To All Working CF Moms

rubyroselee · Jun 26, 2009

Hi Mel,

I have experience with my two boys and I work full time. We are also dependent on both our incomes, so it wasn't an option for one of us to stay home. Luckily my spouse and I work out our schedules so that we work at opposite times so we do not need daycare (we work in the medical field).

Life was pretty easy for me after the birth of our first child. By the first month, we were in a routine, he was sleeping through the night, and I was back to work. The second baby is what was extremely difficult for us. He was colicky and miserable. He just started sleeping through the night at 9 months old. I went back to work after a 9-week maternity leave and I still wasn't quite ready yet. I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I got very little sleep and I got a cold that lingered for a month. My PFT's went down 30% and I lost a lot of weight.

But....things are wonderful now! My oldest is 2 1/2 and my baby will be 1 next month. We are in a routine (and have been for quite some time) and everything is going well. Work is fine, life is back to normal, and I get enough sleep.

The best advice I can give you is to sleep when you can, sleep when the baby sleeps, and then sleep some more. It is so exhausting having a newborn. But as long as you keep a routine you should be fine. The baby will follow your lead. And go back to work when you feel ready after relaxing on maternity leave. Enjoy your baby and spend lots of time bonding.

It will work out fine and you can do it! There are many of us on here that are working moms. It can be done!

rubyroselee · Jun 26, 2009

Hi Mel,

I have experience with my two boys and I work full time. We are also dependent on both our incomes, so it wasn't an option for one of us to stay home. Luckily my spouse and I work out our schedules so that we work at opposite times so we do not need daycare (we work in the medical field).

Life was pretty easy for me after the birth of our first child. By the first month, we were in a routine, he was sleeping through the night, and I was back to work. The second baby is what was extremely difficult for us. He was colicky and miserable. He just started sleeping through the night at 9 months old. I went back to work after a 9-week maternity leave and I still wasn't quite ready yet. I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I got very little sleep and I got a cold that lingered for a month. My PFT's went down 30% and I lost a lot of weight.

But....things are wonderful now! My oldest is 2 1/2 and my baby will be 1 next month. We are in a routine (and have been for quite some time) and everything is going well. Work is fine, life is back to normal, and I get enough sleep.

The best advice I can give you is to sleep when you can, sleep when the baby sleeps, and then sleep some more. It is so exhausting having a newborn. But as long as you keep a routine you should be fine. The baby will follow your lead. And go back to work when you feel ready after relaxing on maternity leave. Enjoy your baby and spend lots of time bonding.

It will work out fine and you can do it! There are many of us on here that are working moms. It can be done!

rubyroselee · Jun 26, 2009

Hi Mel,

I have experience with my two boys and I work full time. We are also dependent on both our incomes, so it wasn't an option for one of us to stay home. Luckily my spouse and I work out our schedules so that we work at opposite times so we do not need daycare (we work in the medical field).

Life was pretty easy for me after the birth of our first child. By the first month, we were in a routine, he was sleeping through the night, and I was back to work. The second baby is what was extremely difficult for us. He was colicky and miserable. He just started sleeping through the night at 9 months old. I went back to work after a 9-week maternity leave and I still wasn't quite ready yet. I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I got very little sleep and I got a cold that lingered for a month. My PFT's went down 30% and I lost a lot of weight.

But....things are wonderful now! My oldest is 2 1/2 and my baby will be 1 next month. We are in a routine (and have been for quite some time) and everything is going well. Work is fine, life is back to normal, and I get enough sleep.

The best advice I can give you is to sleep when you can, sleep when the baby sleeps, and then sleep some more. It is so exhausting having a newborn. But as long as you keep a routine you should be fine. The baby will follow your lead. And go back to work when you feel ready after relaxing on maternity leave. Enjoy your baby and spend lots of time bonding.

It will work out fine and you can do it! There are many of us on here that are working moms. It can be done!

rubyroselee · Jun 26, 2009

Hi Mel,

I have experience with my two boys and I work full time. We are also dependent on both our incomes, so it wasn't an option for one of us to stay home. Luckily my spouse and I work out our schedules so that we work at opposite times so we do not need daycare (we work in the medical field).

Life was pretty easy for me after the birth of our first child. By the first month, we were in a routine, he was sleeping through the night, and I was back to work. The second baby is what was extremely difficult for us. He was colicky and miserable. He just started sleeping through the night at 9 months old. I went back to work after a 9-week maternity leave and I still wasn't quite ready yet. I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I got very little sleep and I got a cold that lingered for a month. My PFT's went down 30% and I lost a lot of weight.

But....things are wonderful now! My oldest is 2 1/2 and my baby will be 1 next month. We are in a routine (and have been for quite some time) and everything is going well. Work is fine, life is back to normal, and I get enough sleep.

The best advice I can give you is to sleep when you can, sleep when the baby sleeps, and then sleep some more. It is so exhausting having a newborn. But as long as you keep a routine you should be fine. The baby will follow your lead. And go back to work when you feel ready after relaxing on maternity leave. Enjoy your baby and spend lots of time bonding.

It will work out fine and you can do it! There are many of us on here that are working moms. It can be done!

rubyroselee · Jun 26, 2009

Hi Mel,
 
 I have experience with my two boys and I work full time. We are also dependent on both our incomes, so it wasn't an option for one of us to stay home. Luckily my spouse and I work out our schedules so that we work at opposite times so we do not need daycare (we work in the medical field).
 
 Life was pretty easy for me after the birth of our first child. By the first month, we were in a routine, he was sleeping through the night, and I was back to work. The second baby is what was extremely difficult for us. He was colicky and miserable. He just started sleeping through the night at 9 months old. I went back to work after a 9-week maternity leave and I still wasn't quite ready yet. I was exhausted and overwhelmed. I got very little sleep and I got a cold that lingered for a month. My PFT's went down 30% and I lost a lot of weight.
 
 But....things are wonderful now! My oldest is 2 1/2 and my baby will be 1 next month. We are in a routine (and have been for quite some time) and everything is going well. Work is fine, life is back to normal, and I get enough sleep.
 
 The best advice I can give you is to sleep when you can, sleep when the baby sleeps, and then sleep some more. It is so exhausting having a newborn. But as long as you keep a routine you should be fine. The baby will follow your lead. And go back to work when you feel ready after relaxing on maternity leave. Enjoy your baby and spend lots of time bonding.
 
 It will work out fine and you can do it! There are many of us on here that are working moms. It can be done!

LouLou · Jun 27, 2009

My son was born in July 07. I worked full time up until going into labor and worked out up until the week before. After the baby arrived I was exhausted. On day 10 I came down with an infection of the milk ducts called mastitis. It is usually a staph infection and from this point forward I cultured MRSA in my lungs. My lung function is and was 67% FEV1.

I returned to work full time after a 12 week maternity leave. After a few weeks I realized I couldn't be mom, wife, employer and cf care taker to myself to the ability I wanted. I backed off my hours at work leaving at 3 so I could head to the gym but still be home in time to relieve the nanny and play with my son, make dinner, etc. My body was telling me it needed sleep so I started going home to rest while the nanny took care of my son.

Meanwhile my son caught a head cold about once a month his whole first year. I caught just about all of them and they would hit my lungs. I would barely recover before getting hit again.

After 4 months of this I was tapped...but just a side note I still looked healthy (darn cf!) In Feb I was admitted for an exacerbation (first in 10 years) and an embolization to stop bleeding in my lungs that had become a daily nuscense. After this point I pretty much stopped working for 1 month until I moved across a few states. I then tried working from home a few days a week for my old company. Son went to daycare a few days a week. We were still getting sick and it was practically summer. I did another round of IVs at home this time.

Then I realized it was time to quite working. This was a very emotional decision for me because I felt cf had won. When in fact, now I look at it as that I took control of the situation before it took me. I applied right away for SSDI and was accepted based on my infection history requiring physician intervention as well as my use of inhaled abx.

I now stay home with my son and am at the point now that I need some ongoing help. He will be going to a caretakers house once a week for a few hours. I require a lot of sleep. I have to work at feeling self worth by pursing my own activities outside of motherhood in order to feel good where before work gave me this satisfaction.

As others mentioned a schedule is very important but as mom2lillian mentioned it is not a mention of if we will have to stop work but when. For me the packed schedule I had, trying to be and do it all caused me to be very uptight and likely led to infection. Although I was doing everything - ie 100% compliant - my health still slipped. I'm just glad I was able to pick up the pieces before I went splat.

Personally I think lung function has a lot to do with it. If you go into motherhood with a very high FEV1 (ie above 85%) and you are 100% compliant you probably can work for a long while.

LouLou · Jun 27, 2009

My son was born in July 07. I worked full time up until going into labor and worked out up until the week before. After the baby arrived I was exhausted. On day 10 I came down with an infection of the milk ducts called mastitis. It is usually a staph infection and from this point forward I cultured MRSA in my lungs. My lung function is and was 67% FEV1.

I returned to work full time after a 12 week maternity leave. After a few weeks I realized I couldn't be mom, wife, employer and cf care taker to myself to the ability I wanted. I backed off my hours at work leaving at 3 so I could head to the gym but still be home in time to relieve the nanny and play with my son, make dinner, etc. My body was telling me it needed sleep so I started going home to rest while the nanny took care of my son.

Meanwhile my son caught a head cold about once a month his whole first year. I caught just about all of them and they would hit my lungs. I would barely recover before getting hit again.

After 4 months of this I was tapped...but just a side note I still looked healthy (darn cf!) In Feb I was admitted for an exacerbation (first in 10 years) and an embolization to stop bleeding in my lungs that had become a daily nuscense. After this point I pretty much stopped working for 1 month until I moved across a few states. I then tried working from home a few days a week for my old company. Son went to daycare a few days a week. We were still getting sick and it was practically summer. I did another round of IVs at home this time.

Then I realized it was time to quite working. This was a very emotional decision for me because I felt cf had won. When in fact, now I look at it as that I took control of the situation before it took me. I applied right away for SSDI and was accepted based on my infection history requiring physician intervention as well as my use of inhaled abx.

I now stay home with my son and am at the point now that I need some ongoing help. He will be going to a caretakers house once a week for a few hours. I require a lot of sleep. I have to work at feeling self worth by pursing my own activities outside of motherhood in order to feel good where before work gave me this satisfaction.

As others mentioned a schedule is very important but as mom2lillian mentioned it is not a mention of if we will have to stop work but when. For me the packed schedule I had, trying to be and do it all caused me to be very uptight and likely led to infection. Although I was doing everything - ie 100% compliant - my health still slipped. I'm just glad I was able to pick up the pieces before I went splat.

Personally I think lung function has a lot to do with it. If you go into motherhood with a very high FEV1 (ie above 85%) and you are 100% compliant you probably can work for a long while.

LouLou · Jun 27, 2009

My son was born in July 07. I worked full time up until going into labor and worked out up until the week before. After the baby arrived I was exhausted. On day 10 I came down with an infection of the milk ducts called mastitis. It is usually a staph infection and from this point forward I cultured MRSA in my lungs. My lung function is and was 67% FEV1.

I returned to work full time after a 12 week maternity leave. After a few weeks I realized I couldn't be mom, wife, employer and cf care taker to myself to the ability I wanted. I backed off my hours at work leaving at 3 so I could head to the gym but still be home in time to relieve the nanny and play with my son, make dinner, etc. My body was telling me it needed sleep so I started going home to rest while the nanny took care of my son.

Meanwhile my son caught a head cold about once a month his whole first year. I caught just about all of them and they would hit my lungs. I would barely recover before getting hit again.

After 4 months of this I was tapped...but just a side note I still looked healthy (darn cf!) In Feb I was admitted for an exacerbation (first in 10 years) and an embolization to stop bleeding in my lungs that had become a daily nuscense. After this point I pretty much stopped working for 1 month until I moved across a few states. I then tried working from home a few days a week for my old company. Son went to daycare a few days a week. We were still getting sick and it was practically summer. I did another round of IVs at home this time.

Then I realized it was time to quite working. This was a very emotional decision for me because I felt cf had won. When in fact, now I look at it as that I took control of the situation before it took me. I applied right away for SSDI and was accepted based on my infection history requiring physician intervention as well as my use of inhaled abx.

I now stay home with my son and am at the point now that I need some ongoing help. He will be going to a caretakers house once a week for a few hours. I require a lot of sleep. I have to work at feeling self worth by pursing my own activities outside of motherhood in order to feel good where before work gave me this satisfaction.

As others mentioned a schedule is very important but as mom2lillian mentioned it is not a mention of if we will have to stop work but when. For me the packed schedule I had, trying to be and do it all caused me to be very uptight and likely led to infection. Although I was doing everything - ie 100% compliant - my health still slipped. I'm just glad I was able to pick up the pieces before I went splat.

Personally I think lung function has a lot to do with it. If you go into motherhood with a very high FEV1 (ie above 85%) and you are 100% compliant you probably can work for a long while.

LouLou · Jun 27, 2009

My son was born in July 07. I worked full time up until going into labor and worked out up until the week before. After the baby arrived I was exhausted. On day 10 I came down with an infection of the milk ducts called mastitis. It is usually a staph infection and from this point forward I cultured MRSA in my lungs. My lung function is and was 67% FEV1.

I returned to work full time after a 12 week maternity leave. After a few weeks I realized I couldn't be mom, wife, employer and cf care taker to myself to the ability I wanted. I backed off my hours at work leaving at 3 so I could head to the gym but still be home in time to relieve the nanny and play with my son, make dinner, etc. My body was telling me it needed sleep so I started going home to rest while the nanny took care of my son.

Meanwhile my son caught a head cold about once a month his whole first year. I caught just about all of them and they would hit my lungs. I would barely recover before getting hit again.

After 4 months of this I was tapped...but just a side note I still looked healthy (darn cf!) In Feb I was admitted for an exacerbation (first in 10 years) and an embolization to stop bleeding in my lungs that had become a daily nuscense. After this point I pretty much stopped working for 1 month until I moved across a few states. I then tried working from home a few days a week for my old company. Son went to daycare a few days a week. We were still getting sick and it was practically summer. I did another round of IVs at home this time.

Then I realized it was time to quite working. This was a very emotional decision for me because I felt cf had won. When in fact, now I look at it as that I took control of the situation before it took me. I applied right away for SSDI and was accepted based on my infection history requiring physician intervention as well as my use of inhaled abx.

I now stay home with my son and am at the point now that I need some ongoing help. He will be going to a caretakers house once a week for a few hours. I require a lot of sleep. I have to work at feeling self worth by pursing my own activities outside of motherhood in order to feel good where before work gave me this satisfaction.

As others mentioned a schedule is very important but as mom2lillian mentioned it is not a mention of if we will have to stop work but when. For me the packed schedule I had, trying to be and do it all caused me to be very uptight and likely led to infection. Although I was doing everything - ie 100% compliant - my health still slipped. I'm just glad I was able to pick up the pieces before I went splat.

Personally I think lung function has a lot to do with it. If you go into motherhood with a very high FEV1 (ie above 85%) and you are 100% compliant you probably can work for a long while.

LouLou · Jun 27, 2009

My son was born in July 07. I worked full time up until going into labor and worked out up until the week before. After the baby arrived I was exhausted. On day 10 I came down with an infection of the milk ducts called mastitis. It is usually a staph infection and from this point forward I cultured MRSA in my lungs. My lung function is and was 67% FEV1.
 
 I returned to work full time after a 12 week maternity leave. After a few weeks I realized I couldn't be mom, wife, employer and cf care taker to myself to the ability I wanted. I backed off my hours at work leaving at 3 so I could head to the gym but still be home in time to relieve the nanny and play with my son, make dinner, etc. My body was telling me it needed sleep so I started going home to rest while the nanny took care of my son.
 
 Meanwhile my son caught a head cold about once a month his whole first year. I caught just about all of them and they would hit my lungs. I would barely recover before getting hit again.
 
 After 4 months of this I was tapped...but just a side note I still looked healthy (darn cf!) In Feb I was admitted for an exacerbation (first in 10 years) and an embolization to stop bleeding in my lungs that had become a daily nuscense. After this point I pretty much stopped working for 1 month until I moved across a few states. I then tried working from home a few days a week for my old company. Son went to daycare a few days a week. We were still getting sick and it was practically summer. I did another round of IVs at home this time.
 
 Then I realized it was time to quite working. This was a very emotional decision for me because I felt cf had won. When in fact, now I look at it as that I took control of the situation before it took me. I applied right away for SSDI and was accepted based on my infection history requiring physician intervention as well as my use of inhaled abx.
 
 I now stay home with my son and am at the point now that I need some ongoing help. He will be going to a caretakers house once a week for a few hours. I require a lot of sleep. I have to work at feeling self worth by pursing my own activities outside of motherhood in order to feel good where before work gave me this satisfaction.
 
 As others mentioned a schedule is very important but as mom2lillian mentioned it is not a mention of if we will have to stop work but when. For me the packed schedule I had, trying to be and do it all caused me to be very uptight and likely led to infection. Although I was doing everything - ie 100% compliant - my health still slipped. I'm just glad I was able to pick up the pieces before I went splat.
 
 Personally I think lung function has a lot to do with it. If you go into motherhood with a very high FEV1 (ie above 85%) and you are 100% compliant you probably can work for a long while.

mom2lillian · Jun 28, 2009

Lauren-thank you for posting that, I know it has been a long ordeal for you to go through/deal with. I am glad to hear you are maintaining. It gives us a sign of what to look for and or what we might experience. Thanks

mom2lillian · Jun 28, 2009

Lauren-thank you for posting that, I know it has been a long ordeal for you to go through/deal with. I am glad to hear you are maintaining. It gives us a sign of what to look for and or what we might experience. Thanks

mom2lillian · Jun 28, 2009

Lauren-thank you for posting that, I know it has been a long ordeal for you to go through/deal with. I am glad to hear you are maintaining. It gives us a sign of what to look for and or what we might experience. Thanks

mom2lillian · Jun 28, 2009

Lauren-thank you for posting that, I know it has been a long ordeal for you to go through/deal with. I am glad to hear you are maintaining. It gives us a sign of what to look for and or what we might experience. Thanks

mom2lillian · Jun 28, 2009

Lauren-thank you for posting that, I know it has been a long ordeal for you to go through/deal with. I am glad to hear you are maintaining. It gives us a sign of what to look for and or what we might experience. Thanks

Melly527 · Jul 22, 2009