (after that, he just slept badly so it was a relief).

I'm only 3 months back, but I remember Baby Sensory and Turtle Tots. I also remember lots of coffee and cake with friends! We went away quite a few times, which I'm glad we did. It doesn't need to be fancy, one of my visits was to my sister on the train.

Feck all and Netflix, best time ever!

Walks and box sets_ nothing unique but I just loved being at home with my baby.
Good luck!

I'm a week back at work - it's still very weird - and what I miss most is just the normal days pottering at home. I have Fridays off and didn't plan anything, just stayed home and played with him, batch cooked him some food and went for a walk. It was lovely.

I'm really struggling with him being at nursery four days and feel hideously guilty.

I remember the normal things.

I used to go to a specific group, stop at a bakery for a ham roll and then walk along the river to a bench to eat it. I remember that when I drive past the bakery.

I used to carry the high chairs out into the garden on sunny mornings and do breakfast outside.

Once a friend and I took a ball pit outside on a blanket under a tree.

Small things. Some of them done weekly, some a handful of times, some only once. You'll remember the time fondly, and probably be surprised at the little things you remember the most!

I'm in the same boat as you, I go back in 3 weeks and I'm gutted but it has to be done

I did some lovely classes and made a group of mum friends for life. I’m a month back into part time work and I’m loving it to be honest, which has surprised me. Enjoy your new chapter.

I'm back soon too and feel the same. I'm trying to just enjoy the remaining time but not do anything different than normal - I've done baby groups/classes/walks/coffees/lunch. It's going to be such a change and can't help feeling I should have made more of it.

In the same boat, back in four weeks. Sad and kind of excited at the same time. What helps is that I have hopes that we will get DC2 sometime in the not-so-distant future and hence this wouldn’t have been once in a lifetime experience but even so, it won’t be the same as it was the first time!