Ice Packs, Giant Pads, and Sitz Baths: Pregnancy Disability

Have you ever heard a colleague refer to a woman’s maternity leave as a vacation? Well, it’s time to set them straight.

Before and after bringing a new bundle into this world, women can and do take pregnancy DISABILITY leave. In California, you can take up to 4 months of pregnancy disability leave if you work for an employer with 5 or more employees. 

Why is it called a disability leave? Simply put - it’s disabling. No, it’s not a vacation. It’s to recover from a severe trauma on a woman’s body, complications with their newborn and their own body’s recovery, and complications with breastfeeding.

Every woman experiences pregnancy and birth in a different way. When a woman has a vaginal birth, she has just pushed out a little human from her vagina, causing at a minimum some major bruising and swelling. Even women who have undergone Cesarean sections may have perineal discomfort if they went through a lengthy labor before the surgery. 

I, like many women, also tore my perineum while giving birth, resulting in multiple stitches. With my first, it was a third degree tear, and with my second, a first degree. Hemorrhoids are also common during the third trimester and after pregnancy, which I also developed while giving birth to my first child. These can be extremely painful - and it was for me. 

A woman who has a Cesarean section will also have significant pain around the incisions and limited mobility. A C-section is often labeled as a simple procedure, when it’s anything but. It is a major surgery that involves significant recovery time. It also complicates trying to breastfeed because you need to hold your baby in certain positions to avoid the pain in your abdomen. 

If a woman has either a vaginal delivery or Cesarean section, they will also have vaginal bleeding and discharge after birth. Basically, you’re wearing a giant pad, for at least a couple of weeks, changing repeatedly throughout the day. 

Most women also have severe abdominal cramps as the uterus contracts after giving birth. I had some major contractions after my second child’s birth, which I felt were as strong as contractions while giving birth. It was an unpleasant surprise to me! 

Many women may experience breast engorgement when their milk comes in. Complications arising from breast engorgement may also occur, which can be extremely painful. Along with complications with just getting your breast milk, many newborns have difficulty latching on. This can be extremely frustrating and painful. Other common breastfeeding problems can include thrush, blocked milk ducts, mastitis, and breast abscess which can require surgery.

And of course, exhaustion - exhaustion from giving birth and exhaustion from lack of sleep. 

There are so many conditions for a woman during pregnancy and postpartum that can be disabling. Just google it and you’ll come up with a long list. Here are just a few:

• Urinary incontinence

• Fecal incontinence

• Backache 

• Baby blues

• Postpartum depression

• Constipation 

• Heartburn, indigestion, flatulence, bloating

• Morning sickness 

• Hyperemesis gravidarum - which is severe pregnancy nausea and vomiting that is continuous and debilitating 

• Headaches 

• Fatigue 

• Gestational diabetes 

• Preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced hypertension or toxemia

• HELLP Syndrome

• Placenta Previa

• Placenta Abruption

• Chorioamnionitis

• Hydramnios

There are also conditions a newborn may have, including their own breastfeeding complications. The list is long.

For me, post giving birth, I spent my time wearing and changing giant pads filled with ice packs, hydrocortisone cream and witch hazel pads, all held in by some really sexy postpartum underwear given by the hospital. I also tried to squeeze in some time between feedings and burpings and sleep to soak in sitz baths to ease the pain from the damage down below. While I was changing my own pads, I was also swapping turns with my husband and other support at home changing my newborns diapers. I was also figuring out breastfeeding, which required me to sit upright on my damaged bum. This was of course after my breasts became so engorged I took multiple hot showers and sat holding hot packs and cold packs on my chest to help stop the engorgement. It was a sight.

After my body recovers and I shift into taking my bonding leave, my main debilitating condition will be lack of sleep. That’s if I hopefully don’t suffer from any post-partum depression as well. CDC research shows that about 1 in 8 women experience symptoms of postpartum depression nationally. In California, approximately 1 in 5 women experience pregnancy-related depression, according to the California Department of Public Health.

I write this all to educate folks about how pregnancy and giving birth is truly disabling. The messy and painful side of pregnancy and childbirth doesn’t seem to be widely discussed amongst new moms, let alone the rest of society. 

I had a client who needed to take 6 months of leave because of severe postpartum depression, yet her colleagues referred to her leave as a vacation. It was anything but that. 

So, next time you hear a colleague make a comment about a mother’s maternity leave being a vacation, I want you to set them straight. 

DISCLAIMER: this information is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice or seek to be the complete and comprehensive statement of the law, nor is it intended to address your specific requirements or provide advice on which reliance should be placed.