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January 2011 Moms
mishu917
member
Call me stupid but I had no idea
mishu917
member
That the US is only one of five countries that don't guarantee paid maternity leave.
Sad.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Call me stupid but I had no idea
Carina 12.28.2010 | Aurelia 9.23.12 | Chart - Round 3
All of the daycares in my area take babies starting at 6 weeks, I don't know what moms without any leave do in this case.
Some in my area take 3 week old babies
Carina 12.28.2010 | Aurelia 9.23.12 | Chart - Round 3
Y'all are describing me....Marley will go to daycare at 6 weeks old. I have to go back to classes full time on January 7 (my due date is Dec 29). We are fortunate enough that my mom has 3 part time jobs that she works basically when she wants (substitute teaching is one) and can come down for 6 weeks, otherwise DH would have to take unpaid paternity leave under FMLA and I honestly don't know what we would do, we couldn't afford to not have a pay check that long! His sick and personal days only add up to like a week. If our state allowed 3 week old babies to go into daycare, she would probably be in at 3 weeks
It sucks, but I don't have much of a choice. I'll also be going back to work as soon as I stop bleeding.
I have to say that being from Canada I was ignorant about this and had no idea what it was like there. I just assumed that our US neighbours had the same thing we did here..... 1 year paid mat leave. I honestly had no reason to think otherwise.
It was only when I got here on the Bump did I learn of the painfully short, and sometimes unpaid leaves that most people get there. I was almost ready to cry when I read this. I admit I just take it for granted.
Also, the medical bills required for having a baby made me sick to my stomach when I was reading some of the posts. I couldnt imagine having to pay for ultrasounds, and doctors visits and the delivery. This would stress me out beyond anything. Its one thing if you have alot of money, but if you accidentally got pregnant and then have all these bills to pay, I dont know how people would do it. Here we wont ever see one medical bill.
My heart breaks for you if you have only a couple weeks and then have to put your new son or daughter in daycare. I wish it was better there. I honestly had no idea it could be like that and I would not want to have to deal with it.
There are a lot of things that the U.S. doesn't do right...and yes, it is sad. Hoping all of you out there who do not get paid maternity leave are still able to spend as much time with your LO's as possible!
It really is a shame. I'm "lucky" enough to work for a company that is covered under FMLA, but I have no paid leave and no short-term disability insurance. (It's not required in my state, and my company just started offering it this year-- I'm not eligible due to being knocked up.) My husband's work is allowing him to take one week off, unpaid. That's only because they feel like being nice-- his company is too small to have to follow FMLA.
I plan to take the full 12 weeks off, and we've been saving for this reason.