New poster and ? re FMLA

ssg73

Hi

I have been lurking for a few weeks but decided to introduce myself and see if you folks can answer a question for me.

I gave birth to my daughter Ella Grace on 7/10 at 30 weeks due to pre-eclampsia/hellp.  I had a completly normal and uneventful pregnancy up until I felt really sick and began throwing up one night.  I gave birth to Ella 30 hours later by emergency c-section.  I recieved 2 steroid shots but was too sick to wait the full 48 hours to become beta complete.  She was born at 2lb 5 oz and 14 inches long.  She is doing really well and is on full feeds with no breathing support (she was on cpap for 3 days).  She just topped the scales at 3lb 1/2 oz last night.  We are just working through getting her spells to go away but they are def. getting better.

My question is about family medical leave.  I am a teacher so since I delivered in the summer I don't get paid maternity leave.  After meeting with HR and the superintendent today I am going to have Ella's dr fill out the fmla form to get some paid leave for this fall/winter.  I have been told that I will def. get 20 days paid but could get more if the Dr says that it is medically nec. for me to be home with Ella.  I have 85 sick days plus I also can borrow from the sick bank for this time.  Anyone go through this and have and thoughts about what the Drs could write to get me as much time home with Ella.  I was thinking about swine flu and RSV season and exposure of Ella by me and also not having her in daycare during these times as reason for me to be home.  My district is really supportive and the superintendent used to be my principal so I am feeling like they would be supportive of this.  Any thoughts and helpful hints are welcome.

mhop

Congrats on Ella Grace!  She sounds like she's doing great!  I can't really answer your questions, but it is so awesome that your district is being supportive.  I'm a teacher too and was lucky enough to have a lot of support as well.  I know that my DD's pedi practically forbade me from putting her in any sort of daycare due to RSV and flu so maybe it could be something like that?  Good luck!

lemen99

My situation wasn't really the same, but, we did have one of our son's neonatalogists write a note to our daycare stating that he could not be in daycare because of his prematurity, and they refunded us our money.  Maybe your doctor could write a note stating that your baby can not be in daycare and state the health risks or something.  Also, if you get in a pinch, consider hiring a nanny. (That's what we did after my 7 weeks off work!)

SBMBride406

Your situation sounds so similar to mine! I also had sudden onset HELLP that came on with GI symptoms. I had my DS about 3 hours later.

My pedi wrote us a note saying that DS was unable to go to daycare until he was 4.5 months old due to a week immune system. No one questioned it at all.

mek10976

I am also a teacher, but it sounds like your school district has better benefit options than mine does.  They got rid of transfering sick days from one employee to another for situations like this.  I did end up taking 7 months off b/c of him being a preemie and I felt like the first month after his birth didn't count since I was trekking back and forth to the hospital and not at home with him.  If you can get them to write a letter to give you more time, I would go for it.  RSV/flu/student-germs/daycare-germs are TOTALLY valid reasons for getting more leave. 

Cherish every second with your baby.  My 7 moths of leave flew by and now I'm back at school teaching.  Boo hoo

lstaylor73

Congrats on your little girl!  And welcome to this totally awesome board.

I would recommend the doctor write in that there may be monthly weight check pediatrician appointments, monthly physical therapy sessions (if your state qualifies you for Early Intervention services, and I hope they do), and also the fact that because you are a teacher and because she can not be in daycare because of the risks of contracting RSV you would need time off, or at least intermittent FMLA.

But speaking as a former HR generalist, make sure you understand the differences between your leave policy, sick leave bank, and FMLA and get copies of it all in writing.  FMLA is never paid leave, but they can allow you to receive pay while you are out under FMLA thus using your accrued leave while on FMLA.  People often think FMLA is paid and it is not.  Good luck I hope that things work out for you.