In this episode, I interview Meaghan, a midwife, mother of 3 and owner of the online childrens clothes shop Mister and Muse (https://www.misterandmuse.com.au/). We talk about the logistics of getting 3 kids around, night shift, conflicting work shifts and what the nursing and midwifery industry is doing right and wrong in retaining working mothers.

The Lowdown

- Family of 5
- 2 working parents
- 1 full time
- 1 part-time (shift work)
- 3 children
- 1 at school
- 1 at kindy
- 1 at home/childcare

My guest blog post '8 Things I've learnt from interviewing working mums' on the BHND blog can be found here: http://bhndblog.com/8-things-ive-learnt-interviewing-working-mums/

  

3:00 Sleep
3:32 There were 5 in the bed....
3:54 Solving the night time squish with a new kids bedroom?
4:14 King size beds
4:44 An extra 30cms in the bedroom
4:56 The kicking zone
5:20 Who are the people in your family?
5:50 Husband leaves the house around 6 am
6:52 The year of 5 people going in 5 different directions
7:04 The joy of having 2 at school
8:00 Working around kindy hours
9:12 Mix of day and night shifts
9:50 Nurses and midwives going back to work after children
10:30 Shift work!
11:18 Generally rules are to return within 2 years of children
11:36 How much time off after having a child?
11:55 Night shift can work for the family
12:02 Nightshift = no childcare, dayshift = childcare
13:20 Nightshift, get kids to school then sleep
13:58 Health impact of getting less sleep
14:04 Parenting super powers
14:28 Being a pushover!
14:48 Experience with 3 kids
15:16 Podcast about working and having young children: Improving the Lives of Working Parents Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/improving-the-lives-of-working-parents-podcast/id1201085082?mt=2
15:54 Partners super power
16:00 Fun!
17:16 How is the childcare managed
17:40 I am doing all drop offs and pick ups for all 3 kids
18:18 1 hour overlap of night shift and husband leaving at 6 am
18:54 Weekend shifts to avoid the overlap
19:00 Always getting 3 kids out the door in the morning with partner already out
19:38 Being a morning person
20:00 Quality family time in the morning: http://www.headofacodfish.com/victoria/
21:04 Pre-kindy and school baking
21:24 Had the ability to choose?
21:56 Logistics do play a part
22:02 Work and home balance has been taken away to a degree
22:14 Mum guilt
22:36 What works well
22:42 Respect and understanding of goals between partners
23:28 Change in thought process when having a baby after a bigger age gap
24:22 Not really sure where to put energy when you don't know if you are having another child
25:22 Glimpses of life with older children
26:02 Career change mid child rearing years
26:42 Days governed by 1-year-olds sleeps or a 2-year-old tyrant