goodbye free money

The end of an era: as of Wednesday I'm not longer paid a grand or so a month to hang out with little Sebastian. Goodbye maternity leave. Alex and I have always agreed we don't want to send Sebastian to childcare when this time comes, or even in the next year or two, for two reasons: we hardly make enough money to justify paying for childcare, we just feel uncomfortable handing him over to someone we don't know very well especially at such a young age, and, the real reason, we'd just rather spend time with him than have extra money.
But, Alex's job situation is shifting now and he'll have to find something more stable and long-term. I'd been thinking about getting a tiny part-time job when this time came because I was starting to crave a little outside babyless interaction and some continued financial independence. I also a bit of a work horse, so when I was casually offered a job at The Shed on the pier, I happily took it. I'm not sure how much I'll be working, probably just weekends but while Alex sorts out his job situation I think I'll probably be working a bit more. I'm working a couple shifts this week. Some of the shifts will overlap with Sebastian's bedtime, foregoing our nightly ritual of milk and sleep, but I think we're both ready. But this place is flexible and Shylo, the girl who runs it, is a young mama (and is also going back to school and commuting to UBC like me) so I know I'm in good hands.
I'm grateful that our country has such generous parental leave benefits, and also grateful towards myself for having the sense to scramble my way into a job last-minute to earn benefits. There were many an exhausted, morning-sick days at my desk but I'm glad I got through it.When I was a baby I think the maximum paid time a woman had was three months. My ma reluctantly went back to the hospital part time (to work in pediatrics with sick babies, nonetheless) when I was that age out of necessity and would ride her bike home on her lunch break to breastfeed me, or my dad and I would trek there. I've had fifty paid weeks for my last couple months of pregnancy and until Sebastian's ten month mark, and I know he's at an age now where he can understand and accept that I'm not going to be there all day every day. I also think he's at an age where he might benefit from a little mumless time.