Maternity Leave Preparedness

There were many phases for my maternity leave prep, and I know hubby thought I was a bit nutso about the things I did to "nest" (my choice word and the word Dan came to loathe). The biggest buckets of things I did to prep were:

1. Work Prep
2. Nesting around the house
3. Stockpiling food
4. Making a list of maternity leave to-do's
5. Medical Directive / Will
6. Physical Fitness

When it came to work, I was fully intending to take advantage of the awesome policy offered in which expecting mothers could take off two weeks prior to their due date as paid time off which does not count against their maternity leave paid time off. I also had a week of carry-over vacation I was going to use, so I had three full weeks! of time ahead of Z's due date to get things done around the house, and try to catch up on sleep and whatnot. I was somewhat wondering, after I had this planned, what I was going to do with myself for three full weeks. Well...Z decided to come three weeks and a day early so I didn't have to wonder what I would do with myself then! I lost out on those three weeks of paid time off, but that's alright. She was worth it! But, prior to all of this, I thankfully had gotten my work stuff in order and fully transitioned things off to those who were going to take over for me. If it weren't my nature to be so prepared, things would have been in a heck of a lot worse shape. Thankfully, the coworkers I'm close with told me many times how appreciative they were of how prepared I was.

When it came to nesting...let's just say that I had all Z's clothes, sheets, etc. all washed, folded and ready to go. Her room was set minus her crib (we were superstitious and didn't want to set up the crib until after she was born). Diapers and wipes were stockpiled. Baby stuff was stashed in places around the house where I thought I would need it (having never been a mom before, this was only a guess). I also made sure the house was cleaned from top to bottom, and even cleaned ridiculous things like light switches - that grime on the switch from fingers was really gross to me while pregnant for some reason. And the dust and grime that was on our baseboards also got to me. So needless to say, they also were cleaned! I got our hospital bag all packed and it sat in the car for a week before I even went into labor. I realized, just like you always hear, you pack so much more than you actually use. The most important things I packed and used were my toiletries case (yay, clean teeth and face wash and SOAP!!), comfy pants and tops and hubby's "Dad, Established 2017" shirt which I gave him for this very occasion.

Now, where I really hit the ball out of the park was preparing food and freezing it well in advance. I am SO thankful I did as much as I did. I made multiple lasagnas in freezable trays. Made multiple batches of my famous maple cornbread and froze in pre-cut slabs for easy removal and defrosting for whatever portions we wanted. I bought some frozen breakfast sandwiches (which, DO NOT get Jimmy Dean's egg and bacon on english muffins - the muffins turn into rock hard discs even when you defrost how it tells you. BLECH). I also bought and froze several loafs of bread, English Muffins, and we had a huge stockpile of beef from the free-range cow we bought earlier in the year. I made several pots of chili ready to go or to put into the crockpot to simmer down. I also made sure we had a lot of frozen chicken either cooked/seasoned for easy picking or made it into chicken enchiladas, quesadillas...and I also had some uncooked frozen chicken to pull out for when we wanted something different. I also made sure to have sausage frozen along with buns. I also made some homemade soups (chicken noodle and a beef stew). I bought lots of frozen veggies and fruits for easy dinners or to blend into smoothies.

And the pantry - now that was also another marvel. I bought food from canned soup to canned fruit, raisins, granola bars, favorite candy (and thanks to my mama for getting me some of my favorites to have on hand!), trail mix, peanuts, cereal galore, salad dressing galore (hubby calls my favorite foods rabbit food). I also need not have worried about food because my awesome mother, sister, and mother-in-law also made us meals which we ate while they were here and they made extras of for us to eat (and my sister even made us a meal just to freeze for later consumption). We were set!

One thing I was concerned about was the potential to get stuck in a rut of doing the same thing day in and day out while on maternity leave - or forgetting that I have interests other than the baby. So I made a list for myself of volunteer activities Z and I could do together; books I could read; movies I wanted to watch which hubby would have no interest in; ideas for things I wanted to make (think crafty projects like Z's Christmas stocking or her hand/footprint, her birth announcements, etc.). I also put on my list that I wanted to take walks in different parks in the area - meaning, finally explore some of the areas I know less well around here, while getting exercise and enjoying time with Z in nature. I also had lofty goals of working out to yoga and HIIT youtube videos or from my Fitbit Fitstar programs - I was able to do this for about the first 4 months, but then Z got more active and required more of my attention, so this was replaced more by walks together and then later, after her six month birthday, runs together (finally, I could run with her!!). What was really cool, also, was that one of my friends and colleagues went on her maternity leave a couple of months after I did, and she is also a fitness buff, so once she was ready, we would take weekly walks in the park together with our little ones. It was a great way for us to stay sane, get exercise, be outside, stimulate our daughters and to vent/talk about our lives and the struggles and joys of being new mothers. It really was wonderful. After I returned to work, it became a lot more difficult for us to meet up mainly because I have so much I have to get done when I get home, but we were able to make it work a couple of times. 

Lastly, as part of my prep for little Z, was much more adult and definitely not something I looked forward to. I decided that I needed to write my medical directive in the event anything horrible happened while I was in labor. I put a lot of thought into what I wanted, used a guide I found online for my state (apparently medical directives are state-dependent, which makes sense because there may be different state/local laws regarding medical care). I had to then get two witnesses, who were not my medical power of attorney (primary or secondary) to sign this after witnessing me sign it of my own free will. I asked family members to do that because it wasn't exactly something I wanted my friends to have to do. I then scanned and emailed my medical directive to my primary and back-up people plus other important family members and then stored it away in a safe place. Checked that box and don't care to have to go back to look at that document until I feel my thoughts on things have changed, if they ever do. 

Hubby and I also decided that with us now bringing a new life into the world, we needed to finally do that really REALLY adult task of...writing our wills. We are still in the process of getting our wills finalized. I can say that meeting with the lawyer for the very rushed hour we did, there were so many different emotions that ran through both of us from - oh my god, we have to think of that?? to realizing our own mortality to thinking of who we felt was most capable to support our daughter (and any future children). It was quite a somber event, needless to say. Thankfully, hubby and I are aligned almost all the time on big life things like this, so our choices for primary and back-up designee's was fairly straight-forward. The more nitty gritty things like, do we want buried or cremated? How do we want our memorial service to go?, etc. were some of the more painful and emotionally draining things to consider. We're almost there, though, and I cannot wait to have this box checked as well and not have to think about it until something big happens in life that requires us to do so.

I pride myself in being a very fit person. I've also been blessed with very good genetics so I have a very high metabolism and a lot of lean, defined muscle mass. I also enjoy the high I get from working out and like seeing the results of working out - physically, mentally and emotionally. I was also very vain about what would become of my body post-baby. I think continuing exercise up until three days before Zoe's birth was one of the most positive things I did while pregnant. My ways of staying active included running until my bladder literally couldn't stand being jostled by running even after immediately emptying it...!; power vinyasa yoga up until three days before her birth; HIIT up until my uterus was so large it really prevented my lungs from keeping up with the cardio; TRX; ballet barre; walks; softball in my first trimester. I honestly feel strongly that staying active while pregnant significantly benefits your growing baby. It also, clearly, benefits you. I felt the most fit in my life the year leading up to my pregnancy, and I think that made a huge difference in making my pregnancy so easy on me. I had no morning sickness and really had no complaints except towards the end when my round ligament pains started up - and then the last week with my back labor (OUCH!). My ujjai yoga breathing was THE thing that helped me to meditate while in labor for 40 (yes, 4-0) hours and enabled me to get through about 36 of those hours without an epidural (more on the labor story in another post). Being fit also allowed for me to bounce back so quickly from labor with minimal pain; I actually pushed myself too hard within the first four weeks post-partum by going to a gentle yoga class - when your Obstetrician tells you no exercise for six weeks, listen to her (my sister would be so proud of me for iterating this, as she is an Ob/Gyn and got quite upset at me for doing this). Blood clots and other stuff are not fun things and have potentially really dangerous consequences. So, take my advice, as one exercise crazed woman to another, take the time to heal and instead of doing acrobatics (aka yoga) or intense exercises, settle for walks. It will be fine. I didn't believe it myself - thought I would go crazy or lose my fitness immediately by letting six weeks go by. I may have gone a little crazy in those six weeks,but that can be chalked up to the obvious - there was this little being who was completely dependent upon us (and mostly me at that stage) who was on a two hour sleep cycle. I did notice, once I got past the six weeks, that yes, I did lose some core muscles - and yes, I did get defeated and frustrated by that a good deal. To counter those moments of being down, I reminded myself that I had just pushed our daughter out of my vijay-jay and with minimal pain, so I was pretty bad a$$.