Frustrations

Having a baby means many things - sleepless nights, to vaccinate or not to vaccinate, doctor visits, cloth or disposable diapers, breast feeding issues, etc... but one of the least talked about and but probably one of the most frustrating aspects (at least for me) of a new bay is paperwork.

Before Monkey was born I checked with HR at work about paperwork for insurance on him and maternity leave.  HR told me it was no problem all of the paperwork had to wait until after the baby was born, and they told me I had 12 weeks of maternity leave (per our employee handbook).  I told her anything we could do ahead of time would be great, again I was told nope nothing can be done ahead of time it all had to wait.

About 2 weeks after Monkey's birth I learn that we only get paid for 6 weeks of maternity leave.  When I asked HR about this, she told me she was surprised to learn this as well.  Then HR told me I had to wait to get my maternity leave paperwork as she had to put in info about my last pay period; so I waited on this.  Then when I picked it up, she told me she was wrong and I could have gotten the paperwork from her sooner.

The paperwork for the maternity leave payment is 10 pages long, 4 of which need to be filled out by my doctor. Husband dropped that off at the doctors and they said OK, give us 7 days.  7 days came and went so I called on it, first they said "OK, it'll be ready on Monday we'll call you."   Monday came and went, so I called and the women doing my paperwork was out, and then I was told it would take 1 to 2 weeks to complete.  Really???  So I put up a stink, and low and behold it will be ready within an hour.

More paperwork came in adding Monkey to my insurance.  I asked HR to do this for me, and she some how forgot I had to fill out paperwork.  So after my nagging about it, HR e-mails me 6 pages to complete, and tells me it's no big deal she has 30 days to add him to insurance per our insurance company.  So I fill out the paperwork, scan it and e-mail it back and I mail the hard copies as well.  Guess what, HR still hasn't filled the insurance paperwork yet.  Meanwhile I have three different billings departments calling me to harass me because Monkey isn't on my insurance yet.  Telling me they are sending me the bills, and I can deal with the insurance company.  Really???

I am beyond frustrated with HR and all the paperwork.

Thankfully all the other paperwork has gone smoother - the birth certificate, the application for a social security number.

And while I am at it, you know what else really frustrates me (and this is not related to child birth or paperwork); every call we make from our house that is not within town is long distance.  Yes, we still have a land-line.    We have cells phones as well, but your lucky you can get a cell signal from our house; and if a car drive by or the wind blows you can kiss that signal good-bye.  So 95% of the calls we make are long distance.  I mean really, it's 2011 you would think I could call my doctor's office without first having to dial a 1 and the area code.

(On a related note; when I had Turkey 7 years ago we had a different HR person, who only worked PT, and my paperwork was done and done quickly at that.  Turkey was on my insurance within 3 days and my maternity leave was taken care of and check issued within a week.  You would think with all the technological advances in 7 years it would be as efficient, if not more efficient to do this paperwork right now.)