I went to the doctor on Monday. Everything is great with the pregnancy. As my doctor was checking the heartbeat he said that I could have the baby in as early as 4 weeks but it could be up to 8 weeks. When I heard this I went into panic mode. I am not ready yet for this baby. This summer and fall has been so busy that I haven't had time to really think about the baby and preparing for her arrival. I have so much to do to get ready for maternity leave. I need to leave lesson plans for my sub (who knows nothing about healthcare), I need to leave my HOSA officers stuff to do while I am out. I also need to get all the baby stuff together. If anyone has been on Maternity Leave or out for an extended time, how do you do all this? I am so afraid that I am going to end up coming to school during my maternity leave. I only have 1 teacher workday before I go on maternity leave and it is Nov. 6th. I could potential already have a baby by then. Please give me advice on how to do all this.
Jamie
Jamie, I have had this happen to me. I took all of my time off but I still continued to do lesson plans in the wee hours of the morning to keep the sub with plenty to do. I also still did all of my own grading. Initially, I had enough work for about 2 weeks and then kept updating about every week or so. I didn't have a "real" maternity leave, but then again, what else is there to do when the baby goes back to sleep and you can't?
ReplyDeleteYou'll be fine! If I can help out in any way, please let me know (even if it's writing LPs!).
And by the way, my sub was clueless on healthcare too. He didn't use my LPs at all. Instead he read to them the 6 novels he read while subbing and somehow tied it into "real life". I wasn't happy when I returned because it was information that I had worked hard on for him to do that he didn't. Needless to say, I ended up teaching the unit when I returned. Oh, and that was after they called me on the Monday after I had a C-SECTION on FRIDAY and asked me if I was coming in to work that day!!! :(
Hi Jamie,
ReplyDeleteSounds like Julie has given you some good advice. She has "been there and done that."
I think I would just give some generic lesson plans and hope for the best. I think long-term subs do just what Julie said. They do whatever they feel like doing. They are just there to keep the peace and get a pay check. Other teachers have had similar reports as Julie's.
So, I think I would just give some basic, generic lesson plans and not worry too much about it. You can catch them up when you get back.
I'm glad I am old! I cannot imagine trying to teach and having a baby too. My babies would have all-nighters where they did not sleep. How in the world do you get dressed and go to school on mornings like that.
I know lots of teachers do it and they do a great job. But I don't know that I could. Some days I feel like collapsing now with no baby. Ha! Ha!
My hat is off to you and all the teachers who do such a wonderful job of juggling teaching and taking care of baby too!
Connie
Julie, just remeber to take care of yourself. Your students will be fine with the sub. One suggestion I have is to have them work on a research project while you are gone. If you don't have computers in your room, have the sub take you students to the library for a couple of times in between assignments and have them do research on a career of choice or disease. Email me at tfloyd@henry.k12.ga.us and I will send 2 attachments of a career project and a disease project. You will have to change some things to fit your needs. I think it may help. Have them do this and have it due when you get back. Then you can spend the first days back veiwing presentations.Take care of yourself. I will keep you in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteSee you later.
Tracy