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Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

Puppmom, Thanks for the ideas. I hadn''t thought about any of that and will definitely confirm with my boss before making any decisions. I NEVER want to go back to work after the holidays, so I can''t imagine I will want to when nearing my due date! Haha, but you''re right, maybe I will have rested up over the holidays.

Allie, Congrats on team blue.
 
Date: 6/8/2010 2:50:22 PM
Author: Loves Vintage
Lulu - Can''t believe you''re 38 weeks! Wow, time seems to fly, eh? Glad to hear the weather has improved. Hope it stays that way!

Lulu''s post brought a question to my mind. Are most people leaving work before their due date, or working as late as possible? If leaving beforehand, how far in advance? Two weeks?

Since my due date is 1/10/11, I can''t see going back to work after the holidays, but I suppose it is something to consider.
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LV - We have the same due date
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I''m thinking the same thing... It''s only a week after all. My worry is that I''ll end up being two weeks late or something and then it will turn into three weeks before baby arrives! I''ll probably worry too much and end up working that week
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Congrats on team blue Allie!!
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Kunzite - Yay for 1/10/11!! How fun is this going to be?!?!? How are you feeling? The after-holidays break sure does sound tempting. I am going to try to take more than the FMLA protected period. Maybe 6 months? So, that, in part, leads me to feel more comfortable taking some time off before birth, but we will see. I have no idea what my employer will accept. I'm also going to try for returning to work on a part-time basis, 3 days per week, ideally, but again, no idea if my boss will go for that. We are a very small department, but this is all unprecedented territory as I am the only female, aside from support staff, and their children are all grown. My boss is VERY family-focused, so I have that going for me. There's only been one other pregancy in our entire office since I've been there. I know she was denied part-time, but I suspect my boss is not even aware of that and would not be influenced by this particular other boss's decision.

I know I need to have suggestions for how my work will be handled while I'm away. We do have a "consultant", another attorney who performed the same work that I do now, before me, on a consultant basis. My boss was not pleased with his work, which is why he hired me full-time, but we have used him for fill-in work in the past. The only problem with this solution is that I don't want to risk losing my job to this guy. The risk of that happening is pretty low, but it is still a concern.

If anyone has thoughts on the above, I sure would appreciate it. I'm still trying to work all of this out and will probably talk to my boss in 2 weeks or so.
 
Congratulations on TEAM BLUE Allie!!!!

HH - this morning, I was definitely a heifer with mono! LOL!!!
 
Yay for team blue Allie! Congrats!

BB, I''ve had a lot of those ''why is this happening *this* early?'' moments, and the out-of-breathe thing is one of them. At 20 weeks I was definitely felt like there was some seriously reduced cardiac capacity (though maybe the greedy belly was just sucking up all the oxygen rather than making it available to the rest of me.) Plus there is just so much extra blood to push around, makes me feel sluggish. Anyway, not much to be done about it!

I''m ~ 5.5 months and feel like I''ve been preggo awhile! Not quite ready for the bebe yet, but 3+ more months of preggo-land does seem like a lot. Anyway! My friend delivered her second this weekend, a 9.5 lb baby boy, so hopefully he''ll be a playmate for our LO once they get older!
 
Allie, congrats on team blue! You''re going to love having a boy!
 
BB, I like the names! So on the Aden spelling, without knowing I''d be inclined to say the ''A'' as in Adam or apple rather than ''A'' as in ate or the typical Aiden pronunciation. Which are you aiming for? Either way, you may have to correct a few people but that''s not a big deal.
 
Thanks Cara - I told DH this, but then I did research and it's actually one of the spellings of Aiden. Grammatically, it is correct and should be pronounced like Aiden - the A should be prounced like AID, as in the word Gatorade. If it was Adden, then I could see people pronouncing it like A as in Apple. DH was against the Irish spelling for some reason (apparently, he knows a guy with that spelling and can't stand him - gotta love the name associations we all get hung up on) and honestly our last name is long so the few letters, the better!
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LV, yay for a long maternity leave! That will be nice. I''m already dreading going back after 12 weeks.
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HH, I hope you''re home resting soon. They gave you the day off tomorrow, right?
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So...I think I''m going to cloth diaper. I''m pretty sold on the grovia (formerly grobaby) so I bought three to try them out. If they work, I''ll buy a bunch. I''ll have to work my way through the stash my mom has accumulated for us first but that''s probably for the best since those first few weeks will be ROUGH anyway. Oh, and DH and I have a wedding to go to this weekend and I''m all excited because I found a non-maternity dress to wear. I tried on a bunch of stuff in Destination Maternity and they all made me feel like a cow (I mean, heifer
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) AND anything remotely flattering was EXPENSIVE. Anyway, I found this dress in black at Marshalls for $39! The best part is - I was able to get my *regular* size since it isn''t form fitting so I may be able to wear it again. My cleavage is a bit obnoxious in the dress but hey, what else do I have giong for me at 32 weeks pregnant?
 
Cute dress Puppmom! I have a wedding coming up at the end of the month and I''m trying to look around myself. I need one for the rehersal dinner AND wedding. Any suggestions on where I can find some cute maternity dresses besides Destination Maternity/Pea in the Pod?
 
Cute dress Pupp! I''ve found I can still pull off non maternity dresses if I''m careful about trying them on before I buy them and wearing a cami to hide the girls.

I''m back in the office today
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boo....I did come in a smidgen late and I''ll probably leave a bit early but my boss was on the red eye last night and I wasn''t sure if she''d be in at all so I wanted to be here for most of the day. That''s not to say I''m actually doing work though...

I just got my shower invitation in the mail today, it''s SO CUTE!

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Hello Ladies,
Things are pretty busy around here with Alek and a 3 yr old so I haven''t had a spare minute to think of downloading any of the pics off my camera yet or typing our birth story (it''s pretty short) .. (Sorry...)

Alek and I are doing wonderful and he is such a delight to finally be able to hold and cover in kisses! He is such a big boy- definately doesnt look newborn to me and has already grown out of some of the newborn clothes (So glad he got to wear those once...
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) He had is first appt. yesterday and is now at 9lbs3oz - not much of a surprise that he''s growing as he is running me completely out of energy daily/nightly/hourly with the feedings. I don''t know how much more my nipples can take
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.

Thank you ALL so much for all of the warm congrats, I have had a chance to lurk via phone while feeding, but getting out the laptop is nearly impossible for the most part right now. When I get a spare moment that he lets me set him down I am busy having tea parties and dressing up DD babies for her... I will try to get a pic up sometime soon for you all!

Sorry I can''t catch up with everyone else today, Alek is grunting at me to feed him again...
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Puppmom - Yes, a long leave does sound nice doesn't it? I still haven't told my employer about the LO and am trying to hold off a little while longer (just 9.5 weeks now!) I have no idea whether my plan will be accepted, so right now it is just what I want.

SoExcited - A short birth story sounds nice. I'll look forward to hearing about it when you have time.

HH - Very cute! Goes along with your nursery theme, right?

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Another question from me today - Short Term Disability. I looked at our benefit book and see that I have 13 weeks pay at 100% and 13 weeks pay at 60% salary. I also see that the definition of disability includes pregnancy if I am unable to perform the material duties of my job. What does this typically mean? I know that it must be very company-specific, but I cannot talk to my HR department yet, so was curious if anyone knows whether disability is commonly paid during maternity. I couldn't find anything that specifically says there is coverage during maternity leave. Does my doctor determine when I am ok to go back to work?

I know I should just wait to speak with HR, but DH asks me about this periodically, because he is putting a master-budget together, as he is apt to do, which is great, because I am apt not to. Haha.
 
LV you really do need to speak to HR or call the company that handles your STD plan. It's very very important to understand this benefit in full as it varies by company and policy.

I can only speak to my particular policy and company.

My STD covers 66% of pay up to 6 weeks post birth for vag and 8 weeks post birth for c/s. HOWEVER, and this is big. It doesn't pay out until the 31st day out of work and it's not retroactive. So essentially while it covers 6/8 weeks I'll only realize 2/4 weeks of $$ from it. This is just for the post birth period. If, for some reason, I have to go out on dis (bed rest, etc) prior to delivery, then it will kick in at 66% after the 31st day of being off of work for the time I'm out on dis, including the 6/8 week post preg period. Does that make sense? Oh, and during the time I'm out on leave I'm also responsible for paying my share of health insurance premiums.

So my maternity leave package looks like this (I will only receive 8 weeks of job protection from the state because I haven't been at my company a year. It will go up to 12 (FMLA) if I go late and deliver on or after 10/5-I'm due 9/21).

Weeks 1-4 (20 days) combo of vacation/sick time at 100% and paying my share into benefits
Weeks 5-6 (or weeks 5-8 if I have a c/s) short term dis at 66% and paying my share into benefits
Weeks 7-8 (no c/s) unpaid and paying my share into benefits

weeks 9-12 (if I go late) unpaid and paying my share into benefits

ETA: a friend recently had to go back to work 2 weeks early because she didn't fully understand her plan and thought she'd be paid for the full 8 weeks for a c/s instead of the 6 after her STD kicked in. So I think this is a pretty standard practice.
 
LV, I agree with HH - talk to HR. It''s always way more complicated than they make it seem. I''m currently eligible for 12 weeks full pay STD and 12 weeks half pay STD BUT, and this is a big BUT, post delivery STD covers ONLY 6 weeks unless your doctor doesn''t clear you to work after 6 weeks. If, for some reason, I was put on bedrest before the delivery, that''s where the other STD will come in. My leave will look like this assuming I have a vaginal delivery and require no bedrest prior to delivery:

weeks 1-6 - full pay STD
weeks 7-10 - used accrued PTO
weeks 11-12 - unpaid AND my first paid back will be adjusted for benefits deductions etc.

HH, darling invites!

BB, I recommend department stores for dresses. Empire waist dresses are still pretty popular and definitely suit the preggo body. The boobs seem to be more of an issue than the belly. Also, if you have a Marshalls or TJ Maxx near, start trolling there to look for a deal.
 
Ahh, thank you HH and Puppmom. That sounds a lot more like what I would expect, though the 2 week waiting period (or whatever it would be called) that HH menioned sounds a bit unreasonable/misleading. I'll be sure to clarify that. And, I will talk to HR after I tell my boss. I can't talk to them sooner because I'm sure it would be the equivalent to just telling my boss, so of course, I should talk with him first. I may just break down and do it today. I can't take it any longer!!!!!!!

But, seriously, thank you. DH just sent me his "preliminary budget." Gotta love him!
 
Good luck! They sure are tricky with this maternity leave business. Budget? We don''t have one of those.
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Grandma and Grandpa were getting impatient waiting for more pics so here are a few of the little man.

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#2

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Last One for now.

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So Excited - those pictures are fantastic. I can see the resemblance with your daughter. He''s is cutie! And please pass along any short labor dust you might have left over
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LV - good luck working out your leave. I had mine all set and now working next week up until my due date seems more daunting that I hoped. part of me wants to stop early, but then I don''t really want to complicate all of the start/finish dates. However, if this kid decides to show up tomorrow that would be fine by me
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blushing - I honestly wore a lot of non-maternity, especially in dresses, for most of my pregnancy. Your bump looks pretty tiny for a twin momma, so maybe just try your favorite store and see what you can find. good luck!!
 
Mini-update: I spoke with my boss after everyone else left for the day. After the initial astonishment (haha) passed, we spoke in a very preliminary manner about future plans. He was very receptive to my suggestion to return to work part-time, told me that he's been considering hiring an additional (junior) person and said the timing would work out well for me to get the new person started. He was very happy, though a bit shocked.
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SoExcited, So Adorable! I see the resemblance too!!!

Lulu, You're so close!! Good for you for sticking it out!
 
SoExcited, your little man is ADORABLE! He looks *milk drunk* in the first pic - at least that''s the look my nephew has on his face after a bottle. And WOW - he looks just like your DD!

LV, I''m glad you had a positive conversation with your boss. What a relief.
 
So handsome SE!!! Congrats!

LV glad it went well :)
 
Here''s my belly photo for the week. We run about a week behind since we take pics on Sunday. Here I am at 31 weeks this past Sunday.

Anyone else notice that their hormones have got the best of them again? I super annoyed that DH insisted we go to his coworker''s wedding on Saturday. I can stop being a total biatch about it. I seriously want to hurt him!

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Whoah, that''s life size! Sorry about that...let''s try this again.

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Awe Pupp you are seriously cute! I hope my belly looks half as cute at 31 weeks :)
 
awww so cute pupp!

and BTW my hormones are raging too- DH calls me "the hurricane" because the house must be clean at all times (ie spotless!) or I get really upset when I come home from work- lol
 
HH - your invites are great! love the theme.

pupp - love that round little belly!!

lucy - I am the same way right now and frankly it scares me. I generally like things tidy, but I''ve recently taken it to a whole new level - if anything is slightly messy or disorganized or there is even one sock to wash I feel like I must restore the order
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So, I''m just shy of 39 weeks and ready to say goodbye to pregnancy and hello to this baby. Fortunately, I''m still feeling good with the exception of heartburn and hips that are really feeling, well loose, making walking, sleeping, etc quite uncomfortable. I joined our neighborhood pool, so I''m hoping that I can float through the weekend
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Here''s my BPF: Lulu''s Belly Is Like Whoa

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