I'm such a lurker on these boards but I'm now starting to get a bit upset about this so I thought it best to get some perspective on the issue. I'll keep it short and I'm ready for some tough advice.
My DD is 1 year old. I've been back at work for about 2 weeks but so far been doing only four days a week taking a holiday day each week. I decided to do this for the first four weeks and then i'm going back full time. I'm getting a bit upset because I realised I only have 2 more days off with DD before returning to full time for real. Then my H is going to drop down to four days so they can have some time together. I have a wonderful supportive H who wants me to be happy. The issue is i'm the main bread winner (by a long way) so therefore if I drop down to four days a week permanently (which in my heart i want to do as i really enjoyed staying at home with DD and still do) my family takes a big financial hit. The climate where i work (in the City) isn't exactly a) stable or b) supportive of reduced working days - basically i would be expected to do the work equivalent of five days a week and would have to be available for calls during my day off but only be paid for four days. Should I just man up and tough it out? I realise now that mothers are the queens of guilt, I feel guilty leaving my DD all week but then feel stressed and guilty about expecting my family to take a financial hit because i don't want to work full time. Am I just exchanging one type of guilt for another? Did anyone decide to work full time and regret it? People always say you don't get the first few years of your DC again but are they so unmissable?
OK, sorry this is actually long. Any advice / experience is gratefully received.