Nate cheers for Team Canada, of course.

It’s official; I’ve joined the ranks of stay-at-home moms. At least, for the next thirteen months or so. True, the baby isn’t actually here yet, but Friday was my last day at work so that made me a stay-at-home mom as of, oh…11:41 Friday morning.

You might be wondering why thirteen months? Seems very specific, doesn’t it?

I get to take that much time away from my full-time job to learn my new full-time job (duh, being a mom) because I have two weeks of 2009 vacation time tacked on at the beginning of my leave and four weeks of 2010 vacation time tacked on at the end. That’s right, upon my return to work next year my company is obligated to pretend like I never left, vacation and benefits-wise, so I will be entitled to take my 2010 vacation before the end of the calendar year. This puts my first official day back to work next year at December 23. HA. Like anybody will be doing any work the week of Christmas. As my supervisor put it, “So basically, we’ll see you January 2, 2011.” From my home office.

During my leave I will be collecting government assistance in the form of employment insurance as income. I do not for one moment feel guilty about this. I’ve been paying into employment insurance in this country since I was fifteen years old. The fact that I’ll be getting some of that back as income to earn while I parent our child is phenomenal. What is even more phenomenal is that my company will be topping up that amount to 95% of my full-time salary for the first 17 weeks I’m off. That takes us pretty much into March without much of a change in salary for me, even though I won’t be working.

I would just like to take a moment to say that I know how awesome this is. I know how fortunate Graham and I are that I will be able to take more than an entire year off from work to stay at home with our son. I appreciate that there are women out there who barely have a chance to heal physically before being required by their employers, the laws of their country or their financial circumstances, to return to working full-time after giving birth. It’s a shame that more countries (cough, cough, ahem, our neighbours to the SOUTH) don’t treat the most important job there is, MOTHERHOOD, with as much respect as Canada does.

Today I am thankful for the life that is growing inside of me,

for the man who loves me unconditionally and has agreed to walk through this life with me,

for wonderful, supportive friends,

for the safety and health of my family members, near and far,

and for the glorious colours of autumn.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A couple of times over the last few months I’ve had the opportunity to talk to some of my American friends about what the labour and delivery experience is like here in Canada. Many of them seem to have a fascination with the way our health care system works here, and since there are a lot of Americans who are very afraid that their health care system will turn out to look like our health care system, I’d just like to do my small part to set their minds at ease. (I have a hard time understanding how you’d be against universal health care, but that may be a post for another day.) Since I haven’t exactly gone through the process yet, I can only tell them what I know about what we expect to experience next month when I go to the hospital to have our baby. We learned most of this information when we went on a tour of the hospital with our prenatal class a couple of weeks ago, and it really set our minds at ease to know what to expect.

When I’m in labour and it’s time to go to the hospital, Graham or I will call the labour and delivery department of our hospital (the number’s stuck on our fridge door now). This is partly because the L&D department is going to be moving to another floor and partly because the hospital might be really, super-busy at that time. There is a slight possibility that the hospital could reroute us to another hospital if they are overwhelmed with birthing moms, and although historically this has happened there, the odds are slim this will be the case. Either way, they like to know we are on the way.

Our hospital provides labour and delivery care on two floors. When I’m admitted, I’ll go to one floor of the hospital, where I’ll labour and give birth in the same room. I’ll be there for as long as it takes. If I need a C-section, that will also be done in an operating room on that same floor. A couple of hours after the baby is born, we’ll be moved together to another floor, where we’ll stay until we are discharged.

For Canadian citizens who don’t have any health care benefits through their employer, a ward room will be the place for new moms to stay overnight in the hospital with their baby. (All babies room in with their moms at our hospital.) Ward rooms have four beds, which means that this means that mom could be staying in a hospital room with up to three other women. I’ve heard it said, though, that the nurses do their best to keep the rooms as empty as possible. There are two ward rooms on the floor where new moms stay, so if there are four new moms on that floor, the nursing staff will admit two into one room, and two into the other so it isn’t so crowded. No one who stays in this kind of room will be presented with a bill for staying at the hospital, whether they have private health insurance, benefits or not. Our provincial health insurance covers this cost.

Most of the rest of the rooms are semi-private (two to a room), which is what my benefits cover, but for about $30-$40/night, I can upgrade to a private room with my own shower, where Graham can stay all night with us if we want. If there’s a private room available, this is what we’ll be doing.

We have to bring our own diapers, wipes, sanitary napkins and toiletries with us to the hospital (only a couple of diapers are provided by the hospital). I’m going to bring my own towels to use when I get to have a shower because I doubt the hospital uses fabric softener when they wash theirs.

Now, every hospital is a bit different…I hear that in one local hospital you have to bring your own pillows, for example. But one important thing we know for sure: When we leave, we’ll have to pay ONLY for the upgrade to the private room. Oh, and for parking.

(I’m also over at Aiming Low today, where I’ve posted about television shows that make me feel better about myself. I’m sure there are some I’ve missed. Help a girl out…head on over and tell me which ego-fluffing shows you watch!

This morning I’m thinking about the 120 Canadian soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan. It is especially to their families and loved ones that I wish today, a happy and peaceful Canada Day.