Working through Pregnancy and Birth

It is an honor for Women in Chemicals to have had the opportunity to hear from four terrific women in our community about their journeys in working through pregnancy and birth. We started our panel discussion learning from each panelist their family planning processes, each sharing their unique stories. We talked about if there ever truly is a right time to have children, and the way that their priorities are constantly changing since finding out about their pregnancies (Alexandra is currently expecting!) or since having children. We then spent some time talking about each panelists perspective and experience with maternity leave, with Alysia sharing to our community her story about taking her leave earlier than planned. Our panelists each shared with us some terrific advice with themes including the importance of planning for the future, leaning on the "mom club" and other support networks, and how special being a mom truly is. We talked about some steps that you can take to actually develop a support network as well as the concept of giving yourself the grace you need to be a mom. We wrapped up our panel discussion by welcoming Anne Mazza, HR Director at Brenntag. Anne talked to us about the many resources available to expecting and new mothers including your doctors, your employers, your community, online communities, and so much more.