The Maternity Leave Checklist Nobody Hands You

Nobody tells you that the hardest part of maternity leave is the prep work leading up to it.

You are exhausted, uncomfortable, probably still answering Slack messages with your hospital bag half-packed in the other room, and somehow still trying to make sure nothing falls apart while you are gone. HR gives you a packet about benefits and return dates. Nobody gives you the checklist for actually feeling okay about walking out the door.

So I made my own.

Here's what actually helped me leave with a clear head, and what I am doing again this time around before baby #3!

This is not a simple list of your job duties and who is taking over what responsibility. It needs to be a real, honest map of how you work. What is currently in motion, what is coming up on the calendar while you are out, who owns what if a decision needs to be made without you, and where the landmines are that only you know about.

I started mine way earlier than felt necessary, and I was so glad I did. The stuff you think you will remember to write down in the final week? You probably won’t because you will be too tired, too pregnant or too busy trying to close out 50 other things.

Don't leave your team to figure out who to loop in on what after you are already gone. If there is a client, a partner, a stakeholder who is used to working with you directly, send that "looping in X while I am out" email yourself. Not because your team isn’t capable of handling it, but because it is a lot easier for everyone if the handoff feels intentional instead of scrambled.

It also does something for you, honestly. Sending those emails yourself is what makes it start to feel real, and makes it feel like I was choosing to step away instead of just disappearing.

This one is hard. I wanted to leave with a completely clean plate, every project buttoned up, nothing left hanging. That is not realistic, and chasing it will eat every ounce of energy you have left before leave even starts. Plus baby comes when baby is ready to come… that could mean 5 weeks early, you just never know!

Instead, I made peace with a shorter list consisting of what actually needs to be done before I go, versus what can wait, versus what my team is fully capable of handling without me.

This might be the most important one. A transition document and a few intro emails will only get you so far if you do not actually trust your team to handle what comes up. And they will handle it. Give them the information they need, then let go of the idea that things will only go right if you are the one doing them.

The confidence I felt walking out the door for my first maternity leave did not come from having every detail locked down. It came from knowing I had set my team up to make good decisions without me, and trusting them to do it.

I expected the hard part to be missing my kid's milestones, or worrying about pumping schedules, or all the things everyone warns you about. But what really surprised me was how much lighter I felt once the transition doc was done and the intro emails were sent.

Not because the work disappeared. Because I realized that my team did not need me to have all the answers before I left. They needed enough context to make good decisions without me, and permission to make them.

So here is what I would say to anyone prepping for leave: the goal is not a clean plate. It is setting your team up for success in your absence, and knowing that they can handle things while you are gone.