The other evening I was speaking to a colleague of mine, and she was asking about my plans for maternity leave. This was a great opportunity, because she happens to be an expert when it comes to our teaching contract, so she would be able to tell me exactly what I needed to do to make sure I got my proper mat leave.
"I originally applied to take my mat leave starting on February 1st," I told her, "but my doctor thinks I might have to stop working before the end of the month, so I'm planning to just take sick days until February 1st if I have to, then start my mat leave."
"Actually," Kim explained to me, "If your doctor requires you to stop working early, then that's when your mat leave would begin. You could also go on short term disability, but then you would lose your mat leave and go straight to your 37 weeks of parental leave."
"I see," I said slowly, thinking very hard about what she had just said. "Well, what if I just took sick days until my mat leave starts on February 1st?"
"No," Kim said very slowly and patiently, "it doesn't work that way. If you end up going off early, that's when your mat leave would begin. You can't take sick days until your mat leave begins."
"Hmm," I said, carefully considering this information. I wracked my brain to understand the implications of this information. "Well, how about this? I might be repeating myself, but couldn't I just take sick days from now until my mat leave begins?"
Kim gave me a strange look.
"Oh," I said, finally getting it. "I just asked you the same question 10 times, didn't I?"
"Yeah," she replied.
Now, I am not a moron. I know this for an absolute fact, and I have a lot of evidence to back up this claim. I have two Bachelor's degrees, and a straight A average in the Master's program I am currently taking. I have a job that I go to everyday, and I am a functioning member of society. But for some reason, I seem to be doing a series of incredibly stupid things. According to www.whattoexpect.com, pregnancy hormones cause the brain's volume to actually decrease during the third trimester of pregnancy - which means I still have a few more weeks of this craziness to endure.
So, later that same night, I decided to relax in the bathtub - after all, it had been a stressful day. I went into the bathroom, and took the detachable shower head off the wall to rinse out the bottom of the tub before I filled it up. As I was rinsing, the shower head slipped out of my hand, and landed face up at the bottom of the tub, spraying water everywhere.
In retrospect, I can see that a rational person would have simply bent down, picked up the shower head, and them dried them self off with a towel. But as I've already explained, a pregnant person is not a rational person. So, I did what seemed most logical to me in that instant - I screamed and ran out of the bathroom.
Once I was in the hallway, looking back at the water spraying out of the bathroom door onto the carpet, I realized that "pregnancy brain" was definitely becoming an issue for me.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Cleanliness is Next to Goodliness
I have recently discovered an amazing thing. Not discovered in the sense that I didn't know it before, but rather like someone who discovers religion - I had an amazing, eye-opening experience that I feel compelled to share with as many people as I can.
Here it is - I can have a person come to my house, clean it from top to bottom, and all I have to do is pay them a reasonable amount of money. This is huge! No longer do I have to be burdened with thoughts of an unclean bathroom! Instead of stressing that I need to be cleaning something, I can relax and spend time with my husband, or just hang out and be very pregnant.
Now, I understand that a cleaning lady is not for everyone. There are people who actually enjoy cleaning their own home. There's my grandma, and, um... well, probably other people too. And it does cost money - we're paying $25 an hour, and she was here for 3 hours, and is coming every other week. So I don't get off totally scott-free; I will have to do a few things in between. But it is just so worth it. One less menial task to worry about, one less thing to stress about, one less exhausting task.
So, I am strongly recommending that everyone who is pregnant or has kids or is otherwise busy try out the cleaning lady. You don't have to commit to someone forever - just say upfront that you're doing a trial run to see how it goes. Also, you don't have to leave the house. I thought you did, but if you just go hang out in a room that you don't want cleaned - or move rooms half way through, that works too. I had to go out for the first hour, then I had a nap and she just let herself out - easy-peasy.
I can definitely see this being essential when the babies come - we'll just go downstairs while she cleans. I don't even want to think about trying to keep a house clean with two brand new babies. And Garratt will be working a lot, so he's not very useful in the cleaning department. Actually, that's not different from when he's not working. Anyhow, try the cleaning lady. We found ours on kijiji.ca.
Here it is - I can have a person come to my house, clean it from top to bottom, and all I have to do is pay them a reasonable amount of money. This is huge! No longer do I have to be burdened with thoughts of an unclean bathroom! Instead of stressing that I need to be cleaning something, I can relax and spend time with my husband, or just hang out and be very pregnant.
Now, I understand that a cleaning lady is not for everyone. There are people who actually enjoy cleaning their own home. There's my grandma, and, um... well, probably other people too. And it does cost money - we're paying $25 an hour, and she was here for 3 hours, and is coming every other week. So I don't get off totally scott-free; I will have to do a few things in between. But it is just so worth it. One less menial task to worry about, one less thing to stress about, one less exhausting task.
So, I am strongly recommending that everyone who is pregnant or has kids or is otherwise busy try out the cleaning lady. You don't have to commit to someone forever - just say upfront that you're doing a trial run to see how it goes. Also, you don't have to leave the house. I thought you did, but if you just go hang out in a room that you don't want cleaned - or move rooms half way through, that works too. I had to go out for the first hour, then I had a nap and she just let herself out - easy-peasy.
I can definitely see this being essential when the babies come - we'll just go downstairs while she cleans. I don't even want to think about trying to keep a house clean with two brand new babies. And Garratt will be working a lot, so he's not very useful in the cleaning department. Actually, that's not different from when he's not working. Anyhow, try the cleaning lady. We found ours on kijiji.ca.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The End of Holidays
Christmas is officially over, and with it the holiday season, which means I have to go back to work on Monday. This is unfortunate for a few reasons.
First of all, no one wants to go to work. If someone said to you, "Hey, you can go to work today, or stay home. Whatever you want, no big deal," there is no one on earth (with the possible exception of my dad) who would go to work. I like my job more than most people, but I would stay home given the chance.
But more importantly, I don't want to go to work because I am not sure that I can physically do it. At 27 weeks now, I am measuring the size of a normal 40 weeks pregnant person - the point at which people typically give birth. Here's me on Christmas day:
I like this picture because if you use your thumb to cover the belly, I look like a normal sized person.
Anyway, I know all of you non-teachers are thinking to yourselves, "What's so physically demanding about teaching? All you do is stand at the front of the room and talk. You could even sit down and do that." Let's assume this is true - I'm only working half days, and I only have 4 weeks to go, so for 20-ish work days I have to sit and talk for a few hours each day.
But there's a lot more to this equation. First of all, I have to get up at 6:30 in the morning to get ready. Not a big deal for a non-pregnant person, but I wake up 4-8 times a night to pee or because I'm sore or uncomfortable, so that makes 6:30 pretty early. Then I have to drive 45 minutes on the highway to get to work. Not tiring in itself, but driving tired can be a hazard.
Then I get to work, and park my car. Now I have to walk about 100 feet from my car to the office to put away my things. At this point, I will be exhausted. I'll have to sit down for a few minutes to catch my breath. When I'm ready, I will walk about 50 feet from the office to my classroom, finally ready to start the day. By this time, I will be ready for a nap.
I did have an idea about how to get rid of some of the walking to make my life a little easier. When maintenance workers come into the school, they pull their vehicle right up onto the grass and park directly beside the front door. Sometimes we do that too, if we are loading or unloading from our vehicles. I was thinking maybe I would just park there for the rest of the semester. I think it would be really entertaining to see how long it would take before my principal said something to me about it. Actually, on the off-chance that she reads my blog, I may have just ruined the joke. I know it would be a lot easier to just ask permission to park at the front - easier, but not at all funny.
Anyways, it's back to work on Monday - that is until some medical professional tells me I'm not physically able, or I pass out from exhaustion, whichever comes first.
First of all, no one wants to go to work. If someone said to you, "Hey, you can go to work today, or stay home. Whatever you want, no big deal," there is no one on earth (with the possible exception of my dad) who would go to work. I like my job more than most people, but I would stay home given the chance.
But more importantly, I don't want to go to work because I am not sure that I can physically do it. At 27 weeks now, I am measuring the size of a normal 40 weeks pregnant person - the point at which people typically give birth. Here's me on Christmas day:
I like this picture because if you use your thumb to cover the belly, I look like a normal sized person.
Anyway, I know all of you non-teachers are thinking to yourselves, "What's so physically demanding about teaching? All you do is stand at the front of the room and talk. You could even sit down and do that." Let's assume this is true - I'm only working half days, and I only have 4 weeks to go, so for 20-ish work days I have to sit and talk for a few hours each day.
But there's a lot more to this equation. First of all, I have to get up at 6:30 in the morning to get ready. Not a big deal for a non-pregnant person, but I wake up 4-8 times a night to pee or because I'm sore or uncomfortable, so that makes 6:30 pretty early. Then I have to drive 45 minutes on the highway to get to work. Not tiring in itself, but driving tired can be a hazard.
Then I get to work, and park my car. Now I have to walk about 100 feet from my car to the office to put away my things. At this point, I will be exhausted. I'll have to sit down for a few minutes to catch my breath. When I'm ready, I will walk about 50 feet from the office to my classroom, finally ready to start the day. By this time, I will be ready for a nap.
I did have an idea about how to get rid of some of the walking to make my life a little easier. When maintenance workers come into the school, they pull their vehicle right up onto the grass and park directly beside the front door. Sometimes we do that too, if we are loading or unloading from our vehicles. I was thinking maybe I would just park there for the rest of the semester. I think it would be really entertaining to see how long it would take before my principal said something to me about it. Actually, on the off-chance that she reads my blog, I may have just ruined the joke. I know it would be a lot easier to just ask permission to park at the front - easier, but not at all funny.
Anyways, it's back to work on Monday - that is until some medical professional tells me I'm not physically able, or I pass out from exhaustion, whichever comes first.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Please pass the geriatric periodical
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Hooray for Nurses
Last night I got to spend the evening in the hospital. No big deal, I was having some cramping and hadn't felt one of the babies move all day, so I decided to go in just to check; I'm a worrier like that.
So anyways, it occurred to me that nurses are amazing. When you think of the health care system, you think of doctors running the show, but in my recent experience that's not been the case. Both last night, and when I went in about a month ago for dehydration due to the flu, I didn't even see a doctor. The nurses in the labor and delivery ward took car of everything, and called the doctor just to check with them that everything was good.
As a teacher, I can see a lot of similarities between the two professions. First of all, you will always get those people who think nurses are jerks, just like you always get those people who think teachers are jerks. You cannot change the minds of these people. They have decided that we are are jaded and hate our jobs, and love to torment those poor saps who fall under our care. But I know this to be true of teachers and I suspect nurses are the same - we wouldn't go to work every day if we didn't love what we do, and generally think that we were or could be making a difference.
The nurses that I have encountered in the last few months (and between myself and my husband there has been a lot), have been kind and compassionate. They genuinely care about their patients, and unlike doctors, have the time to discuss what's going on and answer questions about treatment. They have all been professional and knowledgeable, and have made me feel comfortable being in the hospital.
So how do you account for those people who hate nurses (or teachers, for that matter)? I think you have to remember that these people are human beings just like anyone else. They have crappy days and too much work to do. And, just like teachers, they get people who go into a situation thinking that they need to be an advocate and fight for what they want, when in reality, they need to respect the education and professional knowledge of the person they are dealing with and work with them to find a solution to their problems. And they need to be nice - I have never had a nurse act rudely or unkindly toward me, because I make a point of being nice to them.
Come to think of it, nurses and teachers really ought to get together and share some war stories. I think we have a lot more in common than we have previously realized.
So anyways, it occurred to me that nurses are amazing. When you think of the health care system, you think of doctors running the show, but in my recent experience that's not been the case. Both last night, and when I went in about a month ago for dehydration due to the flu, I didn't even see a doctor. The nurses in the labor and delivery ward took car of everything, and called the doctor just to check with them that everything was good.
As a teacher, I can see a lot of similarities between the two professions. First of all, you will always get those people who think nurses are jerks, just like you always get those people who think teachers are jerks. You cannot change the minds of these people. They have decided that we are are jaded and hate our jobs, and love to torment those poor saps who fall under our care. But I know this to be true of teachers and I suspect nurses are the same - we wouldn't go to work every day if we didn't love what we do, and generally think that we were or could be making a difference.
The nurses that I have encountered in the last few months (and between myself and my husband there has been a lot), have been kind and compassionate. They genuinely care about their patients, and unlike doctors, have the time to discuss what's going on and answer questions about treatment. They have all been professional and knowledgeable, and have made me feel comfortable being in the hospital.
So how do you account for those people who hate nurses (or teachers, for that matter)? I think you have to remember that these people are human beings just like anyone else. They have crappy days and too much work to do. And, just like teachers, they get people who go into a situation thinking that they need to be an advocate and fight for what they want, when in reality, they need to respect the education and professional knowledge of the person they are dealing with and work with them to find a solution to their problems. And they need to be nice - I have never had a nurse act rudely or unkindly toward me, because I make a point of being nice to them.
Come to think of it, nurses and teachers really ought to get together and share some war stories. I think we have a lot more in common than we have previously realized.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
You can never have too many placentas
I am going to say something that is totally unheard of and politically incorrect - I do care whether it is a boy or a girl. When someone asks you if you're hoping for a boy or a girl, you're supposed to say "I don't care, as long as the baby is healthy!" This is a huge lie.
The truth is, I REALLY want a baby girl. Before we found out we were having twins, I was really hoping for a girl. So much so, that the whole reason I wanted to find out the sex was so that if it was a boy, I didn't want to feel disappointed in the delivery room, so I needed time to be happy about it.
Then we found out about the twins ( a whole 'nother story!) The tech showed us the sex of Baby A, and there was clearly a penis. Small, but significant. We examined Baby B really closely, and there was no penis. I made him look really hard. He told us that he is not allowed to say for sure what the sex of a baby is, but I got him to level with me, and he said he felt fairly sure that it was a girl. I did too - I looked VERY closely. At the ultrasound, he told us that the babies were in two different sacs, but he said he wasn't allowed to say whether or not there were two placentas - weird, I thought, but I was concerned about other things at the time.
So, last doctor's appointment, I remembered about the placenta issue, and I asked my doctor how many there were - I never would have thought to have cared, except that the tech kind of made it sound like it was a big deal.
"Well," she said, looking at the ultrasound pics, "there are two sacs. Which is expected, since you have boy and girl" (I had told her that) "And it looks like one placenta."
"So what does that mean?" I asked.
"Nothing," she replied, "there's just one, that's all."
I knew right then that this didn't add up. When it comes to pregnancy, nothing never means nothing. Everything means something. A higher risk or this, a lesser chance of that. I resolved to Google this asap at home.
So, it turns out that it is possible to have fraternal twins share a placenta, but the odds are are like one in a billion. One of the defining characteristics or fraternal twins is two placentas. There have been a couple documented cases of sharing, but it pretty much doesn't happen. (Check out the New England Journal of Medicine for more info on that juicy tidbit.) I'd like to think that I'm beyond average, but there are only two or three documented cases, so I'm not going to hold my breath.
There is another possibility, which is that the little fertilized eggs implanted themselves really closely together, and the two placentas grew so close that they fused, and even though there is still two, it looks like only one (picture on the top right).
So, I still have a chance to have my girl. The scary thing is, though, my doctor didn't say "two fused placentas". She clearly said "one placenta". And one placenta only occurs in identical twins. So, you can see where I'm going with this...two boys.
Really, the only way to know is to have another ultrasound. I don't have one scheduled now, but I'm seeing the twin specialist OB at the end of January, so hopefully he'll send me for one, or clarify the placenta thing. Nothing to do now but wait. In the meantime, I'm only buying things in unisex colors.
Then we found out about the twins ( a whole 'nother story!) The tech showed us the sex of Baby A, and there was clearly a penis. Small, but significant. We examined Baby B really closely, and there was no penis. I made him look really hard. He told us that he is not allowed to say for sure what the sex of a baby is, but I got him to level with me, and he said he felt fairly sure that it was a girl. I did too - I looked VERY closely. At the ultrasound, he told us that the babies were in two different sacs, but he said he wasn't allowed to say whether or not there were two placentas - weird, I thought, but I was concerned about other things at the time.
So, last doctor's appointment, I remembered about the placenta issue, and I asked my doctor how many there were - I never would have thought to have cared, except that the tech kind of made it sound like it was a big deal.
"Well," she said, looking at the ultrasound pics, "there are two sacs. Which is expected, since you have boy and girl" (I had told her that) "And it looks like one placenta."
"So what does that mean?" I asked.
"Nothing," she replied, "there's just one, that's all."
I knew right then that this didn't add up. When it comes to pregnancy, nothing never means nothing. Everything means something. A higher risk or this, a lesser chance of that. I resolved to Google this asap at home.
So, it turns out that it is possible to have fraternal twins share a placenta, but the odds are are like one in a billion. One of the defining characteristics or fraternal twins is two placentas. There have been a couple documented cases of sharing, but it pretty much doesn't happen. (Check out the New England Journal of Medicine for more info on that juicy tidbit.) I'd like to think that I'm beyond average, but there are only two or three documented cases, so I'm not going to hold my breath.
There is another possibility, which is that the little fertilized eggs implanted themselves really closely together, and the two placentas grew so close that they fused, and even though there is still two, it looks like only one (picture on the top right).
So, I still have a chance to have my girl. The scary thing is, though, my doctor didn't say "two fused placentas". She clearly said "one placenta". And one placenta only occurs in identical twins. So, you can see where I'm going with this...two boys.
Really, the only way to know is to have another ultrasound. I don't have one scheduled now, but I'm seeing the twin specialist OB at the end of January, so hopefully he'll send me for one, or clarify the placenta thing. Nothing to do now but wait. In the meantime, I'm only buying things in unisex colors.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The First Post
I decided to write a blog about what it's like to carry twins for a few reasons: First, it's really hard to find good information about twin pregnancies - especially compared to the amount of info you can find about singleton pregnancies! Second, I'm getting too big to do much more than type on a computer. I figure this will keep me entertained for the duration of my pregnancy.
I am currently 25 weeks pregnant. If I went 40 weeks, which twins don't, my due date would be April 7, 2011. I think the twins will be here about mid-March - but I'm hoping not on St. Patrick's Day. I've never liked that holiday - it just gives people who are not Irish and don't care about the Irish a chance to get stupidly drunk.
Anyways, my plan is to document everything that goes on in my pregnancy just for something interesting to do, and maybe to entertain others along the way.
I am currently 25 weeks pregnant. If I went 40 weeks, which twins don't, my due date would be April 7, 2011. I think the twins will be here about mid-March - but I'm hoping not on St. Patrick's Day. I've never liked that holiday - it just gives people who are not Irish and don't care about the Irish a chance to get stupidly drunk.
Anyways, my plan is to document everything that goes on in my pregnancy just for something interesting to do, and maybe to entertain others along the way.
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