Balancing a Career Life With a Baby: Social Networking
Thread poster: Nehad Hussein
Nehad Hussein
Nehad Hussein  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:38
English to Arabic
Feb 12, 2014

Hello Ladies,

I am a new mum with 6 month old bundle of joy. The new feeling I experience as a mum is amazing that it absorb all my time and energy. My first decision in the new year is to start a freelancer life with all it carries of blessing and evil. I am actually Writing for two reasons:

1) I wish to get advise from those who did it before me. I mean I feel a lot of guilt to think I will be away from my baby doing anything else. How can I organize my life, especial
... See more
Hello Ladies,

I am a new mum with 6 month old bundle of joy. The new feeling I experience as a mum is amazing that it absorb all my time and energy. My first decision in the new year is to start a freelancer life with all it carries of blessing and evil. I am actually Writing for two reasons:

1) I wish to get advise from those who did it before me. I mean I feel a lot of guilt to think I will be away from my baby doing anything else. How can I organize my life, especially that I have to depend on myself 100%, with no one to support me?

2) I would like to make an open invitation to all mums who would like to meet for coffee in London or Luton to talk and share. I think it is good reason for me ( and hopefully others will share the same feeling) to leave the walls of my room and have a chat with a fellow translator. Coffee on me

I am not sure if anyone will respond to my thread, but I know that I least I have to try.
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Helen Hagon
Helen Hagon  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:38
Member (2011)
Russian to English
+ ...
Not an easy option Feb 13, 2014

Dear Nehad,

Congratulations on your new baby!

I became a freelancer after having my second child and, although I am very happy, it is far from easy. I quickly discovered that working with children in the house is impossible. I might get an hour or so while my baby was asleep, but when he was awake he needed to be entertained. Trying to work at the same time as keeping children amused is extremely stressful and not very productive. However, we also had my husband's incom
... See more
Dear Nehad,

Congratulations on your new baby!

I became a freelancer after having my second child and, although I am very happy, it is far from easy. I quickly discovered that working with children in the house is impossible. I might get an hour or so while my baby was asleep, but when he was awake he needed to be entertained. Trying to work at the same time as keeping children amused is extremely stressful and not very productive. However, we also had my husband's income, and we did not have to rely entirely on my earnings. So, I decided to only work part time until both children were at school, and I booked a nursery place for my youngest. That meant that I had a specific time to dedicate to work, and I could enjoy being with the children when they were at home, instead of panicking about work.

Good luck!

Helen
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Annamaria Amik
Annamaria Amik  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:38
Romanian to English
+ ...
Congrats! Feb 13, 2014

First of all, congratulations on your little wonder

I won't tell you how difficult it is to balance work and children (I have a 3-year old and a 1-year old), you'll learn soon enough, hehe.
Joking aside, I can share what I've found to be helpful. I managed to find time for work in the evenings which meant we had to put them to bed early, around 8 p.m. when I could still muster some mental power to translate.... See more
First of all, congratulations on your little wonder

I won't tell you how difficult it is to balance work and children (I have a 3-year old and a 1-year old), you'll learn soon enough, hehe.
Joking aside, I can share what I've found to be helpful. I managed to find time for work in the evenings which meant we had to put them to bed early, around 8 p.m. when I could still muster some mental power to translate.
The other thing, which I learnt only with my second child, was that I trained him to sleep through the night by skipping night feedings, but only when he reached the appropriate age, around 8-9 months. This was very helpful because I could get some quality sleep too.

It does get easier when they grow, because they are more interested in certain activities, toys, and then they eat table food, so you don't have to cook two different types of meals, etc. Playmats were very helpful, because I could work a little while I still watched them play.

It's very tempting to spend all the time with the baby, especially with your first baby, but it's also important for the child to learn to discover things for himself, I think. So if he (she?) is not particularly fussy, there's nothing wrong with letting him spend some time playing alone and only join him when he visibly no longer likes it.

A mom working from home also has to learn how to juggle between the different tasks: e.g. clean the veggies and put the soup on the stove, and then while it cooks, translate half a page, then take a short break for eating, feed the baby, then translate the second half of the page while she sleeps, etc.

It does help to get some help (grandmother, sibling, babysitter, etc.) to stay with the baby for 2-3 hours before noon, in another room perhaps, when you really need to focus on your work.

They grow up so fast, you'll find that soon these issues won't be issues at all

[Edited at 2014-02-13 11:42 GMT]
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Nehad Hussein
Nehad Hussein  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:38
English to Arabic
TOPIC STARTER
This is really encouraging Feb 13, 2014

Thanks both ladies for giving some time to respond to my post. Although in general this will be tough time, but at least I am aware of this now and feel better that there were others managed to do it before me. Still I have a chance then.

What you said is not a surprise and confirm my initial worries about the hardship of running a new business and a small family at the same time. I will stay positive and give it a go ans see how easy this will be...
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Thanks both ladies for giving some time to respond to my post. Although in general this will be tough time, but at least I am aware of this now and feel better that there were others managed to do it before me. Still I have a chance then.

What you said is not a surprise and confirm my initial worries about the hardship of running a new business and a small family at the same time. I will stay positive and give it a go ans see how easy this will be.

mmmm. Anyone for Coffee then
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Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:38
French to English
Let me join in the congratulations! Feb 13, 2014

I'll be delighted to have coffee with you and baby next time I'm in London, although I don't know when that will be! You can look out for the Proz powwows too.

The one thing I found helpful was to have a little Post-it with a thick black arrow that I stuck on my printout or screen to show where I had got up to before the interruption.

With my son, I couldn't even wash more than one plate at a time in between going to prise something out of his fingers or his fingers ou
... See more
I'll be delighted to have coffee with you and baby next time I'm in London, although I don't know when that will be! You can look out for the Proz powwows too.

The one thing I found helpful was to have a little Post-it with a thick black arrow that I stuck on my printout or screen to show where I had got up to before the interruption.

With my son, I couldn't even wash more than one plate at a time in between going to prise something out of his fingers or his fingers out of something. No matter how hard I toddler-proofed the place, he was alway one step ahead; So I didn't even contemplate working. Luckily the company I was working for had just gone bust so I was entitled to unemployment benefit.

My daughter was a picnic in comparison because she loved (still loves) music. So long as there was music playing, she would sit happily. She learned to sit before she learned to move around, so there was a delightful period when she would sit with her toys. She also slept for far longer than her brother.

Housework was done with baby in tow, in a sling, then the minute they fell asleep I was on the computer. The slings where you can shift the baby round onto your back are great, babies mostly sleep longer when they can feel Mummy's right there.

Since you can't make a baby sleep, if yours doesn't sleep for long during the day then it's best to plan for daycare of some sort.

I remember that period of my life as the most hectic and sleep-deprived ever, but also the absolute best, the part I would choose to live again if ever I were given such an opportunity.
Good luck!
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Nehad Hussein
Nehad Hussein  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:38
English to Arabic
TOPIC STARTER
Your Reply has... Feb 13, 2014

made me laugh a lot. Could not be more true. It seems that I need to be mama octopus with one hand on every task. So Joggling is the key. This is one thing I fear the most as you end up an exhausting body by the end of the day. Ok, I will take a deep breath and jump in the cold water.

Thanks guys for responses. it just feels good to hear other experiences.


 


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Balancing a Career Life With a Baby: Social Networking






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