Last year on this week I started my maternity leave.
I had counted down the days on the calendar at work. Getting up every day was a struggle to find clothes to fit into and shoes that wouldn’t cause my feet to swell. I was exhausted by lunch time and found that I couldn’t work the way I used to. I forgot things, I moved slow, I had to use the bathroom every half hour. My job is fast paced and I just wasn’t able to keep up.
On top of that there was the other issue at work.
A woman I worked with (she quit shortly after I returned from maternity leave) was harassing me and the other women in our department. She wouldn’t speak to us, she refused to do her job in a timely fashion because she knew it would cause us stress, she bad mouthed us to the office, she snapped at us, screamed at us and threw things at us. It was horrible. Just writing about it causes me stress. We were afraid of her and nothing was done.
But that is the past.
I walked out of my job to start my maternity leave and I felt such a sense of relief. Those 3 weeks before I had Jack were the best of my pregnancy.
I took walks every day. I snuggled with my dog. I put my feet up and watched my soaps. I cooked and I cleaned. I nested. I organized cabinets that hadn’t been touched in years. I went to the library. I shopped. I shopped so much that 10 days before my due date my water broke after a long day of shopping.
I wrote and read, while snuggled up on the glider in Jack’s room and dreamed of the day when he would sit with me and I would read to him.
I napped. For the first time in my life I could nap and not wake up feeling nauseous.
Those were great days filled with a sense of peace and relaxation that I will never have again. And that’s OK, but those were good days.
Me on November 7, 2010.
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Oh this is beautiful, thank you for bringing me back to the 3 weeks of mat leave I had before my first born.
You were so cute preggo, all belly 🙂 I didn't have those nesting weeks… Crosby came a month early and I worked the day before he was born! (he was born on a Saturday) So I had to send my sister and hubby shopping to finish buying the necessities like the monitor and preemie clothes! Good times! lol
You brought back many memories in this post. It was super fun with the first one because there were no other babies crawling around. The excitement of your first impending baby is unparalleled.
I always wonder at women who literally work up until they go into labor. I went out at 22 weeks and can't imagine continuing full time until we delivered at 34. I'm glad you had the opportunity to rest and savor those last precious weeks of pregnancy.
Those were the days, right? I never got to enjoy the my maternity leave with the 1st set of twins because the day after my leave started, I ended up in the hospital on bedrest. I'm not even kidding. My kind of luck. Thankfully, I was released but on orders for strict bedrest at home. I was completely bummed but I do have to admit, it felt kinda nice to just lay in bed without a care in the world. And everyone told me to enjoy it while I could. I wish I had relished it more…LOL!!
Unlike you, I squandered those last moments of relaxing selfishness agnsting over my MIL. Never to return again after the birth of the first (well first two in my case) baby! Stupid me. But they're worth it. I'll rest when I'm dead.