Making the most of maternity leave.

It’s three and a half weeks later and all of our ‘afterbirth’ guests have departed as of today. Needless to say we are looking forward to being able to settle into a semi-permanent routine where he goes to work every day till 3pm and I’m hanging with the little one playing Holly Homemaker. 

Paid maternity leave in Israel is 14 weeks, giving a little less than three months left at this point to make the most of a time when I recieve a paycheck yet stay home all day caring for a newborn. Which, yes, is insane. To a degree. Luckily I’ve managed to balance it all fairly well so far, and now that I’ll have a bit more freedom to move around, I’m looking forward to it all. 

How have I managed to survive so far? Lists. And more lists. I even draw little boxes next to each item that I can check off after I’ve completed it… (of course, being me, I don’t delicately check them off, rather vigrously cross them off, overly excited to have finished something these days). The days after I arrived home from the hospital, I was absolutely shocked at how my days were run minute to minute. I’d forget to pee for hours (not that I really wanted to, between you and me).

I could barely breath, and to cope, I started making lists in the same yellow notepad I had used to take notes in our birthing class and keep track of contractions (those pages are now artifacts of a former life). The pages got filled very quickly, but pretty soon, as things died down – the checklist items were dwindling, too. 

It’s kind of like my birthing class teacher said – between contractions, there will always be a break. Your body won’t betray you. And this little infant does the same… Between feedings, there is always a break. Between sleepless nights, there is always a break. And in that break is when I get to do the laundry, shower, and yes – read a few pages from a book or update Twitter. 

And now I’m actually at the end of the notepad and my list items have evolved from “shower” and “drink water” to “organize mp3 player” and “burn cds of baby photos for parents.” Not bad for less than a month, huh?


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One response to “Making the most of maternity leave.”

  1. Del Avatar

    I am also a list-fanatic.
    have been my entire life, and have even considered getting the empty book ‘listology’ so i would have a different form of a diary/ blog.
    also something oddly satisfying to me about writing with a pen and doodling, and circling, crossing out etc…

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