Every parent knows that taking care of kids is a full-time job. So for working parents, that means they typically have two full-time jobs — the one they get paid for, and the one they start as soon as they get home.
After getting home from a tiring day at work, you have to make dinner, help with homework, get the kids bathed, and put them to bed. And if you have a newborn, it's even more exhausting.
Ambrea Jackson is a working mom with two kids: 4-year-old Beckham and 3-month-old McCoy. Her schedule is absolutely jam-packed. She told Babble that she wakes up at 5:30 every morning so she can nurse McCoy. Then she wakes up Beckham and starts to get ready for the day.
Around 6:45, Ambrea's mother-in-law comes over to watch the kids, and Ambrea gets ready for work so she can leave at 7:30. While at work, Ambrea has to step out every two hours to pump milk for McCoy.
Finally, she heads home, arriving around 5:30 (12 hours after starting her day). And that's when her second job — parenthood — kicks in.
Ambrea Jackson has a full-time job and two young kids. (This basically means she has two full-time jobs.)
When Ambrea finally walks back in her house at 5:30 p.m., her day is just getting started.
"By the time I get home, I could literally collapse at my front door and sleep until it's time to leave for work again," she said. "I'm SO tired. But as usual, it's back to my other full-time job."
An hour after Ambrea gets home, her husband gets back from work. He takes over the bedtime routine while Ambrea tries to clean the house.
Even after she goes to bed, Ambrea is still working — nursing McCoy every few hours.
Ambrea took to Facebook one day to write about her experience as a mom, and her post went viral. Within a few weeks, her post had over 3,500 likes and over 1,200 shares.
Ambrea wrote:
“I’m about to drop a truth bomb.
"Being a nursing, pumping full time working mom of 2 is HARD. Being a mom PERIOD is HARD."
“I feel like a burden to my team every day because I have to spend 20 minutes at a time pumping multiple times a day to keep my supply high enough to continue nursing my new baby.”
“Add in the house work, the homework with a 4 year old, a healthy sex life, focusing on my mental health and little to NO sleep during my work weeks and you have an exhausted pushed-past-your-limit day. Every day.”
“I often sit in my bed nursing my baby 10 minutes before my morning alarm for 5:50am goes off thinking ‘How can I make myself look like I have it all together today?’ Because I don’t. I never have. I do what I can but often feel like it isn’t enough. I won’t even start on the mom guilt.”
“But, guess what? (SPOILER) we make it work. Every day we make it work. Much love to my sisters in this journey called parenthood. You are not alone.”
Moms who saw Ambrea's post immediately related to her words.
"Moms are amazing! Theres days I still cant figure out how I got it ALL done!" one woman wrote.
Another person commented: "You're doing great mom. Enjoy it now soon-too soon they get bigger and we long for the exhaustion and overwhelming life we lived. Its all worth it in the end."
Many moms wrote about their own experiences. One said: "We never have it together! As a mom of a 4 and a 2 year old. Working full time, going to school full-time taking care of them and the house needs and even taking care of my small business it's rough but we just gotta pull through!"
And many thanked Ambrea for reminding them they're not alone.
"Hearing another mother say all these things is so comforting," wrote one woman. "I hate others have 'struggles' but it's nice to know I'm not in it alone!"
Keep going, mamas! You're doing a great job, and we all respect how hard you work.
