It was good to see a large Fortune 500 company - Yahoo - put a crack in the glass ceiling for woman by hiring Marissa Mayer as the new CEO - a young woman in her mid to upper 30s and who is expecting her first child in roughly 3 months.
I congratulate Ms. Mayer in her new challenging role and soon to be challenging rolls!
I remember being young and thinking I could conquer the world, or at least the business world. I could have it all, a successful career, maybe get married and maybe have children. It all seemed so exciting. My career was just taking off shortly after I met my husband and got married. I had finishing up my Masters in Engineering (Biomedical) with an attempted to move my career into Product Management for a Biotech/Medical Device company. When I started back at school for my Masters and to make a career adjustment, I never thought I'd get married and certainly never thought that kids would be in the picture.
My feelings all changed after I surprisingly found out I was pregnant 3 months after we were married and then 10 weeks later found out the baby stopped developing. It was this "loss" that changed my opinion on how I wanted to spend my life.
My daughter was a long time coming and it took some extra science and divine intervention for her to become a reality. Meanwhile, I had the worst delivery I could have imagined being diagnosed very late with HELLP and Pre-eclampsia and having a nurse tell my parents on the QT in an elevator that I was a very very sick person, and that I was lucky things worked out as well as they did. Now that's eye opening to say the least!
I was torn about going back to work to a job that was an hour drive one way. I had to work 9 hours on an easy day and travel overnight occasionally. I couldn't stomach leaving my daughter behind everyday, but yet I wanted my career so badly. I worked so hard for it. Every way I tried to spin it, I couldn't find myself going back to work full-time because she was a precious gift and I felt I needed to be by her side always! No man will ever understand that inner-pull of a working Mom.
I spent two years miserable, being a stay-at-home-mom was not me. I attempted "play groups" and found that in most cases, with the exception of a few people and a friend I'll have for life even though we live hundreds of miles away now, I had nothing in common with most of the moms. I needed to work, but I wanted to make sure my daughter was in a good place first. She was "in that good place" when she turned 1 1/2 years old and so I started looking for a full time job again and shortly thereafter found out I was pregnant surprisingly with my son. That certainly put a delay in my plans to go back to work. Given all we've gone through with him, I think it was God's way of telling me that I wasn't ready to go back, He gave me my son to help me enjoy life in a totally different way. His challenges resurrected my "medical" knowledge and "research" skills. He was my job for the better part of the last 4 years.
So when I heard this morning that Marissa Mayer was planning on taking a very short maternity leave, and working while on her leave I had to chuckle. I did that, I worked during my maternity leave after having my daughter with the hopes that my company would see that I could balance things and allow me to work from home periodically. They didn't agree to my proposal and I decided that I needed to be with my daughter. I left my job. Those 6 weeks where I worked through my leave at home, I didn't get to enjoy the best part of motherhood. Babies change so quickly during the first two months that I know I emotionally and mentally missed things - things I'll never ever be able to experience with her again. All because I was so focused on trying to convince a company that I was a great employee and to persuade them to work with me so I could have both my career and motherhood.
I just hope that Ms. Mayer's pregnancy remains uneventful. That her delivery is easy and without complications. I wish for her a healthy baby in the end and he is the epitome of perfection. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would have such a horrid labor experience, almost not make it out alive. I never dreamed that my son (even though he had quite a few ultrasounds) would wind up having a heart condition and other medical issues associated with Noonan Syndrome. No prenatal test tests for Noonan Syndrome at the moment - so I was blindsided. I just hope that she has a plan drawn up for the unforeseeables related to pregnancy and babies.
I applaud Ms. Mayer for her drive and enthusiasm. I think she's a great role model for women. What I'm not liking is that she isn't helping our cause by stating she'll be working on maternity leave and will cut her maternity leave short. 6-9 weeks is not enough time to begin with. Canada has it right with a year. I would have been happy with 6 months paid and not having to tap into the Family Leave Act for the time. She isn't sending out a very good message to corporations by doing this. Ideally, as a woman on the sidelines, I would hope that she would take her maternity leave and enjoy her baby; letting other companies realize that it is okay to let woman have some time after giving birth to be with their child and that we can come back 3 months later primed and ready to go. We don't lose a brain or our talents after delivery!
We as woman can have it all, but it does come with a price. She will realize that it could take a year to two before she'll ever get a full nights sleep. Or probably better than 2 hour stretches at a time. Not to mention the evil words of "post-partum depression"! All I wish for her is that everything works out perfectly just the way she wants it to. But please don't be blind to what could happen. Don't forget to spend quality time with that bundle of joy!
Ms. Mayer - Congratulations on your well deserved CEO position at Yahoo. Yahoo, thank you for looking past a pregnant woman!
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