I would have been offended, except they knew me better than I knew myself.
要不是他们比我还了解我自己,这种做法肯定会惹恼我。
I was back on e-mail from my hospital room the day after giving birth.
生完孩子当天,一回到病房我就开始上网查看邮件了。
Over the next three months, I was unable to unplug much at all.
随后的3个月,我根本就不可能对工作完全撒手不管。
I checked e-mail constantly.
我总是在查看邮箱,
I organized meetings in my living room, during which I sometimes breast-fed and probably freaked several people out.
在起居室里开电话会议,这期间还可能要给孩子喂奶,一些人很可能会因此崩溃。
(I tried to set these gatherings for times when my son would be sleeping, but babies make their own schedules.)
我试过在儿子睡觉的时候开会,但小孩子可不会乖乖地遵从你的时间安排。
I went into the office for key meetings, baby in tow.
重要的会议我会带着孩子去办公室开。
And while I had some nice moments with my son, I look back on that maternity leave as a pretty unhappy time.
尽管我和儿子也一起度过了一些美好的时光,但回忆起来,那段产假休得并不开心。
Being a new mother was exhausting, and when my son slept, I worked instead of rested.
初为人母真累人,我儿子在睡觉的时候,我则在工作而不是休息。
And the only thing worse than everyone knowing that I was not sticking to my original commitment was that I knew it too.
每个人都知道我没有信守最初的承诺,比这还糟糕的是,我心里也很清楚这一点,
I was letting myself down.
我正在损害自己的威信。
Three months later, my non-leave maternity leave ended. I was returning to a job I loved,
3个月后,我所谓的产假结束了,我又回到了我热爱的工作岗位。
but as I pulled the car out of the driveway to head to the office for my first full day back,
但当我把车倒出车库,正要去办公室开始回归工作的第一天时,
I felt a tightness in my chest and tears started to flow down my cheeks.
胸口突然出现了一种重压感,接着眼泪就顺着脸颊流下来。
Even though I had worked throughout my "time off," I had done so almost entirely from home with my son right next to me.
虽然“休假”期间我一直在工作,但那时儿子基本上一直都在我身边。
Going back to the office meant a dramatic change in the amount of time I would see him.
而回到办公室则意味着我和他在一起的时间会急剧减少。
If I returned to my typical twelve-hour days, I would leave the house before he woke up and return after he was asleep.
如果我还是和从前一样每天工作12个小时,就得在他醒来时离家、在他睡着时到家。
In order to spend any time with him at all, I was going to have to make changes ... and stick to them.
若要保证陪孩子的时间,我就必须调整工作时间,而且要坚持下去。