Mommy Diaries (Dear Disgruntle Caller) – Carmen Brown

Yesterday, I caught wind of a phone call that came in on the morning show regarding my maternity leave. Although I did not hear the call myself, a friend of mine gave me an idea of how the call went down. A lady called in insinuating something like ‘If I could not handle coming back to work sooner, then maybe I shouldn’t be working’. Now keep in mind, I was rocking my little one and did not hear the phone call, but to the lady who has a hard time understanding why I chose to take a 12 week leave, let me give you something to think about.

First of all there is a difference of being able to ‘handle’ coming back very shortly after having a child and making the choice to take a longer leave after having a child. For me, it was a personal choice to spend this crucial time with my son, and, by law, chose to take my full 12 weeks. As soon as I found out I was pregnant, I made the decision to count all my nickels and dimes to make sure I could be with my son in this very precious time. As much as I would love my money tree to throw hundreds at me, it broke a while back (ha-ha). We get one shot to embrace our children through their first months and that means more to me than anything else. It has NOTHING to do with what I can handle. It has EVERYTHING to do with how I choose to handle it.

I feel very blessed to work on a morning show that is not only entertaining, but also gives back to the community. If I did not give a damn, than I could of simply stuck him with a nanny and come running back to work with flying colors. But the point I’m trying to make is that if you are lucky enough to take that time with your new child, it will be the most important thing you can do. Family always comes first, especially when a new life that comes into this world. With that being said, I know some of my mommy friends that had to back to work after 6 weeks. It was not something they chose, it was a financial situation that made the choice for them. If they could have taken the full time off, trust me they would have! Then there are many women who I know that really want to get back to work sooner than later, and that’s ok too! It is a choice, whether we as women are forced or have the money to do it. Then there are those people who ‘pride’ themselves on how ‘quick’ they come back to work, women and men, and I find that just ridiculous. This is not a promotion game on how quick we can run back to our jobs yelling ‘voila– look at me!’ Sorry, I will never understand that. Emory spent 2 weeks with me, not because I asked him, but because he wanted to. He wanted to take care of this beautiful new life and the mother of his child. For those who do not know, I had a pretty hard pregnancy towards the end and had a really hard labor that turned into a C-section.

So to the woman who called in about what I can ‘handle’ and what I cannot, please feel free to respond to this blog. As for the majority of women and men reading this, I can almost guarantee you understand where I am coming from. I’m always up for a good challenge, so to the lady caller, think twice about your comments before you make them and put a smile on your face when you wake up! To all of my listener family who have taken time to send me positive emails and cards, I would like to take this moment to thank you. It means more to me than you will ever know. As always, make it a good one and I will talk to you guys very soon! - Carmen