How long did you take off after giving birth

Carolina Panther Fan

NFT

blondie75

I took 18 weeks off.

tosababy

12 weeks

snickerdoodle27

8 weeks. 6 paid in full, 2 unpaid (used FMLA).

Angela814

12 weeks, and then I went to 4 days/week for about a month I think.

mrs.rn

under FMLA I am only allowed to take off 12 weeks and that's what I did -   that was unpaid, but I used my sick time to get paid.  I hear other folks negotiating more time, but that is not doable where I work since I work at a small campus (or a large company). 

bridetobe0jb

12 FMLA plus 2 vacation weeks (which happened to fall around the holidays, so i got holiday pay too).

Pesky

6 wks -- back PT from home during the 7th week and back PT at work during the 8th week.  FT after that.

madhatter2003

13 weeks with #1. This time I'll get 17 weeks off..mostly unpaid but still time off 

ali-1411

I took two weeks off school with #1

10 weeks off work with #2

Mrs_JR

12 weeks

beenbizzy

8 weeks off, after that was up I went back for six week working only PT.

RedBrideNC

I'm taking 10 weeks: 8 paid and 2 unpaid under FMLA

joelle&joseph

I was off for 2 weeks and then worked PT from home for 4 more weeks.  Went back FT at 6 weeks. This stunk!

This time I'm hoping for 6 weeks off and 2-4 weeks PT.

trigirl30

14 weeks

katie277s

I took 7 weeks, all unpaid.  I didn't qualify for FMLA because I hadn't been there a year yet.  My current job allows for 12 weeks of paid maternity leave. 

milfy1

13 weeks

vagirl06

7 months - I had originally planned for 6 but we ended up moving to another state and by the time I found a new job DD was 7 months old.

 I was a consulant at the time, so they didn't really care how long I took off since we were always staffed at the client site.  I only received partial pay through STD for the first 6 weeks.

amos2006

16 wks

SarahFin

10

SBMBride406

19 weeks but I had serious complications and a preemie that got a serious infection at 6 weeks old. I was told not to put him in daycare before he was 16 weeks old.

techsan1298

12 weeks

Sassystace

4.5 months.  All unpaid except for vac/sick days and STD. I think this amount of time was ideal.

Amy&Noah2007

2 weeks...but was in the office for a bit (with DH and DS) on the Wednesday after I had him on that Saturday night.

I own my own small biz though...

LittleMalinda

16 weeks.  12 were paid by STD, 4 were vacation time. 

MrsSledge

6 1/2 weeks

LaLaSweets

dd was born july 15th and i'm going back to work dec 1st

kertybird

6 weeks, then I went back 2 or 3 days a week for the next few months and then eventually went to 4 days a week.

rissa06

14 weeks

sara1104

4 months

marrymemylove

5 months. DH had to go back to work 2 days after DS was born but 6 weeks later he took 4 months off. So we were BOTH home, and both exhausted.

Seriously, DS was 2x a full time job.?

shannm

6 weeks (felt like two days).

pnstirling

I took 18 weeks and DH took 8 weeks after I went back to work

jennie13

12 weeks.

 6 weeks disability, the rest vacation and unpaid.  

I didn't qualify for FMLA, so I was lucky my employer let me take the 12 weeks. 

Taylor44

Total 14 1/2 weeks - 3 1/2 weeks before the birth, 11 weeks after the birth.  Most of the time after the birth was unpaid.

momofolivia

11 weeks

mattnlinz03

13 weeks.  Starting when DS was 2 weeks old I did some light work from home so I would still get paid since we don't have a maternity leave program.  It worked out great for us.

senecamom

6 months

Kath1424

I took off 13 weeks.... 9 of which were paid by State disability and paid time off...

jlw2505

12 weeks the 1st time and 10 weeks the second time - would have done 12 weeks but was on bedrest and missed 2 weeks of work before I had my DD.

azuremama

4 months.  8 weeks of sick leave, about a month of annual leave, then unpaid leave + some hours worked from home.