Paternity Leave?

soralette · October 2011

Have you guys discussed paternity leave with your partners yet? How long do they plan to take? How long would you want them to take?

My DH is planning to take 6wks, with as much paid by vacation time as he can swing (should be 3-4wks paid). I'm looking forward to us having that time to bond as a family, though I worry a little about his transition back to work!

RachNRich · October 2011

My husband is a professor, so his paternity leave doesn't come in the form of weeks off (which would be nice, since his semester starts the day after I'm due), but he gets a course release--so, he'll be teaching less. It's going to be hard to see him go to work just days after I give birth, but his schedule is so much more flexible than a regular 9 to 5, so I won't complain.

runrinserepeat · October 2011

My husband will only be taking about 2 weeks off in the very beginning. Then we need his paycheck to help cover my leave. He's going to be a SAHD, though, so once my leave is up, he's home for the long run.

punkfiction_v.3 · October 2011

dh gets 2 weeks paternity leave (that doesnt take any of his vaca/sick days) so he'll take that. thats enough time LOL

kristin172429 · October 2011

That was one of my first post-BFP discussions! He gets two weeks paid. We are hoping to be able to cover him for 2 more weeks so we can have the first 4 weeks off together. Figure that at 4 weeks, it is still going to be rough getting up and going back to work with a newborn in the house, but at least I will be a little more used to having a LO and will feel more confident handling things on my own at that point (fingers crossed!).

RNmommyof2 · October 2011

I'm hoping Matt will be home for the first 2 weeks, more so I can recover from the c-section than anything else.

nakianichole · October 2011

My DH is planning on using his PTO as leave time. We're planning on 30 days, but I'm actually hoping he'll take a little less. It will be nice to have him home and to help with school drop offs and pick ups for older DS but an entire month of having him home just seems like alot.

Snowypumpkinqueen · October 2011

I'm taking one day off! I really need to get back to my college but I will come straight home!

rani121 · October 2011

My DH gets 2 weeks unpaid and then may take an extra PTO on top of that. His time off is accrued from July to July, so it just depends on how much he has left at that time and how much we want to save for emergencies/travel in the following months.

Melzig76 · October 2011

DF will be off a month, which I'm more than excited about.

sparks2987 · October 2011

DH will be off for 2 weeks, which will be great! but I am a little jealous because when I go back to work after 6 weeks, he will actually be home with the baby more than I will! He gets 3 days paternity leave plus he is using vacation time to cover the rest.

He will be home 3 days a week with her while I only get my weekends, it is good for them to bond as well but I am still jealous!

Lena122 · October 2011

DH qualifies for FMLA so theoretically he could take 12 weeks (unpaid) off. More than likely he'll take about 3 weeks or so. I think that will probably be more than enough time for him to be home with us. I don't want him to use up all of his vacation time since it'd be nice for him to have it for if one of us needs to stay home from work with baby.

moatsie · October 2011

Two weeks which is plenty for us. That's what he took with our son. I would rather get back into our regular routine. My mom and sister are within a few miles so having the help won't be an issue. Asking for help is another thing entirely.

GeekMom · October 2011

Dh can only take 2 weeks. But no biggie I'm sure MIL will come and help out!

sanriobaby · October 2011

DH will be taking off the first 2wks, then he will take every Wed off for the next 2 months after so I won't be alone w/LO for more than 2days at a time, at least in the begining. Hopefully this will allow the transition to be a bit easier for us. Those days will be considered personal w/pay so he can still take paid sick days & vacay days as needed. I think this plan will work best for us.

pinksweetpea2 · October 2011

My DH works for himself, so he will probably only take 2 weeks...that is what he did with Lily. His schedule is somewhat flexible however, so he is able to be home more during the day than some who work 9-5.

Also, we should have family there off an on the first month or so.

Mrs+Mouse · October 2011

DH gets 2 weeks of free 'leave' from the Navy and then can take up to 30 days of his own leave if he wants. As of now, I think we are just going to do the two weeks and see what happens. He can always apply for the leave last min if I freak out and feel like I still need him.

My mom plans on coming down for the whole month of Feb *shudder* I am trying to talk her into coming down for the birth and a few days (when I'm in the hospital to take care of the dogs at home, etc.) so she can see and hold her first grandbaby and then going back home for two weeks so DH and I can have some alone time bonding with baby and figure things out on our own at first. After those two weeks (and DH is back at work and I'll go back to taking 3 night classes twice a week) she can come down and help - that's really when we will need her the most for baby sitting and house helping. I haven't had this conversation with her yet and I'm pretty much dreading it...

firewife9278 · October 2011

DH is a firefighter and works 24hr shifts. He'll take one cycle off (3 shifts, which equals 9 days). Since we know the date of the c-section already (unless I go into labor early), he should be off 3 days before and 5 days after.

However, he does have the option to activate 12 weeks per FMLA and can take paid vacation for as much of those 12 weeks as he wants. It's nice to know this option is there if he decides to use it.

I'm taking 10 weeks off. The benefit of it taking over 2.5 years to conceive - I have saved a ton of vacation/sick time, and all of my leave will be paid.

MollySm · October 2011

My H is in school, so he can't take any time off. His quarter lasts through the end of March, and then he has a week between quarters.

We still have to figure out his schedule for those 2 quarters - I can't decide if he should take it easier during winter quarter when I'm due, or during spring quarter when I have to go back to work. I'm a nanny, so will bring our LO with me, but that will mean 3 babies under 2, so the more time he is home and can help out with her, the better for me.

jldubb0626 · October 2011

Hopefully DH will have a new job by the time LO comes, but either way, he plans on taking 2 weeks for adjustment. My IL's will be here as well so he NEEDS to be here with me. Stick out tongue

cheese.fiend · October 2011

H has 4 weeks paid paternity leave (4 weeks more than me!) but at a Big Law law firm, you're not actually expected to take that much. He will take a week and then my mom will come up and help me for 1-2 weeks. H will cut back his hours and work more from home, though. He usually doesn't come home until 9 or 10 right now and then works several more hours after I go to bed... It'll be nice just to have him home at a normal time!

PhysChic7685 · October 2011

Mine is a teacher, so paternity leave is tricky. Still, he's planning 1 week and they're currently looking into if he can cover any of it with personal and sick days.

Temp915122062503143 · October 2011

wow- that's a long leave. Will you be working at all during that time. My DH gets a 2 week paid, no vacation days charged paternity leave. I was super excited to hear that. Just enough time until I get sick of him and want him to leave me alone all day

dgphotography · October 2011

My DH gets 40 hours of paid vacation, that's it. So i'm really hoping we can have a delivery like last time. Had baby Friday morning, so I got him home that weekend, a whole 5 days and then another weekend. His work totally sucks!

Beth1104 · October 2011

I don't think my husband gets any actual paternity leave. He is planning on taking at least 1 week of vacation, maybe 2 after baby is born. Hopefully family will be able to come up but I'm not counting on it. I'm jealous of all the people that live so close to family!

kms34 · October 2011

I don't think DH has asked if they have a policy. HE works in a small office (5 FT, 1 PT employees) so he doesn't qualify for FMLA. I know they'll let him take unpaid time, at least a week. I'd like him to take more if he can get it paid but we can't afford it. I'm already getting paid less than 50% for my leave. Unless we get a huge tax return (unlikely) both of us will be going back to work before we're really ready.

mariemed11 · October 2011

DH has up to 3m of paid vacation and sick leave he can take, but he's only going to use 2 months of that time for paid, paternity leave.

karleegirl · October 2011

My dh doesn't get paid paternity leave ( I don't get paid maternity leave). We just save vacation time. He will probably take 10 work days off. I will go back to work after the baby is 12 weeks so I don't want him to use up all his vacation time in case the baby is sick. We try to alternate being off with sick kids.

I don't like other family coming to "help" with the new baby. I appreciate that my mom will make us some dinners. She and my dad will help out with ds2. He will be 5. They'll take him some fun places im sure. My inlaws are a bother. I feel like I should entertain them, and I can't nurse in the living room in front of them. (my family i can with a cover).

My oldest is 16 and he will probably be a lot of help with his little brother. He helps me in the mornings getting him ready or just fixing him a bowl of cereal if im doing my makeup.

ClaireBear90 · October 2011

my husband gets one week paid and is planning to take an extra week of PTO. I'm sure it will fly by all too quickly!

jf198400 · October 2011

My DH gets 1 week of paid paternity leave and then can use as much of his vacation time as he wants. So he will probably be home 3 weeks total, same as with DD1. But he may not take it all continuous, since my mom will be with me for a few days to help out. I'd rather have him go to work while my mom's here so that I get more days of having someone around to help. Last time 3 weeks was plenty long enough. DH was getting bored around the house, and I was okay with the baby on my own. This time I think it will be harder since I'll have 2u2, but then I also have a better idea of what I'm doing. I know that my MIL and SIL will come over alot to help too, they live down the street.

OP- why is your DH going to take such a long leave if some of it will be unpaid? If I were you, I would just have him take as much paid time as he can. You also may want to consider saving some of his vacation time for stuff that comes up later in the year. It's really stressful when LO is sick and one of you has to take off from work.

Also, if your DH needs to get insurance paperwork into his HR dept make sure he does that within a month of birth.

k.linn · October 2011

DD was born the day before Thanksgiving, so technically DH didn't take off any work at all, as he already had Thursday and Friday off. He works for our family company, so he could have taken off longer, but honestly, I was totally fine with him going back to work the Monday after. This time he'll probably stay home a full week since we'll have DD at home also.

Jen0204 · October 2011

H gets 12 weeks of paternity leave, fully paid. That's a heck of a lot better then I get! His salary sucks, but his benefits are great. I plan on taking 12 weeks as well, and the last 4-6 weeks will just be unpaid. I'm really, really happy that we can both be home for so long with the girls. Especially with having twins, I think it's great that we'll both be able to be home for 12 weeks.

firewife9278 · November 2011

DH is going to take 4 weeks off. He was going to take 12 weeks (he has over 1000 hours of sick time saved up), but he found out that he has to use vacation time first, so we opted to have him take 4 weeks.

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