How I'm approaching maternity leave as a freelancer and creative
(Other than figuring it out as I go)
You know your girl loves a disclaimer, so let’s start with a quick one of those, shall we?
If I’ve learned one thing over the last few months as I’ve heard more about various post-partum arrangements and maternity/family leave situations (or lack thereof), it’s that absolutely NO ONE is winning, at least not here in the U.S. We seem to be nowhere near figuring out how to establish systems that allow parents and families to take the time they need—and deserve—to care for themselves and their children without worrying about their livelihoods or job safety. While my particular professional arrangement comes with a unique set of challenges, I recognize that it also comes with some unique privileges. I am not here to claim that my situation is better or worse, easier or more challenging than anyone else’s. If we try to turn this into a contest, I’m pretty sure we’re all big losers.
In any case, here’s a peek at how I’m processing and planning for my maternity leave…
First, a bit of groundwork.
At the risk of sounding pretentious, it’s hard for me to explain to people what I do for a living—or at least how I do it. The balance of my work is always fluctuating. Sometimes, I generate more income from my own projects and endeavors. In other periods, client work is a bigger piece of the pie and, as a result, takes up more of my focus. I won’t bore you with all of the details at this juncture, especially since I’ve already established what a positive step it’s been for my mental health to let go of the need for everyone to get it.
Like any career-minded gal, I obviously started thinking about life as a working mom and—more immediately—what it would look like for me to take parental leave very soon after learning that I was pregnant. Since I operate outside of a corporate structure with a manager or HR team that would (hopefully) walk me through my options (however limited), it all felt very overwhelming. After taking a few weeks to process things (and to feel a little bit more like myself), I did get a better handle on what the ~landscape~ of my unique leave might look like. Like everything, it has pros and cons.
The cons of planning for maternity leave with a non-traditional work structure
As previously mentioned, I’m under no illusion that people with “normal” jobs have access to some cushy, easy system that allows them to recover from birth, bond with their babies, continue to pay their bills, and generally navigate an intense period of transition. For most people, we know this is not the case. But in many cases, we also know that there is a system. New parents can use this system as a framework and a starting point, from which they might make other (unnecessarily difficult, often unfair) decisions. In the absence of said framework, I’m missing quite a few things in a plan for maternity leave—and that’s the major con.
Salary. Every dollar I earn as a freelancer/creative is associated with a very specific project and the hours it took me to complete it. Just like I don’t get paid for sick days, there won’t be any money coming in for as long as I am on leave. Thankfully, I’m part of a dual-income household and have a partner who has decent family leave benefits. Still, our collective bottom line will be impacted for the length of time I choose to take with my baby.
Coverage. When a new parent takes leave from their job in a more traditional workplace, they more than likely have a team covering for them in the meantime. Because of this—while they might return to one hell of a crowded inbox—they don’t need to take singular responsibility for any loss of momentum that happens in the business. Me? Not so much. The longer I spend out of the professional mix, the more challenging I fear it will be for me to reestablish working relationships and jump back into the things that will make me money (see above).
Structure. For months, people have been asking me how long I’m taking for maternity leave… and the truth is that I still don’t really know. This does have a flip side as a pro, which I’ll address shortly, but it’s not without its frustrations. There are plenty of resources online for expectant freelancers and I’ve been lucky enough to get advice from several of my personal contacts, but there’s still no real guidebook for what I’m about to do based on the specific balance of my work and income. Without a corporate policy to support my plans, it’s hard not to stress about whether or not I’m making the “right” calls.
Benefits. Here, I once again acknowledge the fact that I am partnered with someone whose corporate benefits take really good care of us as a family—but I would be remiss not to mention that this is a serious concern for many people planning to go on leave.
The pros of planning for maternity leave with a non-traditional work structure
Flexibility. As a first-time mom, I genuinely have no idea what to expect from the next few months—and it’s hard to anticipate how I’ll feel physically, mentally, emotionally, or otherwise. I know it’s a gift to have wiggle room in terms of the duration of my leave from work. I don’t need to have some big, scary date circled on the calendar as a reminder of how little time I have left to heal and spend time with my little one. It’s a bummer that my arrangement means the lack of a safety net, but it’s empowering to remember that I have some agency about how long I’ll make those sacrifices.
The opportunity to ease back in. We tend to hear a lot from parents who want more time on leave—and of course we do! New families deserve more support than they get during this period. But there’s a less popular narrative, too—and I mostly hear it in one-on-one conversations with girlfriends who are in the thick of post-partum chaos. As grateful as they are to be home with their babies, these folks also crave even a slice of what they got from their work. They don’t want to jump right back into their full schedule, but it would be nice to dabble! Most family leave policies don’t allow for much dabbling… but I’m going to be able to dabble! It was heartening to hear my friend Jo Piazza talk on a recent podcast episode about how much creative energy she felt in the weeks right before and after her daughter was born. Maybe I won’t have that experience, but if I do, it’s nice to know that I’ll be able to take advantage of that energy and work some muscles beyond feeding and changing.
Runway to figure out childcare. The early childhood education and childcare system has just as many flaws as its family leave counterpart. Unless you have all of the privileges, there’s no perfect solution. At this point, Matt and I have a vague idea of our plan for childcare, but because of my flexibility and my full-time work-from-home status, we don’t have to make any final decisions until the baby is here and we start to find our groove.
Currently Reading: Three Holidays and a Wedding by Marissa Stapley and Uzma Jalaluddin
I’m almost finished with this and still enjoying it just as much as I shared in my last post. It’s refreshing to see a wider scope of representation in a piece of holiday pop culture that also includes a lot of classic (at times, cheesy!) tropes we know and love.
Even as I developed a better understanding of these pros and cons—especially that all-important element of flexibility—in the first half of my pregnancy, I still felt like I needed to have everything figured out well in advance of my due date. Watching my friends begin their own family leaves with a clear schedule and plan made me think I needed to develop the same for myself.
But then I realized that this pressure was silly. If one of the biggest perks of my work structure is flexibility, I should take advantage of that—especially since I’ll certainly be taking a hit with some of those cons I shared above.
There’s only one thing that I really know for sure: I genuinely enjoy working and I can’t imagine a world in which I’m not looking forward to returning to what I do. My work generates meaningful income for our family—and, more importantly, I’ll be a better mom if I continue to build on what I’ve created for myself professionally and creatively. There are a lot of other unknowns. I might, for example, be so obsessed with parenthood that I become way more focused on gaming my hours, working less, and feeling less pressure to cover the costs of childcare as a result. I won’t know until I know! In the meantime, all I can do is proceed with the knowledge of who I am now and approach maternity leave accordingly.
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