freelancer working up to and straight after birth??

[redundant]

Posting again, as put in wrong section first time!

Just wondering whether anyone here has experience of this. I have just found out I'm pregnant, due in August. I have already committed to a freelance project next year which will run from May to Nov. Nov and July will be the busiest times.

It's part time, fully working from home.

Am I completely mad to think I can take a week off around the birth (which is likely to be a c-section) and then go straight back to work? I have an excellent childminder in our village (who already looks after my 2yr old) who I would trust to have newborn for 3-4 hours a day, which would be enough for me to get my work done in. I can also check emails on blackberry etc whilst feeding etc.

This will be my second, so you think I would remember what things are like, but I honestly can't! I took 6 mths off last time, but I was employed then, so was easy. As a freelancer I could really do with not giving this project up if at all possible.

Anyone done anything similar??
thanks!

You will not even be able to stand up after a c-section, you will be able to hobble after a week. You will also be dosed up on co-codamol.

I really think you will need longer than a week to recover.

I went back to 'work' part time 10 days after my section, I felt fine, was my second and had to cook breakfast for guests, iron etc which I could do sitting down, DH did all teh running around. It is doable but I can't remember very much about that Summer.

thanks both - anyone else with any thoughts? My work isn't physical - it could be done lying in bed with laptop/blackberry (!)

I really don't want to give the project up, but understand would be much worse to let the client down at the last minute.

can you get more done before the birth to give yourself at least 4 weeks off? So work more than part time between May and August, then come back to it September?

How much domestic help do you have/will have after the birth?

If you can do your work in bed and someone will watch your baby then there is no reason why you can't.

I would be more concerned whether you would feel able to leave a newborn for 3-4 hours, I struggle leaving my 7 month, but i'm a bit pfb.

yes that's what i'm wondering. if i speak to the client (they would need to shift a deadline to enable that) i might be able to take 2-3 weeks off, and then if i do feel able to check emails during that time it'd be a bonus.

could poss afford a cleaner once a week for a short time.

Would you be able to get a mothers help or similar for a few weeks possibly so baby is at home with you and she can doo washing cleaning etc.

thanks LadyV - I trust the childminder completely, she is brilliant, and is only down the road from me.

shudders at thought of someone doing my washing and rifling through my grotty underwear - but i guess i would need to get over that! Is a sensible idea, but no idea where i would find someone like that.

Hmm. My worry would be that your brain won't be in gear. And you can't guess how the C-section will go. Some are fine (I didn't feel a thing) but friends were bent double for weeks and had complications.

I went back to work very soon after having my babies and then had to get myself out of a project with a long standing client because I was so sleep deprived I just couldn't handle the new technology and get the job done in time. Worked with that client for years before having kids but have never been commissioned by them since then.

Having said that, I had twins and one was ill, so it's a very different workload from having one baby at a time. But I also know lots of mums who don't realise how complicated it is fitting in the needs of two kids needing different things at different times. That could be a full time job i itself for a few months.

Sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but if this is a client you value, think hard about possibly putting the relationship in jeopardy, if there's no leeway on the original deadline.

thanks. It is definitely a client I value that could potentially lead to good things in the future, so I want to do the right thing by them. I am desperately keen to do the work. I am going to sit down and have a good look at what I can put in place to make it do-able - am willing to spend out money on support if needed.

Redundant - I was sending emails etc again on Day 4. In fact I even rang someone up to chase a payment that was late as I recall.

It will be fine if you have enough childcare to cover, whether that be DH, grandma, childminder etc.

Hard to leave them for more than a little while at first if you are BF - but if you express the milk and give to the childminder that could work.

yes, with the right support network. did you have a c section last time? are you planning to breastfeed?

thanks everyone. Yes c-section last time tho i can't really remember how long it took to recover. I wish I had kept a diary. Not planning to breastfeed as had a nightmare last time that completely stopped me enjoying little one for far too long. Planning to express for as long as poss, but feeding straight from bottles, so hopefully no issues there. Feeling a bit like its possible now, but I need to put some stuff in place to make it do-able.

I totally think that you can do it, especially as it is part-time. Might you have support from your DH/DP with night-time feeds etc.? As I recall (DS now four months) the first month was the most exhausting - I felt permanently jet-lagged. That said, I worked through it (freelance, like you), with no child care, and DH is one of those who is of the belief that DS slept through the night from the word go, because he never heard anything . . . .
Equally though, babies sleep lots that first month, and I would have several 2 hour chunks during the day when I could work quite effectively. The caffeine going into me seemed to have no affect on DS.
The one thing I would say is that I don't think that I produced my best work, that first month . . .

thank you - good to hear someone else has done it and survived! Yes seem to recall DH used to stay up and do the midnight feed whilst I went to bed early, and then I'd do the early hours ones (DD would have starved if those ones left to him as like your DH he always professed never to hear a thing....!

bit confused again now - was looking into Mat Allowance, to see if I could claim anything after the contract finishes in Nov, when baby is 3mths, to take pressure off finding new work straight away. Basically can't claim it.

However I could not take the contract/work at all and then I could claim Mat Allowance for 39 weeks! How does that make any sense? I would be only slightly financially worse off if I didn't work and sat on my bum and pocketed the money.

Crazy system - sorry had to rant. Not sure what to do now. I think I may still do the job, suck it up, and hope that good things come from it in the future.

That is insane. I never looked into Maternity Allowance for freelance - figured I'd be earning more than the allowance and also, as you say, one thing leads to another so it's usually worth doing the job . . .
Good luck with it! I did lots, incidentally, in the last few weeks of pregnancy. I was so hot and uncomfortable that I was actually relieved to have the work that took my mind off it all!
I'm now trying to work with a four month year old, which is much harder . . . . I end up doing most of it once he's in bed, but there are moments when I sit, on the phone, dangling toys in front of him, willing him not to start screaming at the crucial moment . . . .
In a funny sort of way, I think that doing a bit of work, even with a tiny baby, is actually good both for me and the baby. The connection with the real world, which in my case means that I still have to go out and go to meetings (I just take DS) forces me to get up and dressed and to look nice (so have actually been making a real effort to lose last few pounds of babyweight, and I still go to the haidresser with DS on my lap etc.) Amazingly, or perhaps not amazingly, perhaps it's just the way it is, DS behaves impeccably throughout. He loves seeing new faces and new surroundings, and just sits on my lab looking insanely cute and gurgling.

Also, because I'm still earning, I don't feel overwhelming fear about paying the mortgage, and no longer feel guilty about paying for occasional childcare which means that DH and I might have the odd evening out together, which is good for our relationship.
Anyway, only you can decide what is right. I have a feeling that you're tending towards taking the job, which is probably what I'd do (Well, I already did it, and I don't regret it.)

thanks - yes am tending towards taking the job. The slight financial benefit will help, and the main thing is I think it will help me mentally, bit like you say. I think I would go a bit crazy not working for that long, plus would make harder to get back into the workplace afterwards.
Just makes me think whoever draws the system up doesn't think it through very well.

I admire you taking baby out and about with you - I seem to recall I had a terrible fear of DD crying in public (and more specifically me not being able to get her to be quiet!) for quite a long time - crazy! I must have walked round the world with my eyes and ears shut before I had her, or would have realised it was normal!

I think with childcare it is very possible especially as you will be able to fully concentrate on it while the children are out of the house. Maybe you would need longer than a week off though.

I am watching with interest as I work freelance too and am thinking of having another baby but am worried about losing my work if I take maternity leave. I was also thinking about just working through to keep the work, however, I wouldn't earn tons more than the MA so it kind of doesn't seem worth it from that point. I would also have 3 children but if I waited a bit longer my 2 oldest would both be in school. I don't use childcare now as I work while the youngest is at preschool and in the evenings.

All the best with everything and let us know how you get on.

As others have said it's def possible with the right support. I'm freelance and had a job which ran over the end of my first pg. I did naff all for the couple of weeks before ds came then had to catch up like crazy once he was born! It was a bit of a nightmare -c/s and feeding issues but the job got done and we all survived. The only proviso I would add is to have a back-up plan in case everything goes tits up. I got an infection after having dc2 and was in hospital for two weeks - couldn't have done a stitch of work! Obv this is unlikely to happen to you but if you can get as much done before hand and you have a plan b then you won't be stressed if the worst comes to the worst.

I did a little work when DD was 5 weeks, but I didn't agree to it until she'd arrived. I would make sure that it's possible for you to easily hand over to someone else if you need to, babies arrive early, are ill, women can be very ill post birth, it's all very unpredictable even the second time around, I wouldn't take anything for granted.

Hi, I am freelance as well and took between 2 and 4 weeks off when I had each of my children which wasn't through choice but needed the money and the work was there! I wasn't doing lots though just tiny bits so that i didn't lose the clients completely.

It's completely possible to do with a childminder I think. I had no one, had to do it at the same time as looking after my children which was a nightmare !

Some might suggest claiming the maternity allowance but don't tell them about the project you will be working on as it's only part time and you won't be working all the time . . . I didn't say that though!