I need some mom advice. I am giving birth in the next couple months and I will only be getting 6-8 weeks off for the actual recovery period. No maternity leave. I was let go from my previous employer last year due to restructuring and it took me until October of last year to find a new job. With the holidays, they couldn't have me start work until January. My state offers paid family leave, but you have to be at your current employer for at least 6 months to be eligible (despite having paid into the program premiums every month since 2018). If I had been able to stay at my previous employer, I would have been there 47 consecutive months at the time of my daughters birth. I have written the insurance company asking for an exception, but they are ignoring me it seems. I have been so depressed and unforgiving of myself for the fact that I will have to leave my weeks old baby at home with my husband while I return to work. I desperately need some strategies to help with the guilt. I wanted to exclusively breastfeed until at least 6 months but I will have no way to get milk to my baby when I am at work. I don't know if I will have enough time to build up a supply before I return to work. I plan on taking advantage of the mandated pumping breaks, but again, if she's at home and the milk is with me I can't see how that will make any difference. I feel like such a bad mother. I was originally supposed to "retire" from the workforce after I was let go, but then we had a series of unfortunate events occur within a matter of weeks and literal days after finding out I was pregnant. We lost our cat due to a surprise illness that we had spent months trying to diagnose, our roof began to leak, and our floors were ruined. 20k in expenses later, I had to get another job especially with a baby on the way and no savings left. I am so thankful that I was able to find another job while almost 6 months pregnant but I just hate that I have to leave her. How can I feel better?