Over three (pink) eye-opening months – and particularly within the last hellish week – I’ve racked up several shareworthy insights to place in the ‘mums returning to work’ file.

If Beau’s having a rough day, I feel guilty for not being there to soothe him; when he’s having a great day, I’m sad because I’m not there to share it.

No matter how swanky your job title is, when your baby gifts you a sneeze straight to the mouth, you’re down with whatever delightful bug or three that they picked up at day care.

The moment you consider taking a day off to beat that sickness, reality hits – your baby’s also sick, they can’t go to day care, and you’re on night patrol because your little one still can’t blow his own nose.

My team at Hunt & Hawk knows I clock out at 4pm and my Fridays are a no-work zone. They respect this, avoiding late meetings, questioning if I’m still online post hours, and urging me to log overtime for days off in return.

We lucked out – my partner could play full-time dad for six months on paid leave. This journey let him grasp the weight of the ‘mental load’, while also giving me the mental bandwidth to give my all to my new role.

Once you get past the initial brain-fog weeks, you’ll blast through work at warp speed. There’s no motivation to get stuff done quite like freeing up time to spend precious moments with your little one.

A huge high-five to all the kickass mums I’ve worked with over the years, and a standing ovation for leading the charge on paid maternity leave, flexible work schedules, and job sharing.

And good luck to all the mums returning to work in the future.

If you’re looking for a gun Marketing Strategy Lead to power your business forward, reach out to Jana at jana@huntandhawk.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.