Our sitter had her baby one week ago today. It was the eve of my second biggest event of the year at work. We just needed to get through last Tuesday and it would be smooth sailing. I was half way to my event when Sean called, “Ok, so I have to tell you something. Promise not to freak out.” Luckily, I don’t go in for the pre-event flip out. It’s just too much of an impediment to get ruffled and hysterical, better to bear down and get through it. Plenty of time for hand wringing and oh-poor-meing afterword, but by that time what’s the point?

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Jen had the baby last night.”

“Oh! Oh. Oooh!”

“There both fine. It’s ok.”

“Ok. Oh!”

“And I’ll be fine with the girls.”

My passion for all things baby and pregnancy related completely eclipsed any worry I might have had- deadlines, meetings, etc.

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“All I did was find out that he was born and that he weighed 7 and change.”

I drove to my golf tournament unconcerned about anything but finding out the baby’s name. It wasn’t until about noon that it occurred to me that I had no child care and no immediate remedy. Explaining a putt for $10,000 cash challenge to golfer after golfer I tried to think of what to say to my boss. As the sun began to set it became clear that I had two options:

Work from home and watch the girls, or take vacation and watch the girls.

Two of my greatest motivators are guilt and feedback. Working from home involves very little unsolicited feedback and significant guilt for having the luxury of having my girls with me. My boss agreed to let me work from home for the two weeks that the sitter is taking off. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I worked harder and more efficiently than ever before. I also had some of the sweetest time of my life with the girls.

Being a working mom is literally the hardest thing I have ever done. Today I am grateful that tomorrow I’ll be working from home with my girls.