Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Back to work I go!  Well, that is if you call what I do for a living “work”.  There’s a lot of fun and down time going on so it never really feels like I’m digging any ditches.

Many things were up in the air as to how going back to work would work out with a baby at home.  I should have started back to work when Max was not even two months old, but I just couldn’t get myself to do it. Looking at him and how tiny he was, how could I leave his side? Now that he’s three months, I still don’t want to leave his side, but he seems a little stronger and, well, money buys things the baby needs.

It’s funny how when I was younger, I thought for sure I would want to get back to work immediately after having a baby.  But the reality of it is that they depend on you for so much. And it’s hard handing him over to some babysitter or nanny who more than likely doesn’t care about him quite as much as you do.

Another challenge in going back to work is: breastfeeding.  If I’m home, I feed him every 2-3 hours.  But when I’m away from the home for say 15 hours (yes, 15 hours is common in the entertainment business) there are a couple challenges.  One, I have to use up a lot of my precious GOLD (frozen breastmilk) AND figure out how to pump while at work.  Now, if I had a 9-5 office job, this would be fairly easy.  But, I don’t have an office job and on my first day back to work, I was pumping in my car.  In 100 degree weather.  Hoping no one would walk by my car wondering “what the sam hill is that woman doing in her car?”

Have you heard about the new law that Obama passed in regards to breastfeeding mother’s in the work place?  It’s lovely, but doesn’t really apply to the entertainment business.  I was shooting on location for a commercial. (I’d tell you which commercial, but then I’d have to kill you. More on that later.)  At the lunch break, the perfect time to get a pump session in, they were also moving to the next location.  So all the honeywagons and trailers were on the move and everyone was at lunch.

And then there was me, standing there alone, holding my breastpump kit, wondering what to do.  And that’s how I ended up in my car.

Back to why I can’t tell you which commercial I was working on.  You see,  in hollywood, people are funny about information on their projects getting out to the public.  I mean, yes they are making it for the public to view one day, but until it’s finished and they are ready for the world to see it, they want the info on top secret lock down.   Some people are so weird about it, you’d think we worked for the government or something.  And all the scripts and story boards are filed under Top Secret ‘Operation Drama’.