I'm nervous about telling my client that I'm PG

[SueC]

Now that I'm officially out of my first trimester, I need to do what I've been avoiding--tell my client. My husband wanted to me to tell them weeks ago, and there is a chance they already know, since they had a lunch with several of his co-workers shortly after he told them (his co-workers know that I do all of their billing so it could have casually come up). He thought I should tell them before the lunch happened so they wouldn't hear it from someone else, but I chickened out. The main problem is that I alone handle all of their billing and for that reason I really cannot take any sort of maternity leave. I will take one week off and plan to tell them it won't feel any different then if I were to go on vacation. Because of HIPAA, I can't farm it out to anyone else, it would just be way too complicated. I can't interrupt their cash flow buy not submitting claims, following up on claims I already submitted, etc. by taking off any more time then I plan to. I'm sort of freaking out, though, because I'm not sure if I can pull this off. My parents have already said they will take time off from their own jobs (bless them!) and come down to help me as much as I need them to, and my husband should be around a fair amount since he is approaching his last year of fellowship. But how realistic am I being to have a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a new baby and still run my business without even really taking a maternity leave? I do have my girls in mother's day out two days a week and I have a babysitter that comes to the house one afternoon a week, but the baby will come near the end of her semester so I'm sure she will be too busy with finals to pinch-hit. So, although this is mainly a "oh my God what have I done!" post, I would embrace any suggestions or advice any of you may offer. Robin, if you're out there, how did you do it with your work at home job???

[Meenah]

Hi Sue,
Is there any way you can hire a part-time person to start helping you now?
Perhaps another stay at home mom, who could pitch in even after you have recovered. I'll keep thinking.
Luanne

[mommax3]

Could you scout out a young teenage girl (or maybe even a pre-teen) to hang out at your house for a specified number of hours/week through the summer? Does your mom's day out run in the summer, too? Lots of them don't, and I am thinking that this summer will be the hardest time for you...... Anyway, you wouldn't have to pay a young girl too much and she could supervise the girls while you worked, but you would be available if something big came up.

Sally

Hmmm, that's a tough one. I guess if I were in your shoes I'd bite the bullet and tell the client first. You should be upfront about it so that they don't think you're trying to pull something over them which perhaps in the future would affect your relationship with them. Perhaps suggest that they can find a temporary person to help out after your baby arrives that perhaps you can mentor or help work out the kinks or any questions they may have. Your client still has about 6 months to find someone to fill your shoes. I understand that this could put you in a precarious position but at least that won't leave your client in a lurch. Worse case scenario they find someone to replace you permanently but at least they can be a good reference and say you were an honest, hard worker who just happened to have a baby. And when things settle down you can find another client.

[SueC]

Thanks for the advice guys! It seems like it would have been wise for me to give this a little more thought before taking the plunge, huh? Not that I regret the decision to have a baby, I'm very excited about that! If only I could make my business vanish into thin air and still receive a paycheck every month, maybe I should start playing the lottery. I do need to tell them soon, maybe as soon as I get back from my trip??? Can you tell I'm still procrastinating?