Took 8 weeks when our second was born. First week back at work and it felt like I'd been gone 8 months—projects shifted, org chart changed, my team had resolved problems without me. Nobody said anything directly but the vibe was weird. Wasn't expecting that re-entry to be so disorienting. Did anyone else experience this? How'd you get your footing back?
Give it a few weeks and you'll find your rhythm again. The hardest part is the guilt, not actually doing the job. You remember how to do your work faster than you remember how to leave your kids.
That feeling of being displaced is rough. My suggestion is to go easy on yourself the first month back. You're readjusting to two worlds at once.
Take the long view here. That time you took with your second was worth way more than whatever projects moved without you. The work will always be there. Your kids won't always be small.
Eight weeks is a long time in the corporate world and also not long enough to feel okay leaving your kid. You're in this weird limbo where work forgot about you but home still needs you. Hang in there.
This is my biggest fear about taking paternity leave. How did it affect your promotions or standing at work? Like did people notice you were gone and penalize you for it?
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The ghost feeling is so real. I took 12 weeks and came back to people asking me stupid questions like I'd never worked there. Had to relearn all these processes that changed in like 2 months. It was weird.