(FORTUNE Magazine) – You may have to keep reminding yourself of this truth, especially while it's happening to you, but it is almost invariably a good and joyful thing for women of the managerial cadre to bring new lives into the world. After all, who has a better chance of producing smart, strong children than smart, strong mothers? This does not mean, however, that the typical organization makes it easy to be pregnant in the workplace. That you have to do yourself, as best you can. You will face many challenges that require the exercise of your managerial skills. Some issues loom large, and subtle: your employer's often unspoken fear that you won't return; perceptions on others' part that add up to the mother of all stereotypes, or the stereotype of all mothers; and the considerable uncertainty you may feel about what will happen. Other questions fall into the realm of the tactical, or nearly comical: When and how to tell your boss? How to keep presenting a professional appearance, as the phrase goes, so much so as to ward off the loutish near-strangers in the office who -- and working women swear this really happens to them -- come up to you with a solicitous smile, pat your stomach, and say, ''How's the baby?'' (Funny, they never seem to do this to old Fred, the senior division manager who has put on a few pounds recently.) Begin by understanding what you're up against. -- The boss's big fear. When the company, as represented by your boss, finally gets the news, its worst-nightmare scenario will take the following form, approximately: You and he negotiate a period of maternity leave, say three months. A few weeks before your scheduled return, you call him to report that there have been some complications -- you haven't regained your old pep, the baby's been sick -- and you need another couple of months off. He grudgingly goes along, scrambling to make arrangements to cover for you in your absence. This only to have you call again toward the end of that period, pleading for just another month or two. Tight-lipped, he assents, setting an absolute final deadline for your return. Mere days before that date, you telephone to tell him you're quitting. While study after study indicates most new mothers do go back to their jobs, and fairly quickly, such double dealing occurs enough to make employers wary. ''Most corporate health insurance plans force women to lie,'' argues Martha Clark Briley, head of Prudential Power Funding Associates investment group and the mother of 9-year-old twins. ''They can keep their coverage only if they continue on a leave of absence.'' The experts note, too, that the U.S. is the only industrialized Western country without a law guaranteeing women a job with their company when they return from maternity leave. And sometimes mothers-to-be set off with every intention of returning, then find at the last minute that their child-care arrangements have fallen through -- a problem particularly for women in lower- paid jobs. -- The big stereotype. ''It's very rare to find somebody who gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror, and says, 'Today I'm going to discriminate against women -- or pregnant women,' '' observes DePaul University professor Jane Halpert, who with two colleagues recently completed a study of attitudes toward expectant mothers in the workplace. ''But the sight of a pregnant woman acts as a visual cue, eliciting a whole host of associations and stereotypes.'' ! Most of the stereotypes you're likely to run into represent an extension, and intensification, of stereotypes about women in general. Janet Spitz, a management professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, explains: ''Part of the stereotype of women has to do with dependency, with notions that women are weak and work best in a supportive role rather than in a leadership position.'' Even if leaderly you have labored epically, and successfully, to discredit that canard, when you become pregnant -- or, as the Victorians used to euphemize, are in a delicate condition -- back comes the old garbage to shape how people see you. ''If there are stereotypes about being a woman,'' says Spitz, ''they are tenfold about being a pregnant woman.'' Dawn D. Bennett- Alexander, a business professor at the University of Georgia, points up the lesson for expectant managers: ''Assume that the perception is going to be that you are not the same productive, committed, aggressive worker you were before.'' -- The big uncertainty. Having a child, particularly a first child, changes your life in ways not all of which you can anticipate. What if the baby does require all sorts of special attention? The point: Build as much flexibility into your arrangements as you can, compatible -- and this is the hard part -- with allaying the organization's fears and combating the stereotypes. OKAY, on to the basic drill, beginning with the question of timing. If you have the luxury of choosing when to get pregnant, you're better off waiting until you have been with an organization long enough to prove your value to it -- preferably until after you've been promoted once or twice. When you get serious about starting a family, begin gathering information on your company's policies and benefit plans. In a low-key way, talk to other women in the organization who have been down this trail. And don't forget to look into what kind of help your significant other can provide. Maybe it's easier for him than for you to take some time off after the baby's born. After you have conceived, sketch out a plan that, at a minimum, covers the following particulars: when you will leave, when you will return, how your work will get done while you're away, whether you'll be available for occasional chores while at home, any modifications that you think may be necessary to your routine during the pregnancy or after you come back, and what provision you will make for child care. (Bonus tip: The experts say that generally, the longer you stay out past three months, the greater the likelihood of derailing your managerial career.) When you tell your boss, you can talk, or negotiate, from your document. But when to tell him? Experienced mothers tend to say the later the better, but you have to weigh several variables. Do you want to wait until the danger of losing the baby is mostly past, which probably means after the first trimester? Does morning sickness or tiredness visibly affect your performance of the job? What kind of lead time will the organization need to plan for your absence? And how long can you stand the anxiety of waiting to tell him? Remember, he should be the first person in the organization to know, however much you're tempted to confide the happy news to friends in the office. Confide to just a few of them, and he'll hear second-hand and wonder if you're going to be straight with him about this -- feeding the Big Fear. When the time is right, get him alone and impart your tidings. Be upbeat, calm, even matter-of-fact, reminding him, if you think it necessary, of your contributions to date, and stressing how much you look forward to making similar contributions in the future. His first thought, probably: What kind of trouble are we talking about here, for me and the organization? So hit him with the plan, not as a fait accompli -- he may want to make changes -- but as your earnest that, in your usual well-organized manner, you've thought through matters from the company's point of view. After you and he have reached agreement, you can go on to tell colleagues and, if they can't help but find out, customers. If you want subordinates to pick up some of your work load, consult them and accentuate the positive: This will be an opportunity for them to try on new responsibilities; they're up to it; and don't worry -- it's only for a short time anyway. With their help, begin to organize your various assignments so they can be turned over to others without missing a beat. (Think of it as training for parenthood: Working mothers, it has been observed, are usually the best-organized people in the office. They have to be.) As your condition becomes progressively more apparent, you may have to work harder to maintain that sharp-edged professional image. Managerial mothers typically decry the choice of maternity clothes available to them: Poor quality, no style, too expensive for something you're going to wear for only a % few months, and, maybe worst of all, too froufrou for the executive suite, with the Peter Pan collars, big flower patterns, and ''little bunnies,'' in one VP's derisive phrase. A reminder from a canny, very pregnant executive: ''You want to look like the mother'' -- and a competent professional -- ''not like the child.'' Veterans offer stratagems to counter the problem: Buy nonmaternity dresses, but a size -- or two or three -- larger than your usual, or if you work with a group of managerial women, think about a sort of clothing exchange. Susan Bixler, an image consultant and author of the new book Professional Presence, suggests an aggressive approach to avoid being stereotyped and dismissed: ''My philosophy is to shake hands even more assertively, and to maintain even more eye contact'' in business encounters. Watch out, the experts say, for subtle changes in people's behavior to you, particularly the boss's. What you especially want to head off is oversolicitousness, the powers that be deciding that in your delicate condition, you can't take on this or that -- travel, a new assignment. The truly maddening part: They will conclude this without consulting you. If you get even a whiff of such thinking, confront it directly: ''Gee, boss, I have a sense that you're treating me differently. Can we talk a little about what I am, and am not, capable of doing while I'm pregnant?'' WORKING RIGHT UP until the last possible moment seems to impress employers. Once the baby arrives, though, why not give yourself wholeheartedly to it for a while? True, you will want to stay in touch with the office to remind them you're alive and will be back. You may want to come in occasionally for an important meeting. But neonates are no respecters of nine-to-five, and this will be your only chance to join her or him in baby time, those languorous days when the two of you nurse, slip in and out of sleep together, and grow closer. Play your maternal cards right, and over the next months and years you will learn lessons as a parent that will serve you well as a manager: The value of consistency and of stating clearly what you expect and want. The liberating effect of encouragement. And the power of patience, often stronger than any political feint or dodge.