u/cookiee232

Is there ever a convenient time to start having a family in this role? I’m the EA to the CEO with no backup and I am trying (without a magic wand of course) to time my next pregnancy, but it’s proving very difficult and inconvenient. We have a huge in-person event once per quarter. Q3 and Q1 are events run/managed/facilitated by me solo. Nobody has ever helped in the past and the Q1 event is highly confidential as in person voting and firm decisions are discussed within that meeting (a small group of equity partners). And I just found out next year there will be a second event in Q3. I would like to take the max maternity leave which is 6 months where I live. Just don’t see how I can get coverage for that when all the other EAs in the firm are maxed out. FYI: I am not the EA lead. Just an EA supporting the highest role at my company.

Can I hear from some new mothers in this group on how you managed your leave? Particularly those supporting CEOs? Was coming back from maternity leave awful? I’m thinking of the daily stress I have and I am scared as to how I’ll feel postpartum working with this amount of stress.

Mid 30s female. Looking to tone up and lose about 10lbs by the end of 2026. Love cardio and do it too much. Actually, it’s all Ive been doing since I finished 9WCF OTW in May. I need to incorporate some weight training but don’t want to be stuck with one program. I’m open to all trainers but I seem to gravitate towards autumn or Shaun t. I have only 5 days/30min.

Wondering if anyone here does workout dujour? I’m interested in keeping things different. How do you pick and do you plan your split before each week begins? Would you mind sharing what your typical week looks like? Is it working for you, or do you find following a program is better?

If you had PPA (not PPD) the first time around, did you get it again with each delivery after?

I had PPA until 11 mo pp and I’m wondering if it’s because I’m a FTM and maybe the next won’t be so bad because I’ll be familiar with things?

I’d love to hear your stories. Thanks

How many meetings do you handle per month? I’m not talking about check ins. I’m talking meetings for 20 - 150+ people that you schedule, ask for agenda items, prep agenda, request approval on agenda, post agenda to all attendees, join and sit on the meeting, record and take notes, publish meeting minutes, pull and track (take care of) action items, rinse and repeat? I have 8 on my plate and it’s tipping me over. On top of all the other thousand things I do, meetings are such a beast. The action items are worse (action items are things my boss owns, but it’s me that has to do it). And things move so fast that it’s really hard to keep up. Ai is a game changer for minutes, but I find I still need to review the ai minutes because sometimes key items are missing or not described properly.

Just wanted to vent and hear how many of these meetings other EAs have. I’m the sole EA to the Managing Director of our firm for reference.

Moms who have left the corporate stress madness, are you happy and how does this affect your life and/or ego?
I’ve been climbing my way up the ladder and I’m at the highest point I can get (at least for the next 5 years) but the stress is insane dude. I work remotely too so I’m almost always on after hours sometimes until 11:00pm or later. Remote is nice because I can keep the laundry and dishwasher moving but the burden I carry everyday is nuts. My husband is trying to push his career one level up and he offered that I can cut back a bit when that happens. The issue is, in my role, I cannot cut back. In fact I need an assistant but that’s besides the point. I am thinking about getting an in-person 3 day a week job at a much less stressful industry/position and I’m daydreaming about being home and not having a handcuff to my laptop. Like leave the office and be done with work! But this would be a trade off in terms of building my resume. It would be a downgrade. But honestly that makes me so excited to not have a stressful/demanding job while raising little ones.

Love to hear all about your experiences. I’d love to hear from mom specifically who have worked remotely and were working on building up your career/resume so that you can make vertical jumps within your niche/industry.

LO is 16mo right now. The nursing is starting to become painful. Not sure why, but I notice he’s gripping/sucking so tight on my nipples and it’s causing day long pain. It reminds me of those early days where I was in constant pain when we were both figuring it out lol!

I got through my first year pp of EBF (my first child) and I’m hoping to wean by 24mo. It’s become more of a comfort thing I think. I’m sure he still likes the milk but he drinks cows milk and only nurses before bed and during wake ups (yes, he still wakes up multiple times a night… I’m tired).

I’m also trying to wean the binky away so I’m just looking for advice because doing those two at the same time seems crazy.

Anyone have advice on how to approach this 8-month goal? I don’t want to cut it cold turkey.