[ QUOTE ]
Are either of you ladies married to pilots?
How is family life after the baby is born and you go back to work?
What do you do when you and your husband have a trip at the same time? (does that happen very often?)
[/ QUOTE ]
My husband is a Delta pilot. I am furloughed, so I don't have trips anymore. I have stayed unemployed by choice (I haven't gone out job hunting) so that I can stay at home with the baby. When I was flying, we purposly bid to be working on the same days, so we'd be off on the same days. If you have family (like your mother, mother-in-law, etc) close, you can have them watch the baby for overnights when you're working. Or you can go the live-in-nanny route (way out of our price range though!). You can try to bid with each other's schedules so one of you is always off, however that can be very tough on the relationship, as you're almost never home together, and you don't get any 'couple' time. It's not an easy decision to make, I didn't have a choice about taking time off, but it has been a choice not to pursue flying with any other airlines. My entire professional life (okay, it was only 7 years) I spent flying, and it was a big adjustment not having that anymore. I wasn't a professional pilot (I do have a PPL, but I worked for the airlies as a flight attendant) so I didn't have thousands of dollars and many hours invested in my career, but it was still a difficult change.
As for family life once the baby arrives, hopefully your husband will be able to take some time off to help you out in the first few weeks. Trust me, you need someone there with you initially, be it either your mom, your husband or both. Then the day comes when mom goes back home, and husband goes on his first 4-day since baby was born, and suddenly you're all alone with this small, noisy, hairless creature! It can be tough, because my husband doesn't know his 'daily routine' as well as I do, just because he isn't here everyday to experience it like I do. Sometimes I feel like a single mother because there is basically no doing anything without having the baby along in some way, when dh is working, baby is with me no matter where I go, or what I do! When I get frustrated, and just want a few minutes away, I can't have it, because there's no one to hand baby off to! I can't tell you how nice it is to leave baby with dh for 45 minutes to go to the grocery store! I honestly don't know how two people can both fly full months, and have a small baby. You would have to have a grandparent, or nanny available to deal with the overnights, and if you're on reseve, that's doubly true, because you can be required to show up for work with only a couple hours notice.
So sorry I've been a bit long winded, I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to stay at home with my baby. I have put on hold my plans to pursue my pilot ratings to fly professionally. I will, someday, fly for an airline, but right now I make the choice to stay at home with my baby. If you want to keep flying, you CAN make it work, but if you both want to fly full time, you will have to have around the clock care available, or bid so that one of you is always off, but remember one of you must be senior enough to have that choice in bidding!
as for my old avatar, get over it , and that's the last I'm going to say on the subject