I'm a cofounder of a robotics company and recently gave birth for the first time. I plan my day around breast pumping.

"I wanted to start a company. That was a road that I actually thought more about than kids, actually. I ended up starting Diligent Robotics first, then doing the next step - starting a family. My wife and I have two little ones at home. Our oldest is two years and seven months, and our youngest just turned 10 months. My wife gave birth to our first, and I gave birth to our second."

"Before kids, I was pretty regimented. I had my gym days, my lunch routines, and long stretches of heads-down work. Parenthood changed that. I still believe in balance, but not on a 24-hour scale. I can't remember where I heard this, but balance depends on the timescale you're looking at. If you expect to have a balance within the timescale of a single day, that's probably unlikely. But if you stretch it to a week, a month, or a year, then it makes more sense."

"My smartwatch wakes me up at 6 a.m. I start the day really quickly by checking on Slack and email. We run a 24/7 business, and hospitals need to check if anything has come in. I get up at six so that I can quickly get set up as a mother of a 10-month-old, still breastfeeding, and do my first pump of the day."

A robotics founder started a company before starting a family and now balances leading a hospital-robotics business with raising two young children, ages about two years seven months and ten months. The couple split childbirth responsibilities, with each parent giving birth once. Parenthood disrupted previous regimented routines, replacing predictable daily blocks with variable caregiving needs. The founder reconceptualizes balance across longer timescales—weekly, monthly, or yearly—instead of within a single day. Mornings provide structure: an early wake-up to check Slack and email for the 24/7 hospital business, followed by breastfeeding, scheduled pumping, and adjusted caffeine habits.

Read at Business Insider