WEEK FIVE

Caitlyn has made some developments.  She is 10 lbs 13 ounces.  The frequency of her spit up attacks has gone down dramatically.  It might be due to the increase in the zantac medicine or the way I have been feeding her.  I no longer use the Boppy (my favorite baby item of all time) and just hold her in a more vertical position.  Her spit up attacks also seem to disappear when she is given a bottle.

I might jinx myself for saying this so early on, but I think Caitlyn has a routine.  Her day consists of sleeping, pooping, eating and getting changed with some tummy/playtime mixed in..  She is also a lot more alert now.  Caitlyn has a few spans during the day when she is awake for more than an hour or so.  Sometimes she is content, other times it may be a crying fit.  The best part is at night.  I try to feed her around 8 to 9 and she goes down sound asleep at 10.  Usually, for the last week or so, she will sleep from 10 to 3:00.  This is amazing.  I can't believe a 5 week old is sleeping 5 hour stretches at night.  I do hope it lasts and the stretches get even longer.

There have also been so very upsetting maternity leave developments this week as well.  I checked my work email and noticed that EAG HR wanted me to call her.  She informed me that regardless of what my doctor wrote on the Sun Life Disability claim (not to return to work until June 9th), Sun Life will not grant C-section mothers more than 8-weeks disability.  Further explanation is required by your OB to explain why you must need more than 8 weeks to recover.  This has caused all sorts of problems.

When I first learned I was pregnant, I asked EAG HR and Wildlife HR to let me know how much vacation, sick and STD I would use and how many weeks I would get paid for.  Wildlife HR didn't help at all and refereed me to EAG HR.  EAG HR wrote me a spreadsheet explaining how many days I would use for vacation, sick, and disability. The spreadsheet had disability lasting 12 weeks and I would only be out $760 at the end of my 12 weeks off.  However, when she called me early in the week, this was completely wrong.  I can only get 8 weeks disability because I had a C-section.  It is only 6 weeks for vaginal delivery.  Exceptions are hardly ever granted for extension of disability unless hospitalized with an infection.  EAG HR should have known this since I was the fifth person (maybe sixth) to have gone through with maternity leave.  The spreadsheet was emailed back to me and I am now missing $3200 (not taxed either = about $4500).  I am extremely mad that this could have ever happened.  I wish I knew I would not get paid for 4 weeks.  I would have changed my whole maternity leave strategy. I am hoping that I will be able to warn all others at work about EAG HR.

Regardless of all the problems lately, Colby and Caitlyn's smiles keep me grounded.