Short-Term Disability Issues

When I got home from the doctor visit where he instructed me to take off work I called our HR Nurse who was a total witch, she asked why he took me off work and I told her fatigue. She was kinda like, well it has to qualify as a disability under the company's defintion but she wouldn't give me a straight answer as to what qualifies. So I asked her if my doctor felt that I needed to be off work that they would come back and say that wasn't a good enough reason? She said no that she didn't say that, he just had to complete the paperwork fully or it wouldn't qualify. It was like she was trying to make me uncomfortable about it. So I got a little ugly with her and told her that he would complete the paperwork today if I took it to him, that getting the paperwork completed was not an issue. I told her that he felt that I needed to be off work but I couldn't afford to do that unpaid, I had to have the short-term disability and I didn't want to put this time in and have them come back and say that my doc's reason wasn't good enough. She said that usually everytime a doctor takes you off work its covered that they have your best interest in heart. I felt a little better about it but not good at that point.

I looked up my coverages online and basically it says "pregnancy and pregnancy complications" and that they cannot deny coverage. A girl on Fertility Friend said that her doc put her out for "extreme maternal fatigue" and her disability covered it. I left a message for my nurse to call me back so that they make sure to complete the paperwork completely, which I know he will. Also, I talked with my boss who was fantastic, he is so cool and laidback and was like this is none of my business, you just need to take care of yourself and was totally cool about it. He said that I shouldn't be worried about the coverage that it will take care of itself.

I talked to the HR Nurse again this morning and she was singing a bit of a different tune today. She went over my benefits with me which I already knew. Then we started talking about the form that my doc had to fill out. I told her that after we talked yesterday I was a bit upset and looked the policy up online and couldn't find ANYWHERE that it was at the company's discretion, that pregnancy and pregnancy complications were the only definition on there and that as far as I could tell it was not up to them, it was up to my doctor. I told her that I also talked with my nurse and she assured me she would get the paperwork filled out today and there would be no issues. So she decided to kiss up at that point, she was like well I didn't mean to upset you yesterday, but all you told me was fatigue, I told her that if fatigue was good enough for my doctor, that I couldn't find anywhere in the policy that it could not be good enough for NW, they didn't get to decide what was good enough. She agreed and I guess decided she should back off being a witch. I told her that on top of that the contractions had started again and all this yesterday caused them last night. She said to make sure I mentioned that to my doc, yeh no crap honey, and make sure they put that on the form, again no crap honey. So she was really nice this morning. I guess she figured I wasn't going to take her crap and let her push me around, that I had done my research and knew she couldn't act like she did yesterday. So I feel a lot better about it today.

Once I got the forms Kennedy Jane and I went to the doctor's office and Bridgette, my nurse, completed the forms for me and I have faxed them into the HR Nurse and asked that she let me know when she gets them and once they are approved. I know my doctor, if necessary, will talk to her and will not take anything from her. He feels that I need to be off work and that's the bottom line!

So I am loving this first day off work, it was so nice this morning to wake up and not have the pressures of getting to my desk. After the doctor Carrie called to see if we wanted to meet them at the Watermelon Patch to play and it was so nice to be able to say "sure" without worrying about getting back to work!