Juggling work and a newborn 101

July 28, 8:17 PMAtlanta New Dads ExaminerEric Skates

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You've got your work cut out for you!

Let the stress begin. Yes, it is no secret that most of the financial burden,on average, weighs on that of the father. Even if you, as the new daddy, decide to be a "Stay at home dad," the thoughts of bills piling up still may keep you awake at night. Hospital bills seems to come in droves and also never seem to slow down, but fear not, insurance covers a lot of the painful blows. The issue is, how do you juggle work and family time?

It is not an easy task and priorities have to be set. The most successful plans for juggling a newborn and a job involve planning and a lot of it. Paternity leave, the opposite of maternity leave, has become more common in our society. Some countries give new fathers months or up to a year to spend with their budding new family. However, this is America and things are done differently. Here is what you can do: Explore your options with your employer. Speak to your boss, be honest, let them know how involved you are with your partner's pregnancy. He or she may actually have something great planned for you. This is a huge life-changing situation and business associates can be very forgiving when it comes to big-ticket life issues like child birth.  Talk to your employer, and the people that you work with, early on, about how you will need a bit of a time to welcome your child into your home and for you, your partner, and the baby to get used to the new arrangement. It may come to surprise you that your boss may offer paid time off, but if they don't be prepared to use some of your vacation time. Besides, you will probably not be traveling any where within the next few months.

It is a difficult and beautiful thing to start a family, but food is a must and in order to have food one must work. It may be a little cumbersome to go off on business trips now since you have a little one at home. Mom may need some help and a mother-in-law can only stay for so long. Dads get the bad end of the stick sometimes because you end up stretching yourself thin. Dads, a lot of the time, feel they have to provide for their family. It isn't always the case, because some moms work too. Our society has many families surviving on a dual income. You want to be there for your family and yet you still must work to aid in the financial well-being of your family. This can weigh heavy on both an ego and stress level.

Once you've taken some time off to settle your home and have returned to work, focus on normalizing your work schedule. Your family is now counting on you for emotional as well as financial support, so get your work done and get home when you've promised to be there. A tired mother and a newborn baby will both appreciate a schedule they can count on.

So, get to work!