Lucy Reflects

I've been working in a hospital for seven years. The first few years of my career as a respiratory therapist were ideal.

My income for someone right out of college was decent and I only worked three days a week, which left me with plenty of time to do the things I liked to do. For a girl in her early twenties, it was perfect.

Then I had the twins. The emotions of being overwhelmed with newborns, a house, a dog and a husband to take care of, along with a full-time job, started to get the best of me. I had officially hit a serious rut in my life and I couldn't dig myself out of it.

Then something happened at work. It was shortly after I came back from maternity leave. A baby the same age as the boys came in with CPR in progress. It hit me hard. I've seen a lot of this happen in my seven years, but this time was different. That little girl changed me. I came home, hugged my babies and told my husband we needed to discuss me going to part-time. I couldn't work three long days a week without seeing my children at all. Well, technically I COULD, but I really didn't want to.

I now work about 20 hours a week and am home with my boys the rest of the time. I decided I couldn’t let things that negatively affected me at work carry over into my personal life. I also made a promise to myself and to my patients that I'm going to treat every single one of them like they are family. I get attached to patients and their families become my friends. We laugh together, we celebrate together, we cry together. It's exhausting, but it's worth it. I still have days where I would rather be anywhere other than work but they are few and far between. Being at work makes me happy and thankful to come home to my healthy, joyful, loving babies.

We always like to hear from you. Are you a working mom, part-time or full-time? How do you balance it all?