Having a baby doesn’t have to mean putting your career on hold. Though pregnancy and childbirth can create tricky situations for moms in the workplace—including legal, social, and practical ones—it’s possible to balance a successful career with committed motherhood. Allyson Downey has done it twice, and Here's the Plan is her playbook for success.

With advice collected from her own experiences and interviews with more than fifty working mothers, she lays out the essential information new and expectant moms need. Sensible, compact, and written by one working mom for the benefit of others, Here's the Plan is the definitive playbook for new and expectant mothers thinking, “I’ve leaned in. Now what?”

“A woman's choose-your-own-adventure guide to surviving motherhood with career on track . . . Highly useful.”
—Booklist

"This book is a game changer, ladies. It answers the who, what, where, when, and how’s of everything parental leave, balancing your nights and weekends, finding childcare—and beyond."
—Motherly

"Allyson Downey has written the definitive playbook for ambitious women with children. It isn't easy, but it can be done, and this must-read guide will teach you how to do it."
—Laura Vanderkam, bestselling author of I Know How She Does It

“Lean In meets What to Expect—hands-on, spot-on power strategies for working mothers.”
—Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, co-founder and CEO of GLAMSQUAD and co-founder of Gilt

"Working motherhood can be so isolating, but Allyson Downey makes sure we don't have to go it alone. She is forthright and honest, funny and practical, and always real. This book is a seriously needed tool for the arsenals of new mothers who intend to keep shaking up—and changing—the world.
—Jessica Shortall, author of Work. Pump. Repeat.

"Here’s the Plan is essential reading not just for parents but for managers, HR executives, and CEOs. From understanding pregnancy discrimination and how unconscious bias can stack the deck against new mothers in particular, to surprising scientific research that busts old mythologies like “mommy brain,” Allyson Downey has put together a comprehensive, helpful, and at times utterly riveting guide to one of the most exhausting, confusing, and joyful times of life. This is the book I wish I had had when I came home from the hospital when my children were newborns."
—Brigid Schulte, author of the New York Times bestselling Overwhelmed: Work, Love & Play When No One Has the Time

“Informed and visionary, Here’s the Plan maps out best-practices for taking down institutional bias against women and creating a new Corporate America—one that allows women to thrive in the workplace, even during the child-raising years."
—Carley Roney, co-founder of The Knot, The Nest, and The Bump