Maternity leave begins….NOW

via GIPHY

Ok, so I’m actually on leave in 8 hours but who’s counting? Today I’ve hit 38 weeks, and it’s the last day I’ll be working until May. WOAH!

For the last two weeks I’ve been working from home, so it’s been an easier transition than I expected. I feel ready to step away. I do have to thank my boss and colleagues though, they’ve really made this a lot easier for me. They’ve been very supportive in taking over tasks, although it wasn’t easy for everyone already under pressure.

I’m expecting I’m going to find myself on Monday wondering “what now?”. I’ll probably log on and write a blog post first thing, just because I won’t know what else to do. Then I’ll realise I can go anywhere and do anything, get up and do something fun.

In typical Kelsbells form I’ve started to put a list together of things I want to do while I’m on leave and before baby comes. I’m list obsessed, what can I say?

Mario keeps joking that I’m going to go into labour at 5pm this afternoon. I’ve always said I’m a shit stirrer and our child will probably pick up that genetic trait from me. Mario’s point is what bigger way for our son to stir his mother than to deny her a holiday? Given Mario’s genetic trait of always being ridiculously early for everything I’m worried about that trait having been passed down too. The combination does make me very worried that coming early is a possibility! At least the stats say it could happen before or after, so I’ll just make the most of every opportunity while I can.

Plus my fingers are still crossed that Mario’s wrong and baby doesn’t come today.

Right now my plans are:

• Rest and keep my feet up (duh)
• Rearrange our pantry – it’s super messy, and there’s a lot of awesome cheap organisers I can get from Kmart – win!
• Visit Centrelink and Medicare – I need to finish my name changeover from when we got married, and start the leave application forms
• Do a few 52’s on my list
• Sit by the beach and read a book (or five)
• Lunch with friends if they’re available

Going on maternity leave is the biggest transition I’ve ever been through in my life. 4 weeks is the longest I’ve had away from work since starting full time work at 18 years old. Of course, having a child is going to be intense and not a holiday, but at least it’s an exciting reason to not be at work.

Well, time to finish up this last bit of work, make sure everyone has what they need, sign off Skype and take a deep breath. Then I’ll pour myself a drink of the fake wine we have sitting in the fridge; it’s almost like the real thing.

My life is about to change dramatically. I can’t see what’s coming in the future, but it’s going to be exciting to find out!