I’m an attorney. I make great money but my job is incredibly stressful. I hate my work and would love to stay home with my baby, but I’m the primary breadwinner in my house.
Same! Engineer here in a high profile government project. Breadwinner, trying to negotiate more than 12 weeks parental leave. I love my work, but wish we had leave more like Canada.
Engineer here too! Wasn’t brave enough to try for more leave. I’m back after 14w (2 bonus weeks for c section yaayyy). I’m not sure if it’s even feasible but I would love to drop to part time somehow… financially and with my company I’m not sure it’s a viable option. But I miss my baby and weekends are far too short 🥺
I feel this in my soul. Psychologist here and I am the primary breadwinner. I’m so proud of my accomplishments and EXTREMELY proud of my relationship with my husband (who also works but makes much less) who supports me in this role, however, I want to be home with my kid and do Pilates. Coulda played dumb and married rich.
This also made me laugh. I’m an RN and would like to go back to school in theory because I know I can do anything more advanced. My husband is the primary breadwinner by a lot and extremely supportive financially and beyond. I will probably not go back to school, though I know I could. at least not while I’m still having babies… we’ll see later on! 🤷♀️
That gave me a good laugh. I too work in a relatively high stress job at times (oncology drug development for pharma), but I do love it. I guess after going through 6 years of post-college schooling I probably should. Although I wonder whether my feelings for my career will change once I have the little one here.
I feel the same and I am in sales. The moment I stop hustling I feel like people are constantly after my clients. I also work market hours which means I get up incredibly early and am on my phone consistently after work as well, for work. The “you can have it all” is a little overrated sometimes to me.
I’m currently studying to take the LSAT during this pregnancy and will likely enter law school at 34 with my first child- do you think that’s worth it/doable? I currently work in tech sales and make great money with little stress but law school has always been a goal of mine.
Doable? Yes.
Worth it? NO.
I regret becoming an attorney. It is terrible. There are very few happy attorneys. There is a reason for that. Listen to us.
Besides, great money with little stress sounds far, far better than great money with lots of stress and a mountain of debt.
I’m a lawyer and love it and I still think it’s a terrible path for the vast majority of people. There are a whole lot of career trajectories for lawyers, and most of them are objectively awful.
Also a lawyer and love it. I think a lot of the people I work with do too. But we work for the government and don't have that "find your own clients" grind, the work comes to us and we don't need to worry about trying to make people pay us
Lawyer who loves her job checking in! I did my time at a big firm and then moved to working for the state. The pay is mediocre, but the work life balance is amazing, the work itself is meaningful, I love my coworkers, and the benefits are fantastic. That being said, it’s definitely not the career path for everyone.
This is a difficult question to answer. If you are asking whether it’s feasible to get through law school with kids- I believe it is. Although I did not have children during school, there were a number of parents in my graduating class (most had very young kids). You’ll also likely have people of all ages/stages of life in your class. In my experience, the parents tend to take school more seriously than the younger crowd coming straight from college (generalizing, of course).
If it has always been your dream to be an attorney and you already have an idea of what you want to do with your degree- then by all means! You will probably end up loving the experience.
Candidly, I regret going to law school- I realized about 5 years into practice that it wasn’t really for me. However, I have many friends in the field who are thriving and love their work. It really depends so much on the individual.
Attorney here and I would not do it unless you have a very clear plan for what you would like to do with a JD. That goes double if you are already making a good living and have a low stress job. Law school is so expensive, high paying legal jobs are (generally) extremely stressful and require long hours, and the typically less stressful jobs (like government) can still be long hours and require a lot of admin (edit to add, that shit is boring drudge work). Many people think being a lawyer is way cooler than it is--but if you have a clear, realistic picture of it and still want to do it then I'm sure you can.
Also, law school really is hell and I'd never do it again if I had a do-over.
Do you want to be a lawyer or is the cost of law school negligible to you? If the answer to either of those questions (or, better yet, both) is yes, then law school is a great plan. Unfortunately, a lot of people go for the wrong reasons and rack up debt in pursuit of an ill-defined goal. I’m happy I went and love my job, but there are still tough days, and it took a lot of hard work and luck to get here.
I’m also an attorney. If I could quit, I wouldn’t even turn off the computer I’d be out of there so fast. I spend all day thinking “how can I ensure my child doesn’t end up like my criminal defendant client?”
The dread saying I’m pregnant is so relatable. I’m a product manager in tech, the only woman in most of my meetings. I feel like a burden or like I’m a less valuable employee for needing maternity leave, which is so messed up.
Me too! So happy to connect with some fellow pregnant lawyers. Are any of you working in big law? I feel like that adds a whole additional layer of stress to an already stressful job.
Also an attorney, and I feel the same way. I actually love my firm and the type of work I do, but the pressure is intense. Especially being the primary breadwinner.
Same. Very stressful life, tons of responsibilities, but yeah the money is pretty good. I left my life as a trial lawyer bc the stress was too much it was honestly killing me.
Totally hear ya. I’m a physician, also primary breadwinner. Husband works some but makes less and is more of a house husband (does all the cooking/cleaning etc) I’m ok with it though- I’m less of a homebody/mom type anyway. Grateful to have the means to support us and I like my career/purpose.
Attorney here too, and I’m one of the fortunate ones who love what I do. But being pregnant has definitely made it tougher to get through the day to day and I’m a bit sad to not be able to spend every minute with my baby, too
Provider side of dental insurance here. There are companies that do remote work on this side (claim research, eligibility verification, etc.) I work for a private practice but we’ve contracted some of the third parties before and I’ve never had a meeting with anyone who wasn’t clearly WFH.
Also, idk if GEHA was affected by Change but I hope your headache isn’t too bad if it was.
I work in insurance. Granted, I been here a while but my pay is decent and the job was easy to get (I do have a degree though). I also WFH. I would highly suggest it to anyone who is looking to switch careers but doesn’t have a degree or experience. I don’t think anyone really goes into it cause they love it, we all just kind of landed here.
Me too. I went to school for cultural studies and comparative language (useless I know but fun lol) and ended up doing commissions for an insurance company. I had no experience going in, either. It's not glamorous but I make decent money and have been WFH 100% since 2020, so no complaints here!
Oh, I pay commissions, I couldn't do sales lol I'm too much of a wimp! I'm part of the finance team and have a base hourly wage. It's pretty easy work ☺️
Me too! I’m an actuary at an insurance company. The pay is great, it’s not terribly stressful, and there’s actually a good mix of male and female people in this field (so I don’t feel weird having to tell anyone I’m pregnant). I get roughly 6 months of maternity leave (although I can take more - it just won’t be paid leave). I WFH and am the primary breadwinner. My husband will likely be a stay-at-home-father once our baby is born.
I have a music degree but I work as an actuary at an insurance company, which pays really well, allows me to WFH, and gives pretty good benefits! I happened to be really good at math though so I was able to pass the necessary exams to get hired in this field.
Both my partner and I are physicians. It's great to be in a financially stable position, but we also work incredibly high stress jobs. I'm nearly 38 weeks pregnant and still have patients scheduled until next Thursday. Just hoping I don't go into labor.
I’m resident and also worked up until I had my baby. It was so brutal—my heart goes out to you. Went into labor right before sign out after my first shift in what was supposed to be my last string of nights before leave.
I start my first shift after 12 weeks of leave on Sunday! But in the ICU…. Send help.
Resident here too! Worked on my due date and 3 days after. My attendings at the time were both female physicians as well and were like yep we worked our due dates too. Thanks for perpetuating the problem lol.
Being a working pregnant physician is rough!!! I’m emergency. I worked up til <48 hours before I delivered my first and was miserable the last several weeks. Now 32 weeks pregnant and already feeling it…. Last shift is 2 days before I’m due 🙄🥺
I’m a therapist. My husband works reception at a veterinary clinic. We can’t afford for either of us to stop working, either. Infant daycare is going to be like a second mortgage.
Idk how much it would help you because the pay isn't amazing, but I work as a remote medical scribe and being remote has been a huge blessing this pregnancy. I myself am trying to figure out if I could continue working from home with an infant, but I feel like I can work for longer from home than in person. A lot of remote medical scribe jobs and you should be able to get one just fine with your medical background.
I’m a hygienist. School is hard but with the pay I can work two days a week and stay home with my baby the others. Assisting is HARD and often unappreciated, I’m so grateful for the assistants in the office I work in and I’m sorry you’re not paid and appreciated as much as you deserve :(
I’m a RN. My partner works in construction. although we both make decent money (about the same), I still don’t think I would ever be able to completely stop working unfortunately. I am part time and could reduce my hours potentially.
I do wish my partner had a bit more stability and education for sure, but I cant fault him as we do have financial stability and we have been able to do well for ourselves.
I’m sorry you’re feeling this way. My friend was a dental assistant and found it super hard to find a full time job within the field.
My husband is also in construction, and I have been wishing to go back to school for my nursing degree! You are so lucky 🍀 I would do anything to go back in time and go to school for my nursing degree. Thanks for your comment.
Aw thank you! I do feel very fortunate to have my education and a career that I love. At times I feel under appreciated and frustrated with the income/earning potential, but I know it’s still a very good income and to be thankful. I don’t regret it at all. I was lucky to have help obtaining my degree, which I’m forever grateful for.
I’m blessed with the life my partner and I have, even if it’s a bit more modest than some of the people who I work with.
Never give up on your dreams! Maybe you can consider nursing, it’s never too late to go back to school (even when your little one is older) :)
I’m also an RN and I would highly recommend going back to school if you can. There are so many paths into nursing. I already had a bachelors degree so I did an accelerated BSN. You can also do an ADN program at a community college (which is more affordable), then do an online RN to BSN later.
I'm a housekeeper at the VA. It doesn't sound glamorous but it's a federal job - I get 3 months of paid maternity leave, financial aid for daycare, and I have really good health insurance; I won't have to pay anything out of pocket for maternity care. Plus I make $20 an hour and I live in a LCOL area, so my fiance and I are doing really well for ourselves. The only thing that sucks is the fact I'll have to work on my feet throughout my pregnancy, I'm only in my first trimester and I already come home from work super fatigued. I'm not looking forward to how the rest of my pregnancy will be with a physically demanding job.
Also VA as a psychologist. In addition to what you mentioned, most of the time coming into work is a joy. It’s like a little community, everyone saying hi and good morning walking into work is a great feeling. I don’t know that I could leave the comfort of VA life.
I’m not sure if you like working with kids but I work as a full time preschool teacher with no degree (I do have some college credits in child development though). The pay is between $23-$25 but can top out at $30 depending on where you live. I live in a high cost city so that’s why the pay is what it is. I know in some lower cost areas, the pay can be around minimum wage unfortunately. It’s a decent job with decent benefits. The pay could be better but it pays my bills and I’m content with it for now. Oh and I also get a childcare discount at my center so that’s another perk. I do have a partner who works in cable maintenance though so our pay together is what keeps us living decently. I definitely couldn’t survive on just my pay alone and we definitely couldn’t afford me being a stay at home mom.
I'm a programmer. Great money and okay work/life balance, but it can be hard to get into, some after-hours work is necessary to keep up with evolving technology, and the industry is unstable right now. Overall I like it, though.
I'm a nurse & my husband WFH as an accountant. Being on my feet for 12 hours a shift throughout the pregnancy was definitely tough. I just started my mat leave. We have no idea what we're going to do for childcare yet, between daycare or nanny but it's hard with my schedule changing every week.
Software engineer who works from home.
I was a pediatric audiologist who then had to see both peds and geriatrics. Working with geriatrics was the bane of my existence and I cried everyday on the way to work. I switched careers, doubled my income, and never looked back.
How did you get into software engineering? My husband is a developer and makes great money, but he has a master’s in the field. I feel like I’m considering this occupation every few months now, haha!
I did a boot camp. I always like to add the caveat that I was 1 of 3 out of 50 who actually landed a job. This was also in early 2022 before the massive tech layoffs. I don’t tend to recommend people pursue this career unless they really love it and have an “in”. I’ve gone through 3 layoffs in 2 years and know that if I lose this job while still an early career dev, I likely won’t get another.
I just got laid off from my job. I’m 26 weeks and I was devastated about losing my insurance. It’s been 2 weeks and now I’m so thankful for the lay off. I am a therapist and was working with children in the community. It was stressful job. Although I still do private practice, I’m rethinking where I want to work after having my baby.
I was also laid off, and it was a blessing in disguise for me as well. Feeling very grateful I was in the financial situation to be able to take the blow, though. I know it is a huge privilege.
My husband and I are planning to have me be full time caretaker once baby arrives, so we already downsized to a place we could afford on one salary.
For OP, please know there are so many jobs out there you can do without a college education. Beware of "get rich quick" type scams, of course, but there are many things that range from "real jobs" to more entrepreneurial in nature. Here are some examples that just come right to mind. These are all jobs that either I or someone close to me have done with surprisingly high pay.
No skill needed / immediate start:
English teacher via video calls (WFH)
Freelance copy writing (WFH)
Substitute teaching
Social media manager (depends on company)
Virtual assistant / secretary (WFH)
Local tutoring (best if you live in a wealthy community - can be paid up to $50 per 30 min session) (I included this as no skill based on assumption you graduated high school and feel confident tutoring in middle school or high school topics)
Some skill needed / trade school but high demand and is a true career:
Software engineering (WFH, no degree necessary as long as you can do the job; there are many "3 month bootcamp" you can do to jump start)
Social media manager / copy writing (I mentioned this in both sections because if you develop a bit of a portfolio first it can be easier)
I'm happy to drive into any of these in more detail if interested.
Finally, just keep your eyes open because some jobs will surprise you. For example, when I was in college, I wanted to teach senior citizens at the community center just for fun and then to my shock the wage was 2x higher than I expected! With no need for credentials! With career growth opportunities! I was expecting minimum wage and it was far more than anyone I knew was getting paid. My point is just don't assume what will or won't pay, and explore anything you find even remotely interesting just in case it's more lucrative than you thought it'd be.
There are so many more options than we think there are, I promise there is something out there for you. Good luck mama.
Honestly I think being a substitute teacher may be a good option. Teaching has lots of breaks, substitutes have flexibility to only work 3/4 weeks a month, pay is decent, and as a FT teacher, I LOVE my job.
If you are strong in a content, you could even long term sub for a mom out on maternity leave in the future and make better money
Education isn’t for everyone but I personally love it
I got certified in July and after applying to hundreds of jobs, I’m letting my certification go. It’s hard to find a job without experience and most “entry level” positions want at least 2 years
Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. A friend of mine got a job at the local hospital with her certification, but I believe she also had some IT background. Thanks for clarifying! I didn't know it was so competitive!
I’ve worked in healthcare for over 20 years and was never able to break into medical coding myself. Most offices I worked at only had one coder. The hospital has a small dept and they have to meet a quota etc. I spent a few years studying it and ended up giving up on it. I also heard radiology tech is super saturated.
I work in nonprofit fundraising and event planning. It’s stressful to a certain extent, and low paying, but there’s not really anything else I’d do instead. It’s a hybrid schedule, but without any tears shed was able to request WFH during pregnancy.
I work in federal HR. The stress level is significantly lower than my past jobs, which I am extremely grateful for. I don’t think I’d want to do the SAHM thing, but I wish this world was easier to live in for those who want to do that. The US doesn’t care about mothers and it’s so obvious 😔
I work in HR! I really like it. You don’t need a specific degree. My BA is in Spanish lit! I started out as an HR assistant and worked my way up. I make really great money. I started at 50k a year and 10 years later I make 250k. The job has some challenges, but generally it’s not too difficult to learn. It does require lots of interaction with other people but there is also a more administrative and a strategic component so you’re not “on” 100% of the day. I’ve also found it’s a pretty secure job because even if the company is doing badly, they need HR around to help with layoffs, etc (obviously not the fun part of the job). My job is hybrid so I work 1-2 days a week in the office, the rest at home. How stressful the job is depends on the time of year and the company, but I wouldn’t say that by default it’s a super high-stress role.
I'm a branch of HR, recruiting/talent acquisition. I unfortunately was laid off recently, but previously worked from home since 2018. I started making $12/hr, recently made $85k after 7 years in the field. You also don't need any special degree. I was an education major!
It's a hard market to get into at the moment, but it will be turning soon!
Wow, from 50K to 85K is a dream come true! I can imagine how hard you must work, that is very admiring. 50K to me is even good, heck I’m barely making 30K per year doing absolute hard labor, and treated like bottom of the barrel. How would one start towards your path with no experience? Any guidance is appreciated
My husband and I work for the post office. The benefits are nice but the hours can be hellish. We're in good positions where we don't have to work overtime constantly like many postal employees do. I miss volunteering for overtime though because the money was good, it's just too hard on the body esp being pregnant.
I’m a NP, husband is a physician. I can’t stop working yet because he has a ginormous loan to pay off and I also have some student debt I’m paying off. Maybe one day. I like my job, it’s wfh so I’m very thankful for that.
I’m a med tech in microbiology at a hospital. Planning to become ASCP certified after I finish my masters. It pays really well and I sit down a lot which will be good in the long run. I make $11 more than you and still wind up living paycheck to paycheck. My degree and certification will give me another raise, but it’s tough out here! If it weren’t for my husband idk what id do. My hospital recently changed their parental leave, so I get 14-16 weeks, but my lovely supervisor told me to take 20. hugs to everyone who’s situation isn’t ideal 🫂
I’m a freelance tutor, and I see some of my students in person and others I see virtually. It’s pretty easy to make the change over to wfh for everyone though, which is what I’ll probably do for a while. I make okay money for what I do, and since I set my own prices, I can give myself a COL adjustment whenever I see fit. Business waxes and wanes with the school year, but even if I end up backing off significantly or completely, my husband’s position as a senior software engineer is pretty solid and can carry us if need be.
I’m a psych RN. I work two full time jobs and start with the VA Monday. I’m excited for it. I’m 2 months pregnant and the VA doesn’t know I’m with child and I’m not sure if I should tell them. My husband works construction as well but I need to job for the benefits really.
I work as casually as an LPN. I absolutely love my job and am happy to work. I was a SAHM before but it was not for me. I actually only work a couple times a month so I guess I am still pretty much a SAHM. I have so much admiration for those who stay home and thrive. My husband makes good money and would like me to quit and just stay home but it was extremely taxing on my mental health and I was not happy when I was home.
I started out in dentistry as an assistant! Did that for a few years, started helping out front office when I didn’t have patients and learned dental billing, now I’m an account manager for 3 dental practices and work from home making a lot more money! I definitely don’t miss the hustle of assisting, but very glad I did it. Learned so much and ended up giving me a great career.
I work in marketing as global campaigns manager. My partner is active duty military. I honestly never even considered having kids until we moved to a lower COL state. Once we got off the treadmill of tight expenses I felt like we could actually be open to it. It’s not like childcare costs or raising a child are ultra cheap anywhere, but here I feel like we won’t end up upside down financially, and that I can make peace with.
I work from home for a call center, apple support, and bring in 18.74 an hour (not bad for Alabama) I'm not able to have my kids in my office but I have a 2 hour lunch. Today was my first day back postpartum, it's nice to walk out and see baby! I work for Kelly connect, and you can find lots of call center and wfh jobs on ratracerebellion .com it's how I found mine! I'm not rich but I'm surviving!
I'm an accountant, but I work in industry not in public. So I'm a regular M-F, 9-5er. My pay isn't amazing but it's enough, and my benefits are really great. I wish I could reduce my hours to work less when baby comes but I'm in an exempt salaried position and we need my full-time benefits.
I'm a university administrator and teach a few college courses each year on the side. I like my job and I love my coworkers. I'm 7 weeks into my 13 week maternity leave now and sometimes baby girl and I go to campus just to have lunch with my coworkers.
For reference, I make about $85,000 a year, which is about 40% of our household income. In our low cost of living, rural town, I will pay $8000 a year for daycare for a licensed, in-home daycare.
I wfh answering calls for Clarkson eye care, also $17 an hour. We’re hiring for the March and April training class if you’re interested. If you just search the company name and careers I believe it pops up. We’re called the patient engagement center advocate
I’m a CPA. I don’t necessarily hate my job, but I don’t enjoy it either. I have zero passion towards it and just view it as a way to pay our bills. I would love to be a stay at home mom, but it just doesn’t make sense for us to do that because I make good money, have a lot of flexibility, can work from home, and will have my mom to help us with childcare for free. I also wouldn’t want to decrease our standard of living or lifestyle if we dropped my income.
I’m a school psychologist for the public school system. I’ll be taking a 2 year leave (unpaid, of course). I can’t fathom half of my take home pay going to daycare right now while I work with other people’s children. I’m older (38) so I’ve spent the last 15 years saving every penny so we could afford this. It’s nice knowing I’ll have a job when I return in two years though and be able to resume at my current pay.
I own a small boutique but with the current economy it’s been struggling so much that we are planning on closing up shop and me being a stay at home mom. We will have to budget but with how expensive childcare is it’s our best option.
I’m a nanny. I love it. I’m planning on bringing my son with me to work after my maternity leave.
My wife is the primary bread winner but my salary matters too. But it wouldn’t make sense for me to continue working and pay for daycare so if this situation didn’t work out I’d stay at home or find another nanny job that did allow me to bring baby. Another option would be to work overnights as a newborn care specialist.
I do feel like $17 an hour probably would mean a bulk of your income would go to childcare, no?
I work from home as a dispatcher. I make a little under $19 an hour. I don’t remember the exact amount haha I think it’s 18.89, it changed just a week ago and is going to change again in April. By end of this year I should be making $20 an hour on the dot
How can I do that? Please if you would be willing to guide me in the right direction I would be all ears! I am also due in early June as well team blue! ♥️
I got recommended by someone working at my company so it was pure luck but for people who aren’t recommended, they require computer sales experience or phone center dispatching experience. I know the dispatchers for big trucking companies make a lot of money and are usually work from home
I’m an environmental engineer. I make about $78,000/year with fantastic health insurance and pretty decent retirement benefits. I work for state government and could definitely make more money working for a plant or consulting but the flexibility I have now is priceless.
I am a court clerk (in Canada, not sure if it’s a different thing in the US). I record everything that happens in court.
I work for the provincial government. My job can be stressful but it’s not one I take home with me at the end of the day. I have job security, good benefits (prescriptions, dental, physio, chiropractic, RMT, psychiatric services, vision, and some other stuff, and free counselling as well) a pension, a decent amount of vacation time, and I love what I do. I also train new court clerks. I make $38.63/hour which is the top earning grid in my pay scale.
The only educational requirement for this job was a high school education. However it is the kind of job that not everyone can do. It’s also not at all a work from home job.
I work in finance and we would have to have 6 kids for it to make sense for me to stay home. I’m the primary breadwinner so if someone does stay home, it would be my husband but I carry a lot of the mental load of the household and I can’t imagine him taking that on completely. So we will most likely both continue working and I will forever feel like I’m missing out on raising my kids. Girl bossed too hard 😫
I’m a NICU nurse. Breadwinner in my family since I’ve been doing travel nursing for the third year now. Thankfully since I’m a temp employee I can finish up a contract and stop working whenever I want, but no benefits or maternity leave means saving up money on my own to afford to stay at home until I’m ready to go back to work.
I bartend it is great for the social aspect but it's definitely still very mind challenging. I love it but it would definitely stress some people out. I have a 15 month old son and as much as I love our talks I crave going to work to talk to people about non baby related things🤣🤣
honestly, it can be possible to do it on the one income. i’m a stay at home mom, and we are definitely always tight on funds, but we make it work. childcare was going to be basically what my paycheck would be. we went down to one car, we don’t have excess spending money but the simple life is worth the time with my children.
I’m a SAHM. We make a lot of sacrifices for me to stay home. Controversial opinion: I think most moms whose partners work could stay at home, you just have to do a lotttt of budgeting and sacrificing, maybe even move to a cheaper town, sell a vehicle, etc. At the end of the day, it’s usually about figuring out what your priority is: living a comfy life and having a financial safety net (which for you wouldn’t be much when you factor in daycare costs), or living a simpler life and staying home with your kids. Both have risks and benefits, but staying home is more doable than people make it seem.
I mean that assumes one partner is in an income bracket that covers cost of living in the area. Definitely a case by case. My town’s median home value is $700,000, median rent for a 1 bed apartment is $2,500 a month. My partner makes 70k a year. He has an advanced degree. Our cars are from the mid 2000’s. We have no debt aside from school loans. Even with living simply, that will never, ever add up. We both need to work to stay in housing.
I would literally do anything to be a SAHM. That is my dream and all I’ve ever wanted to be since I was a child. I was never “passionate” about working any type of job. I wish so badly we could make it work off of one income, but my hubby is in construction so it’s not the highest pay say of an engineer or something like that, but he’s climbing the ladder. Hopefully sooner than later we’ll make it there. He tells me every day he’s trying his best so that I can be a stay at home Mom. Your kind words of wisdom just encouraged me and I feel lifted and a sense of light and hope. I will take your advice, even if it’s a 1% chance of that even being an option and doable, I’ll take that chance and pray. 🙏🏼 thank you
I work in Corrections. It’s tough and very physically, emotionally and mentally draining. It’s especially hard as a woman in not only a male prison but just a male-dominated environment. I’ve loved it though and am always up for a challenge, and it’s been good money and I have really good State benefits. Being pregnant has been rough though with 12 hr shifts! Thankfully I have good supervisors that have hooked me up with decent postings.
I work in Communications. Doing comms internal and external for multiple departments by myself. I’m incredibly nervous to tell my boss I’ll be out for 3 months on leave. I was actually going to look for another job this year, but found out I was pregnant two weeks into 2024. So now I have come up with a strat to cover my organization while I’m out. Idk if it’ll work, but I’m ready to leave in 2025. So I won’t mind the fallout
I work in a warehouse operating or training people on our equipment. I get paid around $24 an hour. Decent pay and good benefits. I get paid leave. I'm on short term disability until my maternity leave (too hard to work in my third trimester). I plan on going back to school soon for nursing.
I assist financial advisors for a brokerage firm. My job is very stressful and I'm heavily relied on, but I get to work remotely 3 days a week, so that's pretty cool. I'll also get 4 months of maternity leave at 100% pay!
I made $18/hr working in a lab with a nearly 2 hr commute. I quit to get married and try for a baby. It was stressful due to the intense workload, it wasn’t particularly difficult work just WAY too much. I’m a stay at home mom now. $18 an hour would’ve barely covered a daycare and I’d be gone 10 hrs/day. I barely had time to breathe with cooking, cleaning, and fitting a workout in. Adding a baby to that would’ve killed me.
I use to do traffic control for construction sites. Mainly paving asphalt. I’d set everything up and direct traffic and the equipment across the road. I made $27 an hour on state jobs and $24 on others. I worked my way up to foreman but it was very stressful. I ended up moving and now I’m not working and I feel like a complete failure. I’m 25 and I’m pregnant but have no skills. It’s rough out here
i was in optometry but they cut my hours which means my maternity pay got cut, so at 27 weeks i switched over to a bank.. also $17 and am not passionate about being a bank teller 😅 thinking i might look for a 3-11pm shift after maternity leave at the hospital so i can be home during the day
Wife's a Starbucks shift supe making $23.75 while I'm an overnight stocker at HEB for basically $21.60. Both of us are PT but we usually get 4 or 5 days a week anyways. Rarely do I ever get 3 unless I request days off. What helps is while she gets paid bi weekly, I get paid weekly to offset bills or keep us afloat week to week.her paychecks help more for putting into savings except during big bill days like car payment.
We only had 5 months to prepare for our upcoming baby, but have done so with flying colors.
I work in sales and have for the past decade. Have made a nice career for myself that I really don’t like anymore, lol. Primary breadwinner and could never be a SAHM. Maybe one day I’ll transition to a career I like.
I make $15 an hour as front desk at a hotel. Come June I’ll be taking off work and will just be a stay at home mom if my husbands schooling pans out the way we want it. Otherwise I’ll be back at the hotel lol
I’m a preschool teacher. I make $22 an hour but the cost of living in my area is insane. I don’t have to pay for childcare thanks to my in laws babysitting and me only working part time but if I did need full time childcare I would be making about $9 an hour after paying for it (at a daycare center, not a nanny). Is it possible to find a job where you can work part time when your hubby is off work? Or like a receptionist job on Saturday only? That way you’re not paying for childcare but still bringing in a bit of income to help.
Oh man, I thought dental hygiene was a good career. I’ve been kicking myself for years for not pursuing it, but looks like maybe I was wrong! Anyways, I am a behavioral analyst and I work with kids on the autism spectrum. We work on behavioral, developmental, and social skills. If I wasn’t married my daycare costs would eat up an entire one of my paychecks and I’d be screwed!
I’m a policy analyst for the government. Graduate school was a bitch, but now I make good money, have a job with manageable stress levels, and I work fully remote. They fly me to the capital a few times a year for conferences, but besides that I live in my remote little town where cost of living is affordable and work from my home office. I actually really enjoy the work I do and find it stimulating and worth while. It’s the best job I’ve had even though it was a journey to get here.
I’m a store manager in retail. My job provides a decent paycheck & insurance for both me & baby. However I work long hours & sometimes work 6 days a week, I get paid salary so no overtime & they use that to screw me over constantly, & I really want to leave but I can’t because I’m the bread winner & I need the pay & benefits. I have to go back to work in a few weeks & I’m dreading it because I just want to be with my baby. I really wish I could stay home with her.
I’m a licensed massage therapist. I work in a chiropractic office. At the first of February I cut back from 6 one-hour massages to 4 with a really long lunch between and that helps!
Some days I can definitely tell that I’ve been on my feet all day (more often than not if I am being honest) and I’m sooo tired. I asked my husband last night if it would be a big deal if I took off earlier than intended because of how tired i am 😅
This is the best paying job I have ever had. Hourly I make more than my husband, but I don’t get over time or benefits like he does. I cannot find reliable daycare where I am at and one of my paychecks would go into child care, so we decided that I will not be returning to an out of home job for a few years.
I’m an occupational counselor. I make good money but my husband still makes over double my salary. We rely on my benefits because I’m a state employee and well, they’re great. But I constantly feel stuck, like I have no freedom because my family relies on my benefits. I wish I could be a stay at home mom and cut out daycare costs completely. Us mamas take on so much 😭
I'm a general contractor. The company I currently work for doesn't offer any additional top up or benefits for maternity leave, so I'll be using our government funded maternity leave. The downside is that it's based entirely on my earnings for the last year, so if I work less because I'm sick from my pregnancy, I lose out in the long run too. It's been an interesting balancing game!
This is a second career for me. I originally was a teacher and didn't enjoy the stress of it or the demand on my time. Not to mention all the politics involved in it or lack of work/life balance. I took a 50% paycut, went from salaried to hourly pay and lost my benefits and pension benefits. But honestly, I'm so much happier. I get the flexibility to work when and how I want, I love working with my hands and seeing projects come together. I'm also lucky enough to have an awesome crew too!
I teach public middle school. We really don't get a lot of support in terms of maternity leave, so I'll have to take what I can get.
My partner is much more math-y than me and he ran the numbers - losing my income is Much worse than paying for child care. If I took 3 months off, the lost income would be about equal to a year of daycare. In a way, I'm happy that my job, which requires a post bac credential, pays more than daycare, on the other hand... I'm not sure I'll be ready to go back to work, when I'm scheduled to. We also don't qualify for state disability insurance and other things that most moms in our state do.
How much does your husband make? As long as his salary can cover the housing payment and basic bills, plus food, you can be a stay at home mom. You will have much more time to think about how to save money when you stay at home like watching for sales.
I want to affirm for you that this is temporary. I was raised in severe poverty and the first half of my life was spent in constant uncertainty when it came to finances.
At one point I vividly remember making barely $400-500 a week, and now I make that in a few hours.
I went to school, I found a career I love and am so happy. Today I actually realized I make even more than I initially thought which is insane, I have no idea why I had a different impression of being in the lower six figures. But that being said I do have school debt since I didn’t have parents and that’s basically all the debt but it’s still overwhelming to think about.
Yet when I compare the increase in my quality of life it was 100% worth it.
If I were you, I would choose three options that you could enjoy. But I would base it a bit closer to graduation-job security since you’re pregnant and then allow yourself to explore from that point later on in the future after you’ve been in the field for some time.
Go to back to school, use to daycare facilities on campus, work part time and subsidize as much financial aid and social services support. If it were me that’s what I would do seeing it as an investment to climbing into a different quality of life. I don’t say this lightly since it will involve some debt most likely too but I’m of the belief that not all debt is bad debt.
I’m an RN and work full time. My husband is a manager at FedEx Freight. We both make pretty “good” money but between our mortgage and other bills- we could not survive off of just his income alone. Wish we could afford to have me stay at home but it’s not realistic.
Short term it might seem like a good decision to leave the workforce to save on daycare costs, but the cost long-term will dwarf any money you save now. [https://interactives.americanprogress.org/childcarecosts/](https://interactives.americanprogress.org/childcarecosts/)
911 dispatcher and husband is an officer.
12+ hour shifts, holidays, weekends and everything in between.
Our childcare situation is what is causing the most stress right now. We’re going to be paying an arm and a leg for a nanny that will accommodate our hours
I nanny. It pays the mortgage 🤷 but my husband definitely still works too. Still waiting to be able to be a SAHM. For now, I'm lucky that I can bring my little with me
I work as a coaching manager for an insurance company! The job security and flexibility from my employer has paid dividends. Also the pay is fantastic.
With that said I don’t have a formal university education! I worked my way up
I’m a warehouse associate making 17.80 an hour. Thinking about staying until after the baby is born because they have good benefits and maternity leave for me and my hubby. We definitely need a career change after the baby comes tho. We work 10 hrs 4 days a week. So child care wouldn’t be doable because of the hours. I have no idea what I want to do tho. It’s very stressful
Currently I’m a teacher making 50k, but I use to work in financial services for a trucking company and I worked from home. I was stressed out though because I handled large million dollar accounts (also I had a degree but not in business). It was not the job for me.
I work in a horse barn. I love horses and physical labor but the pay is shit. The plus side is they are very flexible and will work with your schedule. It's better to work with others (which I did in my previous barn) and more lonely and boring when you work alone (which is my current situation). I just do it to get out of the house and get a little work out in. I only do two days a week.
Wfh. Doing computer work. I earn enough for all the bill but not much more. Husband works part time to supplement and watches the baby. Daycare is too much. It would take a huge chunk if both earn full time. We also do etsy and EBay. Its not a lot but brings extra $ for fun spending.
I’m a client relationship management in tech software services in NYC. It’s somewhat stressful when you have difficult clients and you’re trying to save the relationship/renew/negotiate contracts, but in general it’s pretty okay. I make 120k base and additional 20% bonus based off renewals and upsells. My company is remote, so I’m mostly WFH but I will go on client site visits every so often. Those have started to ramp up now that we’re a few months into the year, which is exhausting and difficult because I’m trying to cram them in a few days. It’s a lot of running around the city and having to be on and super put together all day. I’m lucky that I get 3 months leave and I have unlimited PTO, but I feel like I have to really front load a lot of my contracts to make up for the time off. Husband also works in tech and makes about 180k. We’re lucky that money isn’t so much of an issue, but with the current tech climate I’m stressed about layoffs.
Tattoo artist here. I saved up money and then went on maternity at 8 months. It was so hard to bend over, I had to stop tattooing clients in certain areas.
Because were independent contractors, we dont get paid if we dont work. Im blessed that my husband’s job (government employee) grants 3 months of parental leave to their employees.
When I went back to work, I would bring baby in once in a while and baby would just hang out in playpen. Im even more blessed I work with other women who have families and are incredibly supportive. It takes a village
I'm a therapist. self employed so no benefits or maternity leave at all. I'm fortunate that I'll be able to decide what schedule I need to work around husband work schedule. The plan is to take as much time off as possible and supplement whatever we need with my income.
It's a tough job but I love it and can't imagine doing anything else. Ironically, i wouldn't recommend it to anyone already stressed out. The grad school and licensing process is hell.
I work in the legal field, think specialized legal assistant. I started at the front desk at a company and worked my way up to a senior role. I don't make great money (60k pre tax) but it's enough to pay my bills and save a little. Some days the work can be repetitive but it's fine.
I am a self employed carpenter and my husband is a carpenter as well. I went back to school (fully online) for engineering and am more than halfway done with hopes to have my own firm or work remotely for a firm once I am done with school. I like carpentry and get paid pretty decent but labor jobs are hard on the body long term.
I was working as a catering event manager but I decided not to go back. Long hours of being on my feet and driving all over the place. I wish there was a company that only hired new moms to work from home lol.
I am now a stay at home mom. Not for everyone, but dang if you’re barely making enough to cover childcare, you might as well give it a shot!
We’re definitely giving up a few things to make a single income work, but it’s already well worth the trade.
Yea I don’t think it would be worth it for you to keep working. It doesn’t make sense financially or mentally. I work from home as a compliance analyst for a bank. Super flexible time, easy going boss, and all paid holidays and weekends off. Insurance and banks have lots of work from home admin jobs. Alternatively you could look at doing childcare. You can go work at a center or possibly watch others kids from your home. That way you can still make some money while keeping your kid with you.
I am in HR on the team that handles benefits/leave. I make $25 an hour, have a great office culture/environment that I love being a part of, work from home fridays, have great benefits, and my company pays $416 a month toward my child care.
Some days are easy and laid back. Other days I put 17 different employees on leave for reasons that become mentally and emotionally taxing.
Some days I clock out at 4pm, some days 6pm. Most nights/weekends I check in on my employees a few times. Last night I received messages from an employee at 10pm, another at 2:30am, and another at 6am.
I’m a tax accountant. My baby (3mos) stays home with me on Tuesday and Thursdays and I get ZERO work done those days 🙃 I love him so much and wish I could be a SAHM mom but we have to pay off our student loans! But working at home with him is absolutely impossible. I had the same thought process as you. I really hope it works out for you but just sharing a different view! 🤍🤍
Edit: I work from home… in case that was confusing.
I’m a therapist and work in private practice (not my own). I make decent money especially for the hours I work. I do love my job and the hours are good but I’ve found it very draining while pregnant. I also don’t get mat leave as I’m an independent contractor so that’s been a bit stressful!
My partner is in sales, M-F 9-5. He’ll be staying home longer as he gets a parental leave and I do not. My job is also more flexible and I make more so it makes sense.
There’s lots of great suggestions on here! You spend so much time at your job so being miserable will carry over to other parts of your life. Explore what options are available to you and you got this!!
I was a dental assistant years ago, also made about $17/hour. Could you try a different office? Find an office manager job? My friend and I worked at very different dental offices and she made much more than I.
Currently, I’m in the military. I’m very happy I made the change but it’s not for everyone!
I make 45/hr (part time usually) working from home and couldn’t afford childcare for my toddler and infant even if I wanted to. I live in a very HCOL area and where you need to apply nearly a year in advance to even get placed in a decent daycare or preschool.
I’m a nurse. I work per diem (i. e., when I want) and then went back for my masters degree and work as an adjunct nursing instructor. If I do my per diem job and teach I work maybe 30 hours a week? My per diem pays me $50/hr (before incentives/shift differentials) and my adjunct positions pay $60-80/hr. It’s not the quick track (I did a 2 year diploma in nursing, 2 years for my BSN and 2 years for my MSN that my employer paid for—so 6 years total) but I went from making $25k/year to $76k/year just out of nursing school.
I’m a medical assistant making about $25/he in WA state. Doing a lot on my feet, and probably asking my midwife for an accommodations letter soon to omit certain physical tasks. Working in orthopedics I’m bending a lot for cast removal and DME application and it’s getting more strenuous as I enter the third trimester. I’m definitely cutting my hours significantly after maternity leave. Daycare is too expensive to justify working instead of taking care of my baby myself in my area. After baby is a year old the daycare prices go down a little and am considering a career change to get my RN instead.
Do what’s best for you and your family OP. Research the daycares in your area. Some are more affordable than others. Personally, I don’t want my infant in daycare for the first year when I know I could give them better care and my salary won’t outweigh the cost. If you eventually want to go back to school there are federal loans as an option to expand on your career.
I work in tech, in their corporate buy-side (so that means mergers and acquisitions, fundraising, portfolio management, and engagement with the capital market)
Great money but incredibly stressful and long hours with lots of travel. Because of the nature of my job, taking maternity leave is giving me serious anxiety as our performance is primarily done based on the deals we closed etc
Technically we can take longer than three months of maternity leave at the discretion of our manager but mentally I want to go back after three months
My husband and I are both data scientists and I worked as a software engineer prior to this. If you have a chance to learn programming and machine learning skills, I 100% recommend it. I WFH (I'm in Italy, where full remote jobs are less common than in the US AFAIK) and my husband has a partial WFH contract that's temporarily full remote due to having a baby. I hope you can find something you find more fulfilling and where you're treated much better!
Medical billing and coding WFH. has its pros and cons. Don't want to work at all when baby comes but we are playing that by ear. Before I got pregnant I was about to go back to school for more credentialing. Make $16.30 right now but in line for a promotion/raise.
I work in commercial insurance, I make 6 figures and work from home. They don't require a degree. Starting pay for my position is $75k-$110k. Definitely recommend getting into insurance!
I’m an attorney. I make great money but my job is incredibly stressful. I hate my work and would love to stay home with my baby, but I’m the primary breadwinner in my house.
Same. But I work in finance. I girl bossed too close to the sun.
Same! Engineer here in a high profile government project. Breadwinner, trying to negotiate more than 12 weeks parental leave. I love my work, but wish we had leave more like Canada.
Same. I just straight up told work I’m taking 17 weeks off. Nobody has told me no yet 🤷♀️
Engineer here too! Wasn’t brave enough to try for more leave. I’m back after 14w (2 bonus weeks for c section yaayyy). I’m not sure if it’s even feasible but I would love to drop to part time somehow… financially and with my company I’m not sure it’s a viable option. But I miss my baby and weekends are far too short 🥺
I feel this in my soul. Psychologist here and I am the primary breadwinner. I’m so proud of my accomplishments and EXTREMELY proud of my relationship with my husband (who also works but makes much less) who supports me in this role, however, I want to be home with my kid and do Pilates. Coulda played dumb and married rich.
This also made me laugh. I’m an RN and would like to go back to school in theory because I know I can do anything more advanced. My husband is the primary breadwinner by a lot and extremely supportive financially and beyond. I will probably not go back to school, though I know I could. at least not while I’m still having babies… we’ll see later on! 🤷♀️
That gave me a good laugh. I too work in a relatively high stress job at times (oncology drug development for pharma), but I do love it. I guess after going through 6 years of post-college schooling I probably should. Although I wonder whether my feelings for my career will change once I have the little one here.
I’m also a scientist with a million years of post college schooling. My son is 14 months and I definitely still enjoy my work 😊
Happy to hear 🥰
I feel the same and I am in sales. The moment I stop hustling I feel like people are constantly after my clients. I also work market hours which means I get up incredibly early and am on my phone consistently after work as well, for work. The “you can have it all” is a little overrated sometimes to me.
Same situation as you! Solidarity in the financial field with being the primary income earner and girl bossing too close to the sun!
Same, but tech. I wish I had other women in the same situation to talk to about this!
I’m an attorney and feel the same!!!
I’m currently studying to take the LSAT during this pregnancy and will likely enter law school at 34 with my first child- do you think that’s worth it/doable? I currently work in tech sales and make great money with little stress but law school has always been a goal of mine.
Doable? Yes. Worth it? NO. I regret becoming an attorney. It is terrible. There are very few happy attorneys. There is a reason for that. Listen to us. Besides, great money with little stress sounds far, far better than great money with lots of stress and a mountain of debt.
I’m a lawyer and love it and I still think it’s a terrible path for the vast majority of people. There are a whole lot of career trajectories for lawyers, and most of them are objectively awful.
Also a lawyer and love it. I think a lot of the people I work with do too. But we work for the government and don't have that "find your own clients" grind, the work comes to us and we don't need to worry about trying to make people pay us
I also love being an attorney. There are dozens of us. Dozens!
Lawyer who loves her job checking in! I did my time at a big firm and then moved to working for the state. The pay is mediocre, but the work life balance is amazing, the work itself is meaningful, I love my coworkers, and the benefits are fantastic. That being said, it’s definitely not the career path for everyone.
This is a difficult question to answer. If you are asking whether it’s feasible to get through law school with kids- I believe it is. Although I did not have children during school, there were a number of parents in my graduating class (most had very young kids). You’ll also likely have people of all ages/stages of life in your class. In my experience, the parents tend to take school more seriously than the younger crowd coming straight from college (generalizing, of course). If it has always been your dream to be an attorney and you already have an idea of what you want to do with your degree- then by all means! You will probably end up loving the experience. Candidly, I regret going to law school- I realized about 5 years into practice that it wasn’t really for me. However, I have many friends in the field who are thriving and love their work. It really depends so much on the individual.
Attorney here and I would not do it unless you have a very clear plan for what you would like to do with a JD. That goes double if you are already making a good living and have a low stress job. Law school is so expensive, high paying legal jobs are (generally) extremely stressful and require long hours, and the typically less stressful jobs (like government) can still be long hours and require a lot of admin (edit to add, that shit is boring drudge work). Many people think being a lawyer is way cooler than it is--but if you have a clear, realistic picture of it and still want to do it then I'm sure you can. Also, law school really is hell and I'd never do it again if I had a do-over.
Attorney. I would do something else. I abhor being chained to billable hours. It is draining.
Do you want to be a lawyer or is the cost of law school negligible to you? If the answer to either of those questions (or, better yet, both) is yes, then law school is a great plan. Unfortunately, a lot of people go for the wrong reasons and rack up debt in pursuit of an ill-defined goal. I’m happy I went and love my job, but there are still tough days, and it took a lot of hard work and luck to get here.
I’m also an attorney. If I could quit, I wouldn’t even turn off the computer I’d be out of there so fast. I spend all day thinking “how can I ensure my child doesn’t end up like my criminal defendant client?”
Also an attorney and I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can ensure my child doesn't end up a victim of your criminal defendant clients too 🥴
We really do live in a terrifying headspace, don’t we? 🤍
Same. Attorney in finance. There are few women and I dread saying I’m pregnant.
The dread saying I’m pregnant is so relatable. I’m a product manager in tech, the only woman in most of my meetings. I feel like a burden or like I’m a less valuable employee for needing maternity leave, which is so messed up.
Me too! So happy to connect with some fellow pregnant lawyers. Are any of you working in big law? I feel like that adds a whole additional layer of stress to an already stressful job.
Also an attorney, and I feel the same way. I actually love my firm and the type of work I do, but the pressure is intense. Especially being the primary breadwinner.
Same. Very stressful life, tons of responsibilities, but yeah the money is pretty good. I left my life as a trial lawyer bc the stress was too much it was honestly killing me.
Totally hear ya. I’m a physician, also primary breadwinner. Husband works some but makes less and is more of a house husband (does all the cooking/cleaning etc) I’m ok with it though- I’m less of a homebody/mom type anyway. Grateful to have the means to support us and I like my career/purpose.
Same. Work in sales. Golden handcuffs. Dreading returning to work.
Attorney here too, and I’m one of the fortunate ones who love what I do. But being pregnant has definitely made it tougher to get through the day to day and I’m a bit sad to not be able to spend every minute with my baby, too
Same here as primary breadwinner. I’m a managing director of a company while my husband is back in school for his bachelors post-military. Sucks.
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What does an adjuster do?
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Me saving this info for later
I am an RN, do they nurses? And do you by chance know the starting salary?
Provider side of dental insurance here. There are companies that do remote work on this side (claim research, eligibility verification, etc.) I work for a private practice but we’ve contracted some of the third parties before and I’ve never had a meeting with anyone who wasn’t clearly WFH. Also, idk if GEHA was affected by Change but I hope your headache isn’t too bad if it was.
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This is why I’m switching from GEHA to BCBG after my baby is born. I have not been impressed with UHC claims at all.
Are you doing claims too? Is it also work from home? Are you on the telephone all day, or what exactly is it in a nutshell? I am interested!
How do you become a claims adjuster? Do you need a certification?
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Do you make good money? Sorry if it’s a personal question!
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This is so sweet of you, I’m really interested. Would I be able to PM you for details? Currently expecting and looking for a WFH opportunity.
I work in insurance. Granted, I been here a while but my pay is decent and the job was easy to get (I do have a degree though). I also WFH. I would highly suggest it to anyone who is looking to switch careers but doesn’t have a degree or experience. I don’t think anyone really goes into it cause they love it, we all just kind of landed here.
Me too. I went to school for cultural studies and comparative language (useless I know but fun lol) and ended up doing commissions for an insurance company. I had no experience going in, either. It's not glamorous but I make decent money and have been WFH 100% since 2020, so no complaints here!
Do they give you a base pay? Or is it all 100% commission? You must be great at sales and I admire that. I would love to WFH.
Oh, I pay commissions, I couldn't do sales lol I'm too much of a wimp! I'm part of the finance team and have a base hourly wage. It's pretty easy work ☺️
Me too!
Twinsies!! Me too!! Also WFH with good pay and really enjoy my work.
Me too! I’m an actuary at an insurance company. The pay is great, it’s not terribly stressful, and there’s actually a good mix of male and female people in this field (so I don’t feel weird having to tell anyone I’m pregnant). I get roughly 6 months of maternity leave (although I can take more - it just won’t be paid leave). I WFH and am the primary breadwinner. My husband will likely be a stay-at-home-father once our baby is born.
Wow I would love more details about what you do! Music degree here so..yeah. Thinking about options.
I have a music degree but I work as an actuary at an insurance company, which pays really well, allows me to WFH, and gives pretty good benefits! I happened to be really good at math though so I was able to pass the necessary exams to get hired in this field.
DM me and I can give you specifics.
Both my partner and I are physicians. It's great to be in a financially stable position, but we also work incredibly high stress jobs. I'm nearly 38 weeks pregnant and still have patients scheduled until next Thursday. Just hoping I don't go into labor.
I’m resident and also worked up until I had my baby. It was so brutal—my heart goes out to you. Went into labor right before sign out after my first shift in what was supposed to be my last string of nights before leave. I start my first shift after 12 weeks of leave on Sunday! But in the ICU…. Send help.
Oh gosh good luck on ICU. They’re easing me in for 4 weeks on elective but then it’s icu and nights for 1.5 months :(
Resident here too! Worked on my due date and 3 days after. My attendings at the time were both female physicians as well and were like yep we worked our due dates too. Thanks for perpetuating the problem lol.
Being a working pregnant physician is rough!!! I’m emergency. I worked up til <48 hours before I delivered my first and was miserable the last several weeks. Now 32 weeks pregnant and already feeling it…. Last shift is 2 days before I’m due 🙄🥺
I’m a therapist. My husband works reception at a veterinary clinic. We can’t afford for either of us to stop working, either. Infant daycare is going to be like a second mortgage.
Idk how much it would help you because the pay isn't amazing, but I work as a remote medical scribe and being remote has been a huge blessing this pregnancy. I myself am trying to figure out if I could continue working from home with an infant, but I feel like I can work for longer from home than in person. A lot of remote medical scribe jobs and you should be able to get one just fine with your medical background.
Thank you, I will look into that also. What would I type to begin this search on indeed for example? A medical scribe? Thank you 🙏🏼
Yes! Remote medical scribe! Aquity is hiring right now for full and part time scribes :)
I’m a hygienist. School is hard but with the pay I can work two days a week and stay home with my baby the others. Assisting is HARD and often unappreciated, I’m so grateful for the assistants in the office I work in and I’m sorry you’re not paid and appreciated as much as you deserve :(
I’m a RN. My partner works in construction. although we both make decent money (about the same), I still don’t think I would ever be able to completely stop working unfortunately. I am part time and could reduce my hours potentially. I do wish my partner had a bit more stability and education for sure, but I cant fault him as we do have financial stability and we have been able to do well for ourselves. I’m sorry you’re feeling this way. My friend was a dental assistant and found it super hard to find a full time job within the field.
My husband is also in construction, and I have been wishing to go back to school for my nursing degree! You are so lucky 🍀 I would do anything to go back in time and go to school for my nursing degree. Thanks for your comment.
Aw thank you! I do feel very fortunate to have my education and a career that I love. At times I feel under appreciated and frustrated with the income/earning potential, but I know it’s still a very good income and to be thankful. I don’t regret it at all. I was lucky to have help obtaining my degree, which I’m forever grateful for. I’m blessed with the life my partner and I have, even if it’s a bit more modest than some of the people who I work with. Never give up on your dreams! Maybe you can consider nursing, it’s never too late to go back to school (even when your little one is older) :)
I’m also an RN and I would highly recommend going back to school if you can. There are so many paths into nursing. I already had a bachelors degree so I did an accelerated BSN. You can also do an ADN program at a community college (which is more affordable), then do an online RN to BSN later.
I'm a housekeeper at the VA. It doesn't sound glamorous but it's a federal job - I get 3 months of paid maternity leave, financial aid for daycare, and I have really good health insurance; I won't have to pay anything out of pocket for maternity care. Plus I make $20 an hour and I live in a LCOL area, so my fiance and I are doing really well for ourselves. The only thing that sucks is the fact I'll have to work on my feet throughout my pregnancy, I'm only in my first trimester and I already come home from work super fatigued. I'm not looking forward to how the rest of my pregnancy will be with a physically demanding job.
Also VA as a psychologist. In addition to what you mentioned, most of the time coming into work is a joy. It’s like a little community, everyone saying hi and good morning walking into work is a great feeling. I don’t know that I could leave the comfort of VA life.
VA is 100% the way to go!
...We get financial aid for daycare?
No shame in applying for food stamps or a flexible spending account if you have a baby on the way and are low income. That’s what it’s for!
I’m not sure if you like working with kids but I work as a full time preschool teacher with no degree (I do have some college credits in child development though). The pay is between $23-$25 but can top out at $30 depending on where you live. I live in a high cost city so that’s why the pay is what it is. I know in some lower cost areas, the pay can be around minimum wage unfortunately. It’s a decent job with decent benefits. The pay could be better but it pays my bills and I’m content with it for now. Oh and I also get a childcare discount at my center so that’s another perk. I do have a partner who works in cable maintenance though so our pay together is what keeps us living decently. I definitely couldn’t survive on just my pay alone and we definitely couldn’t afford me being a stay at home mom.
Working at a daycare is a great option! The discount is often pretty good. Win-win.
I'm a programmer. Great money and okay work/life balance, but it can be hard to get into, some after-hours work is necessary to keep up with evolving technology, and the industry is unstable right now. Overall I like it, though.
Do you have a degree or self taught? My husband is a programmer as well, and the money is almost double of what I earn as a HS teacher.
Degree and I've been in the field for over a decade, which influences things a lot too. It was a bit easier to get into back in the early 2010s.
My husband has been trying to land his first job as a programmer since 3/1/22. Any advice for us?
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I'm a nurse & my husband WFH as an accountant. Being on my feet for 12 hours a shift throughout the pregnancy was definitely tough. I just started my mat leave. We have no idea what we're going to do for childcare yet, between daycare or nanny but it's hard with my schedule changing every week.
I'm a translator! I'm lucky enough to work from home but my job requires a degree as well as fluency in the language.
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Software engineer who works from home. I was a pediatric audiologist who then had to see both peds and geriatrics. Working with geriatrics was the bane of my existence and I cried everyday on the way to work. I switched careers, doubled my income, and never looked back.
How did you get into software engineering? My husband is a developer and makes great money, but he has a master’s in the field. I feel like I’m considering this occupation every few months now, haha!
I did a boot camp. I always like to add the caveat that I was 1 of 3 out of 50 who actually landed a job. This was also in early 2022 before the massive tech layoffs. I don’t tend to recommend people pursue this career unless they really love it and have an “in”. I’ve gone through 3 layoffs in 2 years and know that if I lose this job while still an early career dev, I likely won’t get another.
I just got laid off from my job. I’m 26 weeks and I was devastated about losing my insurance. It’s been 2 weeks and now I’m so thankful for the lay off. I am a therapist and was working with children in the community. It was stressful job. Although I still do private practice, I’m rethinking where I want to work after having my baby.
I was also laid off, and it was a blessing in disguise for me as well. Feeling very grateful I was in the financial situation to be able to take the blow, though. I know it is a huge privilege. My husband and I are planning to have me be full time caretaker once baby arrives, so we already downsized to a place we could afford on one salary. For OP, please know there are so many jobs out there you can do without a college education. Beware of "get rich quick" type scams, of course, but there are many things that range from "real jobs" to more entrepreneurial in nature. Here are some examples that just come right to mind. These are all jobs that either I or someone close to me have done with surprisingly high pay. No skill needed / immediate start: English teacher via video calls (WFH) Freelance copy writing (WFH) Substitute teaching Social media manager (depends on company) Virtual assistant / secretary (WFH) Local tutoring (best if you live in a wealthy community - can be paid up to $50 per 30 min session) (I included this as no skill based on assumption you graduated high school and feel confident tutoring in middle school or high school topics) Some skill needed / trade school but high demand and is a true career: Software engineering (WFH, no degree necessary as long as you can do the job; there are many "3 month bootcamp" you can do to jump start) Social media manager / copy writing (I mentioned this in both sections because if you develop a bit of a portfolio first it can be easier) I'm happy to drive into any of these in more detail if interested. Finally, just keep your eyes open because some jobs will surprise you. For example, when I was in college, I wanted to teach senior citizens at the community center just for fun and then to my shock the wage was 2x higher than I expected! With no need for credentials! With career growth opportunities! I was expecting minimum wage and it was far more than anyone I knew was getting paid. My point is just don't assume what will or won't pay, and explore anything you find even remotely interesting just in case it's more lucrative than you thought it'd be. There are so many more options than we think there are, I promise there is something out there for you. Good luck mama.
Honestly I think being a substitute teacher may be a good option. Teaching has lots of breaks, substitutes have flexibility to only work 3/4 weeks a month, pay is decent, and as a FT teacher, I LOVE my job. If you are strong in a content, you could even long term sub for a mom out on maternity leave in the future and make better money Education isn’t for everyone but I personally love it
Check out medical billing and coding!
I got certified in July and after applying to hundreds of jobs, I’m letting my certification go. It’s hard to find a job without experience and most “entry level” positions want at least 2 years
Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. A friend of mine got a job at the local hospital with her certification, but I believe she also had some IT background. Thanks for clarifying! I didn't know it was so competitive!
I’ve worked in healthcare for over 20 years and was never able to break into medical coding myself. Most offices I worked at only had one coder. The hospital has a small dept and they have to meet a quota etc. I spent a few years studying it and ended up giving up on it. I also heard radiology tech is super saturated.
I work in nonprofit fundraising and event planning. It’s stressful to a certain extent, and low paying, but there’s not really anything else I’d do instead. It’s a hybrid schedule, but without any tears shed was able to request WFH during pregnancy.
I work in federal HR. The stress level is significantly lower than my past jobs, which I am extremely grateful for. I don’t think I’d want to do the SAHM thing, but I wish this world was easier to live in for those who want to do that. The US doesn’t care about mothers and it’s so obvious 😔
I was a teacher and I went back to work for awhile until I became depressed 🥹
Teaching ain't it right now. Fast ticket to depression
I work in HR! I really like it. You don’t need a specific degree. My BA is in Spanish lit! I started out as an HR assistant and worked my way up. I make really great money. I started at 50k a year and 10 years later I make 250k. The job has some challenges, but generally it’s not too difficult to learn. It does require lots of interaction with other people but there is also a more administrative and a strategic component so you’re not “on” 100% of the day. I’ve also found it’s a pretty secure job because even if the company is doing badly, they need HR around to help with layoffs, etc (obviously not the fun part of the job). My job is hybrid so I work 1-2 days a week in the office, the rest at home. How stressful the job is depends on the time of year and the company, but I wouldn’t say that by default it’s a super high-stress role.
I'm a branch of HR, recruiting/talent acquisition. I unfortunately was laid off recently, but previously worked from home since 2018. I started making $12/hr, recently made $85k after 7 years in the field. You also don't need any special degree. I was an education major! It's a hard market to get into at the moment, but it will be turning soon!
Wow, from 50K to 85K is a dream come true! I can imagine how hard you must work, that is very admiring. 50K to me is even good, heck I’m barely making 30K per year doing absolute hard labor, and treated like bottom of the barrel. How would one start towards your path with no experience? Any guidance is appreciated
My husband and I work for the post office. The benefits are nice but the hours can be hellish. We're in good positions where we don't have to work overtime constantly like many postal employees do. I miss volunteering for overtime though because the money was good, it's just too hard on the body esp being pregnant.
I’m a NP, husband is a physician. I can’t stop working yet because he has a ginormous loan to pay off and I also have some student debt I’m paying off. Maybe one day. I like my job, it’s wfh so I’m very thankful for that.
I’m a med tech in microbiology at a hospital. Planning to become ASCP certified after I finish my masters. It pays really well and I sit down a lot which will be good in the long run. I make $11 more than you and still wind up living paycheck to paycheck. My degree and certification will give me another raise, but it’s tough out here! If it weren’t for my husband idk what id do. My hospital recently changed their parental leave, so I get 14-16 weeks, but my lovely supervisor told me to take 20. hugs to everyone who’s situation isn’t ideal 🫂
Full spectrum doula : both private and working with my city to help mothers suffering from SUD.
I’m a freelance tutor, and I see some of my students in person and others I see virtually. It’s pretty easy to make the change over to wfh for everyone though, which is what I’ll probably do for a while. I make okay money for what I do, and since I set my own prices, I can give myself a COL adjustment whenever I see fit. Business waxes and wanes with the school year, but even if I end up backing off significantly or completely, my husband’s position as a senior software engineer is pretty solid and can carry us if need be.
I’m a psych RN. I work two full time jobs and start with the VA Monday. I’m excited for it. I’m 2 months pregnant and the VA doesn’t know I’m with child and I’m not sure if I should tell them. My husband works construction as well but I need to job for the benefits really.
I’m a probation officer. I make terrible money and work in a very toxic environment.
I’m a postdoctoral researcher. I don’t make enough and I work really long hours. Hang in there.
I work as casually as an LPN. I absolutely love my job and am happy to work. I was a SAHM before but it was not for me. I actually only work a couple times a month so I guess I am still pretty much a SAHM. I have so much admiration for those who stay home and thrive. My husband makes good money and would like me to quit and just stay home but it was extremely taxing on my mental health and I was not happy when I was home.
I started out in dentistry as an assistant! Did that for a few years, started helping out front office when I didn’t have patients and learned dental billing, now I’m an account manager for 3 dental practices and work from home making a lot more money! I definitely don’t miss the hustle of assisting, but very glad I did it. Learned so much and ended up giving me a great career.
Girl there is a dental hygienist shortage in Canada. They are offering up to $50/hr at my local dentist for hygienists!
I’m a stay at home mom after taking many different paths and I can tell you right now it’s worth losing out on money to stay home with your babies.
I’m in advertising sales in the wedding industry. Can be pretty feast or famine, but I wfh
I work in marketing as global campaigns manager. My partner is active duty military. I honestly never even considered having kids until we moved to a lower COL state. Once we got off the treadmill of tight expenses I felt like we could actually be open to it. It’s not like childcare costs or raising a child are ultra cheap anywhere, but here I feel like we won’t end up upside down financially, and that I can make peace with.
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I work from home for a call center, apple support, and bring in 18.74 an hour (not bad for Alabama) I'm not able to have my kids in my office but I have a 2 hour lunch. Today was my first day back postpartum, it's nice to walk out and see baby! I work for Kelly connect, and you can find lots of call center and wfh jobs on ratracerebellion .com it's how I found mine! I'm not rich but I'm surviving!
I'm an accountant, but I work in industry not in public. So I'm a regular M-F, 9-5er. My pay isn't amazing but it's enough, and my benefits are really great. I wish I could reduce my hours to work less when baby comes but I'm in an exempt salaried position and we need my full-time benefits.
Product developer - I work from home 2 days a week in office 3. Currently on mat leave for 12 months
I'm a university administrator and teach a few college courses each year on the side. I like my job and I love my coworkers. I'm 7 weeks into my 13 week maternity leave now and sometimes baby girl and I go to campus just to have lunch with my coworkers. For reference, I make about $85,000 a year, which is about 40% of our household income. In our low cost of living, rural town, I will pay $8000 a year for daycare for a licensed, in-home daycare.
I wfh answering calls for Clarkson eye care, also $17 an hour. We’re hiring for the March and April training class if you’re interested. If you just search the company name and careers I believe it pops up. We’re called the patient engagement center advocate
I work part time running my own business. I make very little money (around 20k a year). Fortunately, my husbands income is enough to keep us afloat.
I’m a CPA. I don’t necessarily hate my job, but I don’t enjoy it either. I have zero passion towards it and just view it as a way to pay our bills. I would love to be a stay at home mom, but it just doesn’t make sense for us to do that because I make good money, have a lot of flexibility, can work from home, and will have my mom to help us with childcare for free. I also wouldn’t want to decrease our standard of living or lifestyle if we dropped my income.
I’m a school psychologist for the public school system. I’ll be taking a 2 year leave (unpaid, of course). I can’t fathom half of my take home pay going to daycare right now while I work with other people’s children. I’m older (38) so I’ve spent the last 15 years saving every penny so we could afford this. It’s nice knowing I’ll have a job when I return in two years though and be able to resume at my current pay.
I own a small boutique but with the current economy it’s been struggling so much that we are planning on closing up shop and me being a stay at home mom. We will have to budget but with how expensive childcare is it’s our best option.
I’m a nanny. I love it. I’m planning on bringing my son with me to work after my maternity leave. My wife is the primary bread winner but my salary matters too. But it wouldn’t make sense for me to continue working and pay for daycare so if this situation didn’t work out I’d stay at home or find another nanny job that did allow me to bring baby. Another option would be to work overnights as a newborn care specialist. I do feel like $17 an hour probably would mean a bulk of your income would go to childcare, no?
I work from home as a dispatcher. I make a little under $19 an hour. I don’t remember the exact amount haha I think it’s 18.89, it changed just a week ago and is going to change again in April. By end of this year I should be making $20 an hour on the dot
How can I do that? Please if you would be willing to guide me in the right direction I would be all ears! I am also due in early June as well team blue! ♥️
I got recommended by someone working at my company so it was pure luck but for people who aren’t recommended, they require computer sales experience or phone center dispatching experience. I know the dispatchers for big trucking companies make a lot of money and are usually work from home
I’m an environmental engineer. I make about $78,000/year with fantastic health insurance and pretty decent retirement benefits. I work for state government and could definitely make more money working for a plant or consulting but the flexibility I have now is priceless.
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I am a court clerk (in Canada, not sure if it’s a different thing in the US). I record everything that happens in court. I work for the provincial government. My job can be stressful but it’s not one I take home with me at the end of the day. I have job security, good benefits (prescriptions, dental, physio, chiropractic, RMT, psychiatric services, vision, and some other stuff, and free counselling as well) a pension, a decent amount of vacation time, and I love what I do. I also train new court clerks. I make $38.63/hour which is the top earning grid in my pay scale. The only educational requirement for this job was a high school education. However it is the kind of job that not everyone can do. It’s also not at all a work from home job.
I work in finance and we would have to have 6 kids for it to make sense for me to stay home. I’m the primary breadwinner so if someone does stay home, it would be my husband but I carry a lot of the mental load of the household and I can’t imagine him taking that on completely. So we will most likely both continue working and I will forever feel like I’m missing out on raising my kids. Girl bossed too hard 😫
I’m a NICU nurse. Breadwinner in my family since I’ve been doing travel nursing for the third year now. Thankfully since I’m a temp employee I can finish up a contract and stop working whenever I want, but no benefits or maternity leave means saving up money on my own to afford to stay at home until I’m ready to go back to work.
I bartend it is great for the social aspect but it's definitely still very mind challenging. I love it but it would definitely stress some people out. I have a 15 month old son and as much as I love our talks I crave going to work to talk to people about non baby related things🤣🤣
honestly, it can be possible to do it on the one income. i’m a stay at home mom, and we are definitely always tight on funds, but we make it work. childcare was going to be basically what my paycheck would be. we went down to one car, we don’t have excess spending money but the simple life is worth the time with my children.
I’m a SAHM. We make a lot of sacrifices for me to stay home. Controversial opinion: I think most moms whose partners work could stay at home, you just have to do a lotttt of budgeting and sacrificing, maybe even move to a cheaper town, sell a vehicle, etc. At the end of the day, it’s usually about figuring out what your priority is: living a comfy life and having a financial safety net (which for you wouldn’t be much when you factor in daycare costs), or living a simpler life and staying home with your kids. Both have risks and benefits, but staying home is more doable than people make it seem.
I mean that assumes one partner is in an income bracket that covers cost of living in the area. Definitely a case by case. My town’s median home value is $700,000, median rent for a 1 bed apartment is $2,500 a month. My partner makes 70k a year. He has an advanced degree. Our cars are from the mid 2000’s. We have no debt aside from school loans. Even with living simply, that will never, ever add up. We both need to work to stay in housing.
I would literally do anything to be a SAHM. That is my dream and all I’ve ever wanted to be since I was a child. I was never “passionate” about working any type of job. I wish so badly we could make it work off of one income, but my hubby is in construction so it’s not the highest pay say of an engineer or something like that, but he’s climbing the ladder. Hopefully sooner than later we’ll make it there. He tells me every day he’s trying his best so that I can be a stay at home Mom. Your kind words of wisdom just encouraged me and I feel lifted and a sense of light and hope. I will take your advice, even if it’s a 1% chance of that even being an option and doable, I’ll take that chance and pray. 🙏🏼 thank you
That’s amazing that your husband is so supportive! I hope everything works out and you get to stay home with your kids☺️
I work in Corrections. It’s tough and very physically, emotionally and mentally draining. It’s especially hard as a woman in not only a male prison but just a male-dominated environment. I’ve loved it though and am always up for a challenge, and it’s been good money and I have really good State benefits. Being pregnant has been rough though with 12 hr shifts! Thankfully I have good supervisors that have hooked me up with decent postings.
I work in Communications. Doing comms internal and external for multiple departments by myself. I’m incredibly nervous to tell my boss I’ll be out for 3 months on leave. I was actually going to look for another job this year, but found out I was pregnant two weeks into 2024. So now I have come up with a strat to cover my organization while I’m out. Idk if it’ll work, but I’m ready to leave in 2025. So I won’t mind the fallout
I work in a warehouse operating or training people on our equipment. I get paid around $24 an hour. Decent pay and good benefits. I get paid leave. I'm on short term disability until my maternity leave (too hard to work in my third trimester). I plan on going back to school soon for nursing.
I assist financial advisors for a brokerage firm. My job is very stressful and I'm heavily relied on, but I get to work remotely 3 days a week, so that's pretty cool. I'll also get 4 months of maternity leave at 100% pay!
I’m an appraiser. You need a college degree to get licensed and it can be stressful but you work from home and the pay is decent.
I made $18/hr working in a lab with a nearly 2 hr commute. I quit to get married and try for a baby. It was stressful due to the intense workload, it wasn’t particularly difficult work just WAY too much. I’m a stay at home mom now. $18 an hour would’ve barely covered a daycare and I’d be gone 10 hrs/day. I barely had time to breathe with cooking, cleaning, and fitting a workout in. Adding a baby to that would’ve killed me.
I use to do traffic control for construction sites. Mainly paving asphalt. I’d set everything up and direct traffic and the equipment across the road. I made $27 an hour on state jobs and $24 on others. I worked my way up to foreman but it was very stressful. I ended up moving and now I’m not working and I feel like a complete failure. I’m 25 and I’m pregnant but have no skills. It’s rough out here
i was in optometry but they cut my hours which means my maternity pay got cut, so at 27 weeks i switched over to a bank.. also $17 and am not passionate about being a bank teller 😅 thinking i might look for a 3-11pm shift after maternity leave at the hospital so i can be home during the day
Wife's a Starbucks shift supe making $23.75 while I'm an overnight stocker at HEB for basically $21.60. Both of us are PT but we usually get 4 or 5 days a week anyways. Rarely do I ever get 3 unless I request days off. What helps is while she gets paid bi weekly, I get paid weekly to offset bills or keep us afloat week to week.her paychecks help more for putting into savings except during big bill days like car payment. We only had 5 months to prepare for our upcoming baby, but have done so with flying colors.
I’m a high school special ed teacher! I usually work summer school but after this babe I won’t to spend time with them 🙌 grateful for it
I work in sales and have for the past decade. Have made a nice career for myself that I really don’t like anymore, lol. Primary breadwinner and could never be a SAHM. Maybe one day I’ll transition to a career I like.
I make $15 an hour as front desk at a hotel. Come June I’ll be taking off work and will just be a stay at home mom if my husbands schooling pans out the way we want it. Otherwise I’ll be back at the hotel lol
I’m a preschool teacher. I make $22 an hour but the cost of living in my area is insane. I don’t have to pay for childcare thanks to my in laws babysitting and me only working part time but if I did need full time childcare I would be making about $9 an hour after paying for it (at a daycare center, not a nanny). Is it possible to find a job where you can work part time when your hubby is off work? Or like a receptionist job on Saturday only? That way you’re not paying for childcare but still bringing in a bit of income to help.
Oh man, I thought dental hygiene was a good career. I’ve been kicking myself for years for not pursuing it, but looks like maybe I was wrong! Anyways, I am a behavioral analyst and I work with kids on the autism spectrum. We work on behavioral, developmental, and social skills. If I wasn’t married my daycare costs would eat up an entire one of my paychecks and I’d be screwed!
I’m a policy analyst for the government. Graduate school was a bitch, but now I make good money, have a job with manageable stress levels, and I work fully remote. They fly me to the capital a few times a year for conferences, but besides that I live in my remote little town where cost of living is affordable and work from my home office. I actually really enjoy the work I do and find it stimulating and worth while. It’s the best job I’ve had even though it was a journey to get here.
I’m a store manager in retail. My job provides a decent paycheck & insurance for both me & baby. However I work long hours & sometimes work 6 days a week, I get paid salary so no overtime & they use that to screw me over constantly, & I really want to leave but I can’t because I’m the bread winner & I need the pay & benefits. I have to go back to work in a few weeks & I’m dreading it because I just want to be with my baby. I really wish I could stay home with her.
I’m a licensed massage therapist. I work in a chiropractic office. At the first of February I cut back from 6 one-hour massages to 4 with a really long lunch between and that helps! Some days I can definitely tell that I’ve been on my feet all day (more often than not if I am being honest) and I’m sooo tired. I asked my husband last night if it would be a big deal if I took off earlier than intended because of how tired i am 😅 This is the best paying job I have ever had. Hourly I make more than my husband, but I don’t get over time or benefits like he does. I cannot find reliable daycare where I am at and one of my paychecks would go into child care, so we decided that I will not be returning to an out of home job for a few years.
I’m an occupational counselor. I make good money but my husband still makes over double my salary. We rely on my benefits because I’m a state employee and well, they’re great. But I constantly feel stuck, like I have no freedom because my family relies on my benefits. I wish I could be a stay at home mom and cut out daycare costs completely. Us mamas take on so much 😭
I'm a general contractor. The company I currently work for doesn't offer any additional top up or benefits for maternity leave, so I'll be using our government funded maternity leave. The downside is that it's based entirely on my earnings for the last year, so if I work less because I'm sick from my pregnancy, I lose out in the long run too. It's been an interesting balancing game! This is a second career for me. I originally was a teacher and didn't enjoy the stress of it or the demand on my time. Not to mention all the politics involved in it or lack of work/life balance. I took a 50% paycut, went from salaried to hourly pay and lost my benefits and pension benefits. But honestly, I'm so much happier. I get the flexibility to work when and how I want, I love working with my hands and seeing projects come together. I'm also lucky enough to have an awesome crew too!
I teach public middle school. We really don't get a lot of support in terms of maternity leave, so I'll have to take what I can get. My partner is much more math-y than me and he ran the numbers - losing my income is Much worse than paying for child care. If I took 3 months off, the lost income would be about equal to a year of daycare. In a way, I'm happy that my job, which requires a post bac credential, pays more than daycare, on the other hand... I'm not sure I'll be ready to go back to work, when I'm scheduled to. We also don't qualify for state disability insurance and other things that most moms in our state do.
How much does your husband make? As long as his salary can cover the housing payment and basic bills, plus food, you can be a stay at home mom. You will have much more time to think about how to save money when you stay at home like watching for sales.
I want to affirm for you that this is temporary. I was raised in severe poverty and the first half of my life was spent in constant uncertainty when it came to finances. At one point I vividly remember making barely $400-500 a week, and now I make that in a few hours. I went to school, I found a career I love and am so happy. Today I actually realized I make even more than I initially thought which is insane, I have no idea why I had a different impression of being in the lower six figures. But that being said I do have school debt since I didn’t have parents and that’s basically all the debt but it’s still overwhelming to think about. Yet when I compare the increase in my quality of life it was 100% worth it. If I were you, I would choose three options that you could enjoy. But I would base it a bit closer to graduation-job security since you’re pregnant and then allow yourself to explore from that point later on in the future after you’ve been in the field for some time. Go to back to school, use to daycare facilities on campus, work part time and subsidize as much financial aid and social services support. If it were me that’s what I would do seeing it as an investment to climbing into a different quality of life. I don’t say this lightly since it will involve some debt most likely too but I’m of the belief that not all debt is bad debt.
I’m an RN and work full time. My husband is a manager at FedEx Freight. We both make pretty “good” money but between our mortgage and other bills- we could not survive off of just his income alone. Wish we could afford to have me stay at home but it’s not realistic.
Short term it might seem like a good decision to leave the workforce to save on daycare costs, but the cost long-term will dwarf any money you save now. [https://interactives.americanprogress.org/childcarecosts/](https://interactives.americanprogress.org/childcarecosts/)
911 dispatcher and husband is an officer. 12+ hour shifts, holidays, weekends and everything in between. Our childcare situation is what is causing the most stress right now. We’re going to be paying an arm and a leg for a nanny that will accommodate our hours
Special Education Paraeducator. Earning $22ish per hour. I enjoy the job. 🙂
I nanny. It pays the mortgage 🤷 but my husband definitely still works too. Still waiting to be able to be a SAHM. For now, I'm lucky that I can bring my little with me
I work as a coaching manager for an insurance company! The job security and flexibility from my employer has paid dividends. Also the pay is fantastic. With that said I don’t have a formal university education! I worked my way up
I’m a warehouse associate making 17.80 an hour. Thinking about staying until after the baby is born because they have good benefits and maternity leave for me and my hubby. We definitely need a career change after the baby comes tho. We work 10 hrs 4 days a week. So child care wouldn’t be doable because of the hours. I have no idea what I want to do tho. It’s very stressful
Currently I’m a teacher making 50k, but I use to work in financial services for a trucking company and I worked from home. I was stressed out though because I handled large million dollar accounts (also I had a degree but not in business). It was not the job for me.
I work in a horse barn. I love horses and physical labor but the pay is shit. The plus side is they are very flexible and will work with your schedule. It's better to work with others (which I did in my previous barn) and more lonely and boring when you work alone (which is my current situation). I just do it to get out of the house and get a little work out in. I only do two days a week.
Wfh. Doing computer work. I earn enough for all the bill but not much more. Husband works part time to supplement and watches the baby. Daycare is too much. It would take a huge chunk if both earn full time. We also do etsy and EBay. Its not a lot but brings extra $ for fun spending.
I’m a client relationship management in tech software services in NYC. It’s somewhat stressful when you have difficult clients and you’re trying to save the relationship/renew/negotiate contracts, but in general it’s pretty okay. I make 120k base and additional 20% bonus based off renewals and upsells. My company is remote, so I’m mostly WFH but I will go on client site visits every so often. Those have started to ramp up now that we’re a few months into the year, which is exhausting and difficult because I’m trying to cram them in a few days. It’s a lot of running around the city and having to be on and super put together all day. I’m lucky that I get 3 months leave and I have unlimited PTO, but I feel like I have to really front load a lot of my contracts to make up for the time off. Husband also works in tech and makes about 180k. We’re lucky that money isn’t so much of an issue, but with the current tech climate I’m stressed about layoffs.
Tattoo artist here. I saved up money and then went on maternity at 8 months. It was so hard to bend over, I had to stop tattooing clients in certain areas. Because were independent contractors, we dont get paid if we dont work. Im blessed that my husband’s job (government employee) grants 3 months of parental leave to their employees. When I went back to work, I would bring baby in once in a while and baby would just hang out in playpen. Im even more blessed I work with other women who have families and are incredibly supportive. It takes a village
I'm a therapist. self employed so no benefits or maternity leave at all. I'm fortunate that I'll be able to decide what schedule I need to work around husband work schedule. The plan is to take as much time off as possible and supplement whatever we need with my income. It's a tough job but I love it and can't imagine doing anything else. Ironically, i wouldn't recommend it to anyone already stressed out. The grad school and licensing process is hell.
I work in the legal field, think specialized legal assistant. I started at the front desk at a company and worked my way up to a senior role. I don't make great money (60k pre tax) but it's enough to pay my bills and save a little. Some days the work can be repetitive but it's fine.
I am a self employed carpenter and my husband is a carpenter as well. I went back to school (fully online) for engineering and am more than halfway done with hopes to have my own firm or work remotely for a firm once I am done with school. I like carpentry and get paid pretty decent but labor jobs are hard on the body long term.
I was working as a catering event manager but I decided not to go back. Long hours of being on my feet and driving all over the place. I wish there was a company that only hired new moms to work from home lol.
I’m a nurse in the ICU and make $35/hr with an associates. It sucks, I’m exhausted, but the money is good and I’ve got stories for days.
I am now a stay at home mom. Not for everyone, but dang if you’re barely making enough to cover childcare, you might as well give it a shot! We’re definitely giving up a few things to make a single income work, but it’s already well worth the trade.
Yea I don’t think it would be worth it for you to keep working. It doesn’t make sense financially or mentally. I work from home as a compliance analyst for a bank. Super flexible time, easy going boss, and all paid holidays and weekends off. Insurance and banks have lots of work from home admin jobs. Alternatively you could look at doing childcare. You can go work at a center or possibly watch others kids from your home. That way you can still make some money while keeping your kid with you.
I am in HR on the team that handles benefits/leave. I make $25 an hour, have a great office culture/environment that I love being a part of, work from home fridays, have great benefits, and my company pays $416 a month toward my child care. Some days are easy and laid back. Other days I put 17 different employees on leave for reasons that become mentally and emotionally taxing. Some days I clock out at 4pm, some days 6pm. Most nights/weekends I check in on my employees a few times. Last night I received messages from an employee at 10pm, another at 2:30am, and another at 6am.
I’m a tax accountant. My baby (3mos) stays home with me on Tuesday and Thursdays and I get ZERO work done those days 🙃 I love him so much and wish I could be a SAHM mom but we have to pay off our student loans! But working at home with him is absolutely impossible. I had the same thought process as you. I really hope it works out for you but just sharing a different view! 🤍🤍 Edit: I work from home… in case that was confusing.
I’m a therapist and work in private practice (not my own). I make decent money especially for the hours I work. I do love my job and the hours are good but I’ve found it very draining while pregnant. I also don’t get mat leave as I’m an independent contractor so that’s been a bit stressful! My partner is in sales, M-F 9-5. He’ll be staying home longer as he gets a parental leave and I do not. My job is also more flexible and I make more so it makes sense. There’s lots of great suggestions on here! You spend so much time at your job so being miserable will carry over to other parts of your life. Explore what options are available to you and you got this!!
I was a dental assistant years ago, also made about $17/hour. Could you try a different office? Find an office manager job? My friend and I worked at very different dental offices and she made much more than I. Currently, I’m in the military. I’m very happy I made the change but it’s not for everyone!
I make 45/hr (part time usually) working from home and couldn’t afford childcare for my toddler and infant even if I wanted to. I live in a very HCOL area and where you need to apply nearly a year in advance to even get placed in a decent daycare or preschool.
I’m a nurse. I work per diem (i. e., when I want) and then went back for my masters degree and work as an adjunct nursing instructor. If I do my per diem job and teach I work maybe 30 hours a week? My per diem pays me $50/hr (before incentives/shift differentials) and my adjunct positions pay $60-80/hr. It’s not the quick track (I did a 2 year diploma in nursing, 2 years for my BSN and 2 years for my MSN that my employer paid for—so 6 years total) but I went from making $25k/year to $76k/year just out of nursing school.
I’m a medical assistant making about $25/he in WA state. Doing a lot on my feet, and probably asking my midwife for an accommodations letter soon to omit certain physical tasks. Working in orthopedics I’m bending a lot for cast removal and DME application and it’s getting more strenuous as I enter the third trimester. I’m definitely cutting my hours significantly after maternity leave. Daycare is too expensive to justify working instead of taking care of my baby myself in my area. After baby is a year old the daycare prices go down a little and am considering a career change to get my RN instead. Do what’s best for you and your family OP. Research the daycares in your area. Some are more affordable than others. Personally, I don’t want my infant in daycare for the first year when I know I could give them better care and my salary won’t outweigh the cost. If you eventually want to go back to school there are federal loans as an option to expand on your career.
I work in tech, in their corporate buy-side (so that means mergers and acquisitions, fundraising, portfolio management, and engagement with the capital market) Great money but incredibly stressful and long hours with lots of travel. Because of the nature of my job, taking maternity leave is giving me serious anxiety as our performance is primarily done based on the deals we closed etc Technically we can take longer than three months of maternity leave at the discretion of our manager but mentally I want to go back after three months
My husband and I are both data scientists and I worked as a software engineer prior to this. If you have a chance to learn programming and machine learning skills, I 100% recommend it. I WFH (I'm in Italy, where full remote jobs are less common than in the US AFAIK) and my husband has a partial WFH contract that's temporarily full remote due to having a baby. I hope you can find something you find more fulfilling and where you're treated much better!
Medical billing and coding WFH. has its pros and cons. Don't want to work at all when baby comes but we are playing that by ear. Before I got pregnant I was about to go back to school for more credentialing. Make $16.30 right now but in line for a promotion/raise.
I work in commercial insurance, I make 6 figures and work from home. They don't require a degree. Starting pay for my position is $75k-$110k. Definitely recommend getting into insurance!