Tia AddedMonday, April 10, 2017 at 2:34 PM Hi I am 11 weeks pregnant and an EE who has been working as a designer for solar companies for 2 years now. How did you move from mommy to career track and not let your career suffer? I like the technical parts of my role but took a major pay cut recently when I got laid of last year and took a lower paying job with a lateral move with low pay because of the flexibility they offer. My health has been bad due to severe morning sickness and the solar industry is highly volatile I feel worried that there will be a lay off again. I am stuck and cant leave yet due to the paychecks but in the coming months with a baby due in October a career transition is not possible too. I am wondering has anyone faced anything like this and how have you become a mom and got back to work? I must mention I want to be with my new born for atleast 6 months before I return to work. I am not planning to join work the next day after I have a baby and continue to work till the last day I have a baby. I would love to hear your stories and how you progressed in your careers and had a baby at the same time. Related to Electrical, Energy, Merging Fields, Self Doubt, Unique Challenges, Work Environment Areas of Impact Energy Reset Sort By Default Nancy Post , Boston Consulting Group Answered Wednesday, June 7, 2017 at 10:36 AM My children are 18 and 25 now, so I am in a different position than you, but I have had the same concerns throughout my career. As your child matures, the demands change, but maintaining balance is important. I would suggest you give serious consideration to your values and how you want to stay aligned to your values. This is very personal exercise and will be different for each person. I managed this in several different ways: I sacrificed group and friend activities in order to give the appropriate attention to my career and family. I also focused my volunteer and group activities around my children so that I could give both attention at the same time! The other key to success for me was to have the appropriate support system in place. I don't have family in the area, so I leveraged friends at times and also used college students to nanny in the summer and to drive my children to lessons when needed. Finally, when my children were small, I stayed very focused at work on building depth and being an expert in a certain area and I didn't move up as quickly from a promotional perspective. This has worked very well for me. The depth and relationships that I built during this phase have continued to serve me very well as I have progressed in my career. Each of us is unique, so your solution may be different!