Trying to Convince the OB to give me a medically related reason to get off work

I am almost 30 weeks, and exhausted. I'm nasuas and my back feels like its breaking on a daily basis. When I'm home for the day I'm ok because I'm able to nap and reposition myself when needed but doing an 8 hour day is miserable. I have BH contractions all day, when ever I start moving around I cant breath, and there's been a couple days when my contractions got so bad I called the DH to come pick me up instead of driving myself home. My job is mainly a desk job that is very simple so I had anticipate working all the way through, but at this point the stess of it is unbearable. I went to see the Peri last week and he was concerned that my cervix had shrunk to 2cm and now he wants to see me every two weeks. I asked him about when I should stop working but he rushed me through and was just like "if you have a desk job whats the difference between keeping your feet up at work or at home" and he noted that Short Term Disability wouldn't approve it if it wasn't medicaly necessary. I go to the OB tomorow and I want to try to talk him into giving me a reason that short term disability will approve. He is seeing me every two weeks, and my manager has had issues with pregnant woman as it is in the past so all the time I've been taking off has caused more stress, plus I'm not having nearly as many contractions on the days I'm home, Plus I have tryed physical therapy for my back issues (scholiosis with twins is not fun) but I started cramping badly after so I had to discontinue and sitting all day at 30 weeks has me pulling my hair out. I plan to try to milk my symptoms as much as posible tomorow, but I was wondering if anyone has any advise? I know my Doc would give me a letter to get off work, but financially right now I cant just go cold turkey without pay so the STD would wheen us off of my pay until 6 weeks after the babies are born so I need the OB to think its medically necesary for me to be out of work yet my Peri doesn't seem to understand that there is a huge difference between sitting at my desk and sitting at home.

Plus I work at a hospital, and my mom just called me after watching the news and two people have come down with Swine Flu in my town,..... now she's got me a nervous reck about that!....UGH!!!

 

It sounds to me like you have several medical issues that could justify STD! I hope your Dr agree's and writes you out of work! Good Luck!

 

I had no problem with sort term disability. All my OB wrote was pregnancy twin gestation. It is pretty much understood that many women need to leave work early when they are carrying twins. I think your peri is full of crap. Hopefully you have better luck with your ob.

 

It sounds like you have plenty of reasons. All your OB has to do is say it's medically necessary. I don't know what your peri's problem is. Hello, there's a HUGE difference between a desk job and lying on the couch at home.

 

You have every right to be on medical leave!

I needed a note saying I couldn't work and asked my perinatologist for it, since it would be a week before I saw my OB. His response was, "We have lots of mothers with gestational diabetes who continue working through their pregnancy!". He sounded shocked I would ask this, even though I was (and am still) on OB ORDERED BED REST (!!!) due to a threatened miscarriage in December, pre-term labor in March, gestational diabetes/hypertension and Graves disease. I swear, it seems to really be a hit-or-miss thing with perinatalogists.

 

You definitely have EVERY reason to be on a medical leave. By 30 weeks my ob was begging me to stop working. I also work a desk job but being at work was more relaxing than being at home- my dd was 2 1/2 at the time and there was no way I could have chased her around all day. I'm hoping your OB will feel differently- esp with your shortening cervix. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

Im only 14 weeks pregnant and my OB already told me he was taking me out of work at 24 weeks since I will have a much higher risk of complications being pregnant with twins. He also said it wasnt worth the risk since pregnancy is way to precious. Is there another dr in the group(if he/she is part of a group) that will maybe do it?

 

That is insane. If you are having increasing contractions when working that should be enough, especially if your cervix is shortening. There is a real possibility of pre-term labor with twins and your Dr. should be allowing you as much rest as possible to avoid this. Does this Dr. have any experience with twin pregnancy? If you can't get excused than get a new Dr. I had some contractions that I thought were braxton-hicks starting at 22 weeks. I was put on nifedepine and bedrest and had my twins at 30 weeks. They are fine now, but we were in the NICU for two months. My kids had to be tube fed, had IVs, were under bili lights a few times, I had to leave them there at night. It is THE hardest thing to leave your new born babies in someone else's care. You have to advocate for these babies. If you can't find a Dr. who will take you off work you may have to take yourself off. Your reference to swine flu leads me to believe you are in California? You can have up to 16 weeks paid disability in Cali. 6 (vaginal delivery) or 8 (c-section) of those will be post delivery which leaves you with 8 to 10 weeks before they are born. You then get 12 weeks family bonding time with 6 of those paid. Trust me you want to use this time at home with babes instead of in the NICU. You are already past that critical survival point but you should have the right to do what you feel is best to cook those babes as long as possible! Good luck to you with your OB.

 

I know this is kind of "lame" but cry. I mean, really...let the tears fall when you talk to your OB...then they will know that you really mean it when you say you are hurting and you aren't just over exaggerating. Although I will say that my OB told me from the beginning that all I had to do was ask and he would write me out when I was ready...because..."it's easy to write out a twin pregnancy". I don't really understand why you would have trouble...after all, what does it matter to him if you stop working at 30 weeks...which by the way, with 70% of twins being born between 36 and 37 weeks, it's really the standard 6 weeks pre-baby anyway!

 

Let us know what comes of this... I think that it is just horrible that it isn't a cut and dried case...

During my last pregnancy (singleton) I had high BP and my doctor said that if my job was at all stressful he would write me a note... done.

 

Maybe your OB will surprise you. Most OBs seem to err on the side of caution. My OB said they would like women with twins to stop working at 24 weeks, but they are willing to look at it on a case by case basis if I want to work longer. I worked till 34 weeks with my twins, but fully from home from 28 weeks on ... so I literally laid in bed with my laptop.

I would honestly be really shocked if your OB wouldn't put you out! good luck, and keep us updated!

 

I'd say you have a pretty good case as well; between the stress, the BH, the shortening cervix etc, you could easily go into pre-term labour, and I am sure your OB wants to avoid that as much as you. Good luck! I'll be sending you "get off of work vibes".

And I work a desk job, and let me tell you how much difference it makes not going in.. there's no rushing to get to work in the morning, you can snooze whenever you feel the need, you can do all the "chores" that you would normally have to do when you get home after 8 hrs of work, no dealing with annoying bosses and colleagues.. I could go on and on. I felt a HUGE difference as soon as I stopped working. I really hope you get the same!

 

Hey girls,

I went to the OB yesterday and once he brought up my cervix I was like its from working! I started going on about my contractions, and my back pain, he was like oh yes these twin pregnancy's are uncomfortable. At first it didn't seem like he was taking me very seriously as far as not working anymore without me just coming straight out so once the heart beats where checked, we talked about how I am now inemic, and I failed my 1 hour glucose. Then I finally just said so if I feel like I cant work anymore and its just two much can you get me out? and he said....ABSOLUTLY!.....(Thank God!) he asked so what is the reason exactly the cramping, and I said well my back feels like its breaking and I cant do physical therapy anymore, the cramping, the head aches...... and he started writing it all in my chart so I am hoping that all this will constitute a medical reason for Short Term Disability, My manager is out this week and next so work is pretty laid back, granted uncomfortable but still relaxed so I am not running out the door but I just emailed HR to get the FMLA paperwork sent over to me, so I'll be able to fax those to the OB by tomorow/friday. I have next tuesday/wednesday off for dentists apt. and then for the peri's recheck of my cervix and I am thinking by then I should have all the paperwork back from my OB so I will send it on over and it will be my last week (unless I have a really bad day inbetween and say F**k this...LOL) Perhaps since I have been off for the last few days my thinking is a bit ambitious for how I will be feeling but we'll see, I'm just happy to know I can leave.

I was thinking about calling the short term disability company and explaining to them I am in a twin pregnancy and between the contractions and back issues my doctor is talking about taking me out of work but I wanted to check how this would work with STD. I have heard someone in the past on here say their STD company automatically approved twins at 28 weeks so I was wanted to know if that was the case with all policies or just some? Do you think its ok to call the STD company or should I leave it till I file the claim?

 

:woohoo: good job on getting the ball rolling!!!

 

I wouldn't call, I'm sure it will work out. I had no problems. Either way you should stop working and even if it isn't approved your health and the babies are the most important. I think it will be anyway, don't worry!!

 

QUOTE(TandC @ Apr 30 2009, 01:34 AM) [snapback]1294279[/snapback]
I wouldn't call, I'm sure it will work out. I had no problems. Either way you should stop working and even if it isn't approved your health and the babies are the most important. I think it will be anyway, don't worry!!

Agree with this...i wouldn't call because everything should go without problems....actually my doctor was the one who turned it in and within a couple weeks i started to recieve checks. I think the main reason it was okay from the start was because i was a twin pregnancy.... it didn't really matter about all the rest of the symptoms...and i actually got out around 24 weeks. Try not to stress out and it's great that you're very proactive about this.

 

I don't think there is a set date with your STD provider ... if you doc puts you out on disability, that's it. It doesn't matter if he does it at 12 week or 38, once the doctor says you are unable to work, you go on STD.

 

QUOTE(caba @ Apr 30 2009, 07:28 PM) [snapback]1295400[/snapback]
I don't think there is a set date with your STD provider ... if you doc puts you out on disability, that's it. It doesn't matter if he does it at 12 week or 38, once the doctor says you are unable to work, you go on STD.


Yes... and if you get STD, the FMLA really doesn't kick in until you bring home the kids. In fact, I didn't start FMLA until our kids came home from the nicu--which was 11 weeks after the birth. Generally, you are on STD from the time your dr signs you out until your dr releases you to go back to work.

Good Luck!
-penny

 

My STD approved leave for twin pregnancies at 28 weeks automatically. It was a private policy that I paid for, not sure if they are all like that, but I don't see why not. If they automatically approve single pregnancies at 36 weeks, and twins usually come earlier, it just makes sense.

Make sure the STD people know you are having twins. My dr's office did not write it on the forms, only said I was pg and when my due date was, and I was initially denied. No, it was NOT enough for the dr to sign the papers, they wanted a detailed REASON. Lucky for me, having twins was reason enough. I couldn't figure out why they would deny me until I saw a copy of the paperwork and spoke with someone from STD on the phone and realized they didn't know I was having twins (even though I told them when I initially notified them that I was pg).

So I would not just leave it up to the dr to take care of it. I would double check with the STD people that all the paperwork is in and it has sufficient information. I made my husband call and deal with the dr office and STD b/c I was just so upset over it all! I ended up getting approved the day before I planned to go off work, and my pay was delayed b/c it got approved so late. In the end it all worked out though. Good luck, I know the pain you are experiencing!

 

I just can't understand such people that should understand the situation and help you, but they don't understand it and do what they want.

 

You should probably find a better place to work with a more loyal boss. I also got into an unpleasant situation last year, but y previous company did not agree to help me with that. Fortunately, I found a better job on https://jooble.org/jobs/Syracuse,-NY. Now I feel much better working at a new place.