[jessica]

What made you decide to work outside the home? Did you have a choice?

I guess the easiest way to answer this is because I didn't decide to not work outside the home. I never viewed staying home as an option for myself. Both of my grandmothers worked and my own mother worked and so growing up it was never something I ever thought of for myself. Out of all the close friends I had growing up, I can really only think of 2 who had moms that stayed home ... so I guess I was just exposed more to families with working moms. Although for my particular situation I wouldn't consider that I have a choice anyway unless I made some drastic lifestyle changes that I don't see as viable options (and I'm not talking about cut the cell phone and cable types of changes).

Do you like working?

I do! I am extremely proud of my career and educational success. I love the type of job that I have where, like Missy, I can come and go. I don't clock in/out, I have no set schedule. I can work from home here and there. I get tons of vacation time, sick leave and family leave. I didn't go back to work until my daughter was 5 months old which I am extremely thankful for.

Tell us some stuff you love about working outside the home?

I love being Career Jessica. I love making my parents and my husband proud. I love the money (I wouldn't do what I do for free lol so I'd better love the money). I love the interaction with people that speak my language. I love learning and growing in my field month after month.

Do you feel guilty? How do you deal with that guilt?

I don't carry a constant feeling of guilt around with me. I do have days where I feel guilty depending on if I've had longer days than normal or I feel like Josilyn is having developmental leaps that I'm missing. The number one way I deal with the guilt is I whip out the calendar and plan some time off. In May I had a 5 day weekend ... in July I took off from the 4th through that Sunday and then again on the 18th I was off for 5 days to travel to see family. I definitely take advantage of my vacation time and primarily use it to be with Josilyn. Another way I dealt with my guilt when I first went back to work was to pump my breastmilk like a madwoman. I was hooked up to the pump in my company's lactation room pounding away on my laptop half the day. I also kept pumping past her 1st birthday because I could and viewed it as a wonderful gift to myself and to her. I read a fabulous book called "Hirkani's Daughters" that is filled with stories of working/pumping moms - that book constantly reenergized me. Us pumpers at work passed that book around in the lactation room, it was like our pumping mom bible lol.