PARENTING May 7, 2001 Issue

Can I please know the details?

By Carolyn Collie

I thought I'd be sad and teary that day. After all, I was about to say goodbye to my work family—people I'd grown close to. It had been my first full-time job.

This was my last day because I was going to have a baby in about three weeks. And it was a great day. I didn't feel sad. I made it through the party they had for me without anything close to a tear. It felt just like a regular Friday.

But that night, several hours after going to bed, I woke up in a state of acute anxiety. The sadness I had expected to feel during the day was now coming on strong, and along with it a terror about my impending new job as a mother. Everything would be different, it suddenly hit me. And I didn't know what it would be like.

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