Bøker av Becky Morrison Gleed

The transition back to work after childbirth is often an invisible transition. So overshadowed by the seismic shift of welcoming a new baby into the world, the return to work can come as an afterthought - for the new mother and for the people in her orbit. This workbook is meant to provide space for the spaceless expectation to "just" go back to work. My goal is to offer reflections, exercises, and activities to help support new mothers in gently transitioning and tending to their wellness so the return is not so bumpy. The publishing industry doesn't have much to say on this topic. When I identified that gap, I sat down to write Employed Motherhood: Healthily and Holistically Transition Back to Work after Having a Baby. This is a companion piece where I translate some of those insights into tangible activities. It wasn't simple. There are so many moving parts to working motherhood; it can be hard to know where to start, what to prioritize, and how deep to dive into certain areas. To that end, I want to acknowledge this workbook does not strive to say it all. I chose to organize the book into sections corresponding to the major periods of transition, starting from the prenatal period to the immediate post-partum period, the preparation for return to work, and a final "settling in" section. Because maternity leaves vary in length, I tried to avoid specifics about what age a baby might be in preparation for returning to work and settling in. For some moms with just the briefest of leaves (I see you!), the immediate post-partum period is the preparation for return to work, so exercises in either section might apply. I've broken down each section into the major areas of challenge I've identified both personally and professionally, including through eight in-depth interviews I conducted as part of my research for the Employed Motherhood book. Each section starts with a focus on emotions since that's the core of my practice. From there (in no particular order), I include activities on sleep, nutrition, finance, childcare, relationships, and physical wellness. Each of these topics deserves its own library of material; I've boiled it down to a few key elements of focus to set you up for success. Throughout the book, you'll see a variety of activities, including free-form journaling, brainstorming, and coloring, as well as mindfulness exercises and exercises inspired by cognitive behavioral therapy.

My ability to support those women - in whatever small way - pushed me to navigate and renegotiate my own working motherhood throughout the pandemic. It also inspired me to bring to completion a project I had nearly gotten across the finish line until the pandemic put it on pause: the first edition of this book, Employed Motherhood. As a sole practitioner in an under-resourced area, I've always wanted to extend my reach beyond what I can do one-on-one. When I first set out to research market competitors on the subject of helping new moms transition back to work, I was disappointed (but not surprised) to find so few resources - especially when you consider what a large percentage of the population goes through this experience. After readjusting to the ever-changing new "normal," I put the finishing touches on the book and put it out in the world in May 2021. Now that the book has lived in the world for two years, it's also become apparent that the landscape for working mothers has truly changed in every possible way - and so this book has to change to reflect those shifts. Remote work brought employers, colleagues and clients into our homes, starting conversations about the invisible labor women disproportionately perform and the infinite bandwidth required to context-switch at the drop of a hat. That's not to say anything was cured; but conversations got started, and now flexible work arrangements aren't as rare as they once were.