anything you wish you'd thought of/ planned for when going back to work?

[tasmaniandevilchaser]

hi there,

I'm going to back to work in December(3 days a week), I can hardly begin to think about what I need to do/ think about/ plan/prepare for. (I've been off for about 11 mths)

So far on my list is:
sort out childcare (my Mum is doing it)
buy some clothes and shoes that fit me
get bike serviced (I'm going to try to cycle to work)

This is all I can think of. Is there anything else you wish you'd thought of/planned for?

Don't think that everyone is going to looking at you like you've got three heads. It might seem like the biggest thing in the world to you but everyone else will just be going about their normal stuff. I made the mistake of building it all up so much in my mind. It's really not big news for anyone else apart from your immediate work colleagues and you.
I was also very paranoid about how i 'looked' having not got back into shape as much as I would have liked before going back, so I would definately make time for buying nice, well fitting clothes, so you at least look the part, even if you are very anxious about going back.
Most importantly, look forward to being able to eat your lunch without any interruption and go to the loo without any interruption!
Good Luck!

Do at least one dry run at the time you need to be at work for so you can check you've planned it correctly.

Make a contingency plan for if your mum or your child is sick.

thanks for your suggestions, they are helpful. I'm lucky that dh is doing a PhD so is at home most days, so if Mum is ill, at a push he could do the childcare (not sure he knows that yet

I practised getting ready to leave the house by the required time for weeks to make sure I could do it! Discovered things that we did in the morning that didn't really need doing till the evening and always made sure the lunches were ready the night before and just had to go in the bags. Depending on whetther your mum is coming to you, you need to be prepared for moving car seats/buying a spare etc.. making sure the buggy is available etc.. during the day. Write out his routine in full so that she can carry on whatever you do and doesn't have to try and remember it.
Get your partner to help with the morning routines - initially my DH let me do all of getting DS ready just because that's what had happened for 11 months while I was off work and he wasn't. After about 3 weeks back at work, it occurred to me that there was no reason why he couldn't do some of it!
Good luck!