My last weekend on leave
This begins the last weekend of my leave. On the one hand I'm sad to say "goodbye" to baby, but OTOH it will be good to get back.
I spoke too soon about the kid's good sleeping habits. After about 4 nights in a row with EM Jr sleeping for 6 hours, he had 2 back-sliding days where he had LONG naps during the day and then woke up every 3-4 hours at night. *sigh* On the one hand, it's good for him to nap so well (as opposed to fussing for hours on end and taking micro-naps), but OTOH, I LIKE sleeping at night! We'll see how it goes tonight.
One thing I'll miss when I go back to work is spending endless time with baby asleep on my lap - he seemed to spend quite a bit of time nursing, then immediately dozing off. I was reluctant to move him, lest I disturb him, so I perfected the trick of one-handed internet browsing and typing. Not easy! And I got a crick in my neck from always looking off to the side at my laptop. But it was worth it to see him looking so peaceful. He would occasionally stretch (nearly falling off the Boppy) and begin to fuss ... then immediately settle back down for a good nap. Or he would drift into REM sleep, smiling and making faces in his sleep. It did suck a lot of my useful day time away, so I also started wearing the baby in the Baby Bjorn carrier. He would usually conk out, allowing me to do household chores in peace.
The worst part of the maternity leave was dealing with the company administering my maternity leave benefits. My claims administrator couldn't communicate to save her life. Her voice mail asserted she'd return calls within 1 business day - HA HA HA! She seldom returned my calls, which was just as well - they never seemed to clarify matters. First there were endless hurdles to make sure my claim was filed correctly, then a weird mailing from her declaring that my claim had been denied. !!! Turns out I was being denied payment for the time I was still on salary. Well, DUH, but still - couldn't they write that in fucking ENGLISH?! It's very easy: "your company was still paying your salary for the first month so your disability period starts on _date_". The latest confusion was the series of phone calls about my return date. Um, that hasn't changed - it's this Monday. Oh, but depending on what day my doctor put on her form I was cleared to return on either Saturday or Sunday. Um ... I wouldn't be working on either of those days so why the FUCK does it matter?! Rage-honing, I tell you. It's a good thing I have no psychic powers, else she would have perished in flames.
On Wednesday, I had the official postpartum checkup. I'm healthy and nicely healed up (especially considering the rough delivery), says the doc. All cleared for work! The husband will take over primary child care duties when I return to work, though he'll spend a couple hours each morning at work. This is new for us - he has seldom been alone for so long with EM Jr and ditto for me. I'll have to take a breast pump to work. Not sure how the husband will adapt - I shouldn't worry so much, but I don't want him to be as isolated as I was. It's not easy.
Today I drove to San Francisco for some shopping. Went to Rainbow Grocery to stock up and bought new shoes in Noe Valley (Astrid Rabat RULES - and I got a new pair of Seibels on sale). As predicted, I've gone up a shoe size due to the pregnancy. At least I have 1 pair of work shoes now to add to my sandals and athletic shoes. I will need more shoes erelong but one is better than none. A fabulous trip, made slightly bittersweet knowing I won't be able to take a weekday jaunt like that for quite some time.
On a silly note, last night I dreamt I was getting married again!!! I don't recall the groom (hey, unimportant!) but I do remember feeling enthusiastic about planning the wedding details. *twitch* Mark of insanity, I tell ya.
I spoke too soon about the kid's good sleeping habits. After about 4 nights in a row with EM Jr sleeping for 6 hours, he had 2 back-sliding days where he had LONG naps during the day and then woke up every 3-4 hours at night. *sigh* On the one hand, it's good for him to nap so well (as opposed to fussing for hours on end and taking micro-naps), but OTOH, I LIKE sleeping at night! We'll see how it goes tonight.
One thing I'll miss when I go back to work is spending endless time with baby asleep on my lap - he seemed to spend quite a bit of time nursing, then immediately dozing off. I was reluctant to move him, lest I disturb him, so I perfected the trick of one-handed internet browsing and typing. Not easy! And I got a crick in my neck from always looking off to the side at my laptop. But it was worth it to see him looking so peaceful. He would occasionally stretch (nearly falling off the Boppy) and begin to fuss ... then immediately settle back down for a good nap. Or he would drift into REM sleep, smiling and making faces in his sleep. It did suck a lot of my useful day time away, so I also started wearing the baby in the Baby Bjorn carrier. He would usually conk out, allowing me to do household chores in peace.
The worst part of the maternity leave was dealing with the company administering my maternity leave benefits. My claims administrator couldn't communicate to save her life. Her voice mail asserted she'd return calls within 1 business day - HA HA HA! She seldom returned my calls, which was just as well - they never seemed to clarify matters. First there were endless hurdles to make sure my claim was filed correctly, then a weird mailing from her declaring that my claim had been denied. !!! Turns out I was being denied payment for the time I was still on salary. Well, DUH, but still - couldn't they write that in fucking ENGLISH?! It's very easy: "your company was still paying your salary for the first month so your disability period starts on _date_". The latest confusion was the series of phone calls about my return date. Um, that hasn't changed - it's this Monday. Oh, but depending on what day my doctor put on her form I was cleared to return on either Saturday or Sunday. Um ... I wouldn't be working on either of those days so why the FUCK does it matter?! Rage-honing, I tell you. It's a good thing I have no psychic powers, else she would have perished in flames.
On Wednesday, I had the official postpartum checkup. I'm healthy and nicely healed up (especially considering the rough delivery), says the doc. All cleared for work! The husband will take over primary child care duties when I return to work, though he'll spend a couple hours each morning at work. This is new for us - he has seldom been alone for so long with EM Jr and ditto for me. I'll have to take a breast pump to work. Not sure how the husband will adapt - I shouldn't worry so much, but I don't want him to be as isolated as I was. It's not easy.
Today I drove to San Francisco for some shopping. Went to Rainbow Grocery to stock up and bought new shoes in Noe Valley (Astrid Rabat RULES - and I got a new pair of Seibels on sale). As predicted, I've gone up a shoe size due to the pregnancy. At least I have 1 pair of work shoes now to add to my sandals and athletic shoes. I will need more shoes erelong but one is better than none. A fabulous trip, made slightly bittersweet knowing I won't be able to take a weekday jaunt like that for quite some time.
On a silly note, last night I dreamt I was getting married again!!! I don't recall the groom (hey, unimportant!) but I do remember feeling enthusiastic about planning the wedding details. *twitch* Mark of insanity, I tell ya.