Happy Mother's Day to the mamas out there & happy maternity leave to me!

Yes, I have finally started my maternity leave!  My last official day was Thursday last week, at which time I was 38 weeks and 6 days.  I'll admit, the last few weeks were tough.  Not impossible, by any means, but tough.  Early in pregnancy, you just imagine yourself feeling good the whole way though, and you can't imagine any reason why you would need to stop working.  Also, knowing that most (not all) first time moms go past their due date, I didn't want to come off work two weeks early only to wait a month before delivery.

My challenges didn't come from any particular complications, just from having poor sleeps and increasing fatigue.  The other factor that I never took into account was the emotional impact of my job.  The pregnancy hormones can be up & down and I often felt it was more difficult to handle the emotional components of my work, such as breaking bad news to people, or helping patients struggling with stresses, anxiety, and depression.

But now maternity leave is on and I can fully focus my energy on resting up and getting ready for the arrival of Rufus.

Here is how I spent my first few days of maternity leave:

Friday May 10

• Slept in - yay! (only until 730, but this is sleeping in for me!)
• Swim.  I still love my swims, though I am getting slower and slower.  When I first started going to the pool, all the staff and lifeguards would smile at me.  As I got bigger, they started laughing at me (in a nice way!)  Now they look at me with some concern - they are probably worried I will go into labour on the pool deck!
• Brunch with my wonderful hubby.

Breakfast at Chef Big D's: delicious!

• Prenatal massage.  One of the best things I've done in this pregnancy is get hooked up with a RMT with a pregnancy pillow.  That way I can lay face down & get a proper massage.  It's been such a relief for sore back, tight hips, muscle cramps & just general well-being.
• Bye-bye party at work.  My work-mate Dr. H is due three days after me & our receptionist is due 3 weeks later, so we had a little cake & party for us three ladies at lunch.  'Coz you know that pregnant ladies always need more cake.

I'm not crazy about this shot of me, but I will put my vanity aside as it's the only picture of Dr. H and I pregnant together!  At work we don't have to try too hard to find reasons to have tuxedo cake, but three women going off on simultaneous mat leave called for a large cake!

• Afternoon nap.  What else would you do after eating cake for lunch?
• Bake-a-thon begins.  Round one: two dozen muffins.  I think this is what they call nesting.

Whitewater Marvellous Muffins
1. Cranberry, lemon & almond
2. Pineapple, coconut & macadamia nut

• Early to bed.

Saturday May 11

• Slept in again - talk about lazy!
• Bake-a-thon continues.  Lemon-rosemary scones from the Pioneer Woman (I am obsessed with these delicious scones) and Energy Balls (I used to take these to mountain bike races to keep me & my friends fuelled, and I'm thinking we may soon be calling them "Labour Balls"!)

Making Energy Balls while my scones cool.

• Another swim.
• Cooked a big batch of soup.   By sheer luck the recipe that I was drawn to was a new one, so it also qualifies as CookBook Challenge #14.  This lovely soup is the "Summer Harvest Chowder" from ReBar's cookbook.  Fresh corn has been in the stores for a few weeks & I was surprised at how sweet it was.  So naturally I wanted to make it into a hardy & delicious soup for today & for the freezer.  Definitely nesting!

CookBook Challenge #14: Summer Harvest Chowder from the ReBar cookbook

• Afternoon nap.
• Movie and popcorn with Derek (Argo - recommended)
• Early to bed.

Sunday May 12 - Mother's Day

• Slept in - 'til 8 today!!!
• Mother's (and mother-to-be's) day brunch with Derek
• Chilling, reading, blogging and getting ready for my nap!

I had sort of hoped today might be Rufus' arrival, as it would be an amazing gift to become a mother on mother's day.  But I don't believe things are pointing in that direction.  I do feel that my body is gearing up and getting ready, but nothing is happening imminently.  Still, I know that anything can happen and I am NOT the boss anymore!  :)

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mom, my grandma & to all  my friends out there who are amazing and inspirational role models for this mom-to-be!