leave

I "start" my maternity leave today. Yesterday was supposed to be my last day but I'm in the office for just a few hours today to clean out my desk, clear out my inbox (HA! with 600+ emails in the past month, I'll just mark them all read for now...), and put up an OOO msg on my outgoing emails. *sniff*sniff*... tears of pure joy!

There are so many things women don't talk about in regards to pregnancy/childbirth/the aftermath of it all. Much of it is too ick to go into here and so I'll save it for my other blog but seriously, if/when one of you ladies get pregnant, do yourself a favor and ask as many personal questions possible to your mommy friends. Stretch marks, constipation, hemorroids, darkening skin and freckles, peeing your pants every time you sneeze/jump/move, the squirty bottle of water they give you at the hospital... how come no one ever tells you about that stuff? Ask me if you don't have anyone else to ask... I'm more than willing to share some tribal knowledge with you. and maybe some photos.

With 4 weeks until the due date of #2 (still nameless, btw. she may just be named "#2" at this point), I'm starting to remember all of those things that come with post partum and getting slightly nervous. Last time around, I had a bout of ppd and never want to go thru that again; poor Steve single-parented for quite a few months with Kylie until I could get my sh*t together. If anyone notices me tailspinning down that same path, shake me and point me to the closest pharmacy, yeah?

This just goes to show you how incredibly important it is to have a supportive, loving spouse. I highly recommend one to everyone.