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June 2011 Moms
mamarazzi528
member
2 interesting blog posts - maternity leave in the US
mamarazzi528
member
XP from 2nd tri:
https://www.momsinmaine.com/2012/05/wake-up-moms-youre-fighting-the-wrong-fight/
Part 2:
https://www.momsinmaine.com/2012/05/frankly-its-really-just-easier-to-hire-a-man/
Both of these posts are well written and have great discussion in the comments sections.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: 2 interesting blog posts - maternity leave in the US
I have said it before and will say it a million more times (in fact I even said it in my exit interview with my company). If I had a year maternity leave I would be happily going back to my job in which I was a great employee for my company. Instead I had to quit and it took them almost a full year to replace me leaving my position open anyway and they had to put in the money to get the new employee trained, get him a clearance, etc, etc.
It's their loss. I think America needs to wake up.
I applied for personal leave to extend my maternity leave and was denied. When I was ready to go back to work, I was very lucky and got rehired for my old position. I shake my head thinking of all the paperwork and HR time wasted on the process, though.
This was linked in one of the blog posts you shared, but I think is bears being brought out on its own:
https://www.change.org/petitions/paid-maternity-leave-for-all-u-s-women#
I know some people feel things like internet petitions can't make a difference, but I've been involved in multiple issues through change.org where the number of signatures did mean something and did help move an issue forward, so I'd urge you to sign, if this is something you believe in.
I thought this part of the first post was so true:
<< The company made up for it with what they called a ?generous? short-term disability plan. 6 weeks. OmgthankyousomuchthatisSOgenerous!!!!!11!!!!!eleven
I had to return to work before Charlie was even capable of sleeping through the night. I had to return to work before Charlie and I could establish proper breastfeeding. I had to return to work before my post-partum bleeding had stopped. I had to return to work before I was even cleared to do the deed again with my own husband. I had to pray every day that I didn?t get PPD because I was out of PTO. FML. >>
I took 6 weeks short-term disability and 6 weeks unpaid (but used PTO for 2 weeks of that) for my maternity leave. I can't imagine only taking 6 weeks for all those reasons she mentioned! Even at 12 weeks it was difficult -- still not STTN, dealing with supply issues as I got used to pumping at work, etc.
For those first few months back to work, I wanted to quit every day. I was exhausted (how could I be a productive employee??) and wanted to be with my baby who was still so little and helpless. I feel like 6 months was finally the turning point: LO was STTN and was really out of the "newborn" stage and getting developmentally stronger (rolling over, sitting up, etc.). I felt a little bit better about going to work and leaving her with others.
But really, it's only been the last couple months (maybe starting at 10 months) where I've finally enjoyed being at work and am glad I'm still working. It really makes me realize how 1 year of maternity leave would have been perfect. You've made it through all the toughest phases and your baby isn't as helpless anymore, so it's easier to concentrate at work.
I plan on doing the same maternity leave schedule with baby #2 (but I'm hoping to save up more PTO for the unpaid parts). I'm already dreading returning at 12 weeks again!
AGREE 100%! I'm hoping to switch jobs (I'm a teacher). I will not have short term disability at my new job since I'm already pregnant. I will not qualify for FMLA. I will only have 12 sick days to use and maybe 30 hours of PTO. So I'm looking at maybe 2 weeks maternity leave. This was unplanned or else we would have saved our tax return like we did with DD. So ridiculous. I do not want to stay at my current job because they were a major pain to work with during my FMLA for DD. I haven't told them I'm pregnant and I'm not planning on it before school is out. Luckily the job I'm thinking I'm going to get is a teach from home job but it will still be rather difficult to be working on breastfeeding, and recovering from birth while doing work (after not getting much sleep at night). NOt sure how this is going to work out...
I know someone on assistance and she makes money under the table and lives with her fianc? but didn't tell job and family services. so she's getting money and WIC, and still making money. She's better off than I am....AND she complains about staying home with her kids. I'd LOVE to be able to spend more time with DD and our new LO but won't' be able to because I have absolutely NO leave.
Make a pregnancy ticker
i think that in our country, kids are just not the priority. and the government doesn't have an incentive to subsidize childbearing, because people will be having kids anyway. in many european countries, the government offers these incentives to women in part because their childbearing rates are so low.
but i agree with the author wholeheartedly that moms in this country are put in a sh*tty situation no matter how you dice it. my company also falls into the "more generous" category. i got five weeks paid at 66%. and i qualified for FMLA. in fact, my boss told me i could take off as much time as i needed. that was all fine and good, but the mortgage needed to be paid, so i had to return to work.