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Bottle Service

Back to Work, Baby! The Emotional Whiplash of Rebuilding Your Career & Leaving the Baby Bubble

Bottle Service

Sarah Merrill Hall

Society & Culture, Parenting, Kids & Family, Personal Journals, Self-improvement, Education

4.9551 Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2026

⏱️ 39 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For the first time in four years, Sarah officially doesn’t have a baby at home anymore… and instead of feeling liberated, she’s..well.. lost 😅 In this episode, Sarah opens up about the unexpected identity crisis that can come with re-entering “full-time work” after years in the baby bubble. Navigating freedom, guilt, ambition, pressure, and the weird realization that you no longer have motherhood as the built-in reason your career has been on the back burner.

Sarah talks honestly about feeling behind professionally, struggling to find direction again, and what it’s actually like trying to rebuild momentum after years of surviving in reactive mode. PLUS, we tackle truly important cultural conversations like The Valley and why we all need to normalize asking our friends for their hand-me-down baby gear.

Resources from this Episode: Get on SHOPMY

Email your questions to Sarah@bigkidproblems.com for a chance to be featured on the show!

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Big thank you to our episode sponsors!

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠RULA⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Connect with quality therapists and mental health experts

Little Spoon - Make mealtime easy with 30% off with code BOTTLESERVICE30

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

We have to stay drinking dance all night.

0:12.0

Now it's talk of diapers and our pints are bill in time.

0:17.0

Bottle service with BKB Bottle service with BKP BKP

0:25.0

Hi everyone

0:28.2

Welcome to bottle service

0:30.0

It is me, your girl, Sarah Merrill Hall

0:32.6

Oh man, I am struggling

0:36.0

to do this podcast today. This is like my third attempt at sitting down

0:41.0

and getting this episode up. I am just, I'm a little sleep deprived this week. My husband has left me

0:49.1

for dead with the children. By the time you listen to this, he will be back, so don't try and rob me or anything.

0:54.7

But yeah, this is the long. This is actually the longest he has ever left me since both kids

1:01.6

have been alive. So he's gone for seven days. We are at day five, four or five. I'm not entirely

1:10.7

sure anymore. But yeah, you know, you know, if you have done

1:16.2

some solo parenting, you know the deal. It's a lot. It's a lot when you're on your own.

1:22.5

But really, honestly, I keep thinking this week, I'm like, this is not as bad as I was worried it was going to be.

1:29.2

I think about, and if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you might remember this.

1:33.4

Like the last time I got left last fall, the episode I did about it was called Life of a Showgirl.

1:39.1

And if you haven't listened to that episode, you should listen because it was, it was dramatic but um kind of hilarious at the same time

1:46.8

but i was just thinking back to that week versus this week and i can't believe how much easier

1:53.8

it's gotten for for a few things a few reasons i think um one even just the period of time like my baby has gotten so much

2:04.4

easier like I was thinking back that was last fall my baby wasn't even walking so the last time I had

2:08.6

both of them you know it's just like it's so much more physically demanding when you have a baby

...

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