Regarding Maternity Leave

purple_magada

purple_magada

Cathlete
I just read Wendy's post about starting her maternity leave 3 weeks before her due date. And I thought that I would share my experience with labor. This was my first child so I was clueless as to what labor was. I decided to work up to delivery (as I plan on with this baby unless complications arise) My son's due date was April 20th. So I wake up for work on April 20th. I had to pee really bad and I was walking to the bathroom when my water broke. Being the naive person that I am, I thought I peed my pants. LOL. I also had cramps. I was in a carpool but I decided that I would drive myself that day since I wasn't feeling great. At that time, I worked 72 miles one way from home. So I drive to work, felt ok. I'm at work and I kept leaking. I thought, hey maybe my water did break??? My co-workers were asking me how I was feeling and I said, well I have a bit of pain but it comes and goes. Hello, I was having contractions. My boss told me that I had to go home which was around 10:30. As I was driving home my contractions started getting worse. I got home at 11:30 and my mom took me to the hospital which was about 20 minutes away. I was admitted to Labor & Delivery at noon, 3cm dialated. Had my son at 9:35 that night.

Moral of my story? If you have the option to take an early leave, do so.

This time I'm much more lucky. The hospital is only 5 minutes from where I work. You can see it from our parking lot.
 
Thanks for sharing, Dana!:)

Ya know the whole thing about thinking you pee'd yourself when your water broke? I am afraid I'll think the same thing! LMAO!

I put in for my maternity leave this morning. My last day of work will be May 6th...2 weeks before my due date. I think I should be fine but there are never any garuntees EVEN if I were to take a full month off prior to my due date...and again, I just can't see hanging around at home for THAT LONG waiting for labor to start! EEK! So this is why I have decided on 2 weeks...:)

The only thing that I am TRULY afraid of is having to deliver in a hospital in the city that I work in....EWWWWW! That's my biggest fear if I go into labor before I leave my job....

Have a great work out!

~Wendy~

I smoked my last cigarette on March 17, 2004 at 10:00 pm!

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?WENDYMIN

http://lilypie.com/days/050519/1/0/1/-5/.png[/img][/url]
 
I wondered about this. I asked the doctor yesterday and she said there is no reason I could not work up until the last day. The hospital is about 1/2 way between my home and work.

I plan to stay home after the baby is born so I would like to get every last penny I can!
 
>I plan to stay home after the baby is born so I would like to
>get every last penny I can!

That is another reason why I don't want to go out too early myself!
I won't work up until the last day though because I DO want to reduce the chances of going into labor at my job as much as I can...I am about 30 minutes from the hospital wether I am home or here but being here makes it more complicated and it just makes me a lot more nervous...but that's me. :)


Have a great work out!

~Wendy~

I smoked my last cigarette on March 17, 2004 at 10:00 pm!

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?WENDYMIN

http://lilypie.com/days/050519/1/0/1/-5/.png[/img][/url]
 
Your story cracked me up, Dana (I hope you meant it that way!). I can't believe you didn't realize it was your water breaking - considering it happened on your due date LOL!!! My water broke 2 weeks before my due date. The membranes must have broke some time in the night, because when I sat up to get out of bed in the morning, I felt some fluid leak. At first I thought it was just some discharge. I stood up. The fluid in my uterus literally gushed out! I raced to the bathroom, and it was coming out so fast that the floor immediately became covered with water, and I actually slipped and landed quite hard on my knee. Still, the water gushed. I got myself on the toilet and sat there for what felt like a very long time as the water kept exiting my body. I could not believe how much water was in my uterus!!! I was in complete shock; I had not expected this to happen so dramatically! At first my bewildered mind thought it was pee, but I put my hand in some of the fluid on the floor and smelt it. It had no odour. I didn't really believe that the "water" in your uterus is *truly* water! It had no smell, no colour. And it definitely didn't feel like it was coming from my urethra. There was no ability to control the flow with my muscles, as you can do with urine. It just came out. Given how dramatically my water broke, I had no confusion over what was going on LOL! It was pretty obvious!

But I understand that sometimes the membranes will break above the baby, and the baby itself will block the water from exiting so fast and abundantly. I understand that women can leak small amounts of amniotic fluid, and imagine it can be so slight as to be mistaken for something else.

Wendy, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about going into labour at work. Particularly with a first baby, your labour is likely to be lengthy; contractions starting early and possibly being intermittent for quite some time. Sure, you may start having contractions at work, but unless you are very unusual, you are likely to have quite a number of hours to go between the first contraction and full cervical dilation.

My own personal point of confusion during labour happened at the hospital, when I was waiting for full dilation. It took a couple of days for my cervix to dilate. At one point I kept going to the bathroom because it felt like I had to have a BM. So I'd try to go, but nothing. I was getting frustrated about this, and made a casual remark within earshot of a nurse that I must be constipated. She immediately looked alarmed and had me lie down to check my cervix. Turns out, I was finally fully dilated, and my urge to pass a BM was actually the urge to push out the baby!!! I never in my life imagined that pushing out a baby felt exactly like I was having a BM. I didn't have a medicated birth, so I can't say whether women with epidurals feel the same thing.

Anyhow, this is the end of my essay for the day. Take care!
Sandra
 
Sandra,

Your story made me lol! I had a very similar experience. My first was due a little after Christmas and had planned on working till I had him. I worked the full week and my husband and I were out on a date picking up Christmas gifts at the mall. I kept feeling contractions, although they didn't hurt, I figured they were just Braxton Hix (sp?). Just for fun we timed them and they were three minutes apart. We decided to skip the movie we had scheduled that night just in case and headed home. I hadn't even packed a bag or anything, but we weren't too worried. I called my doctor just in case and they told me to see how things went and if they got stronger to come in. They seemed to go away so we went to sleep that night...luckily with our bags packed. I had planned on actually going to work the next week too. The next morning my alarm rang, I rolled over, felt a little discharge, thought that's odd, and got up to check it in the bathroom. I sat on the toliet and WHOOOOSSSSHHHH. After a while of that I wrapped my self in several towels...I was still gushing on and off and we drove a half an hour to where I was going to give birth. I thought it was funny that they had to test that it was my water that actually broke...I was like... hello, I'm gushing.

Any way, I also personally wouldn't worry too much with working up till your due date (or later if your baby decides they need a few more days) with your first. My water broke at 7am they delivered at 7pm. Your first one usually takes a while.

Lindzebird
 
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!:eek: O.K., now I am scared. I am working up till my due date (actually, I am working on my due date). I have been feeling fine, and except for the occasional ache/pain and swelling-I feel I can keep on going. At least I have a 6-day vacation coming up with Easter break. So, I have 8 more days of work, and two of those will be with a sub working with me (so I can just sit). I work the rest of this week, Mon and Tues of next week, then Tues-Thurs, the week after Easter. Pray for me!
Hey, I teach 1st grade, so if my water breaks in the room, they won't care-they pee their pants occasionally:7
-jen
 
Oh my gosh, Lindzebird, that story cracked me up. I have a friend who had a similar situation, but she actually *went* to the movie! Yes, it's crazy that they had to test that it was actually your water breaking! Some things are a bit obvious, aren't they?

How far along are you with this pregnancy?

Cheers!
Sandra
 
>Hey, I teach 1st grade, so if my water breaks in the room,
>they won't care-they pee their pants occasionally:7

LOL!! Good point!

Sandra
 
Hi,

Seth was due on December 8th. I found out he was breech at 37 weeks. They schedule a c-seciton on December 2. My blood pressure had gradually crept up, so my doctor wanted me to quit working the week before my c-section. So, on November 25th, I worked a half day and was going to eat lunch with co-workers and then enjoy the rest of the week off before having my c-section. Well I drove my co-workers to lunch and had planned to drop them off at work afterwards on my way home. At lunch on November 25th with all of my co-workers sitting in one of those big round booths my water broke. I mean gushed. I flooded the seat. I soaked my socks and my shoes. So my co-workers drove me to my house to get my husband and our other car and then we ALL went to the hospital. They drove one of our cars back to work afterwards. When I came back to work from maternity leave, I found out I had been the talk of our 250+ employee plant! I just told everyone I was a very dedicated employee working until the last possible minute - ha-ha!

shellnc
 
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