What are all you working moms planning on doing?

alpierce130 · August 2012

I work full time at my local library which is county owned. My benefits and pay are great so I'm definitely not leaving anytime soon! However I do know that the maternity leave policy isn't the greatest. I doubt I'll be able to take as long as I want which upsets me. What is everyone's plans here? Are you all going back to work immediately or after how long? And what are your daycare plans? I have a lot of thinking to do!

MSW_721 · August 2012

I work part-time so I don't get any maternity leave benefits. I should have about four weeks vacation saved up by the time I have the baby so I'll use that and then take another 4 or so weeks off unpaid. It depends what we can afford. Ideally I'd like to take 12 but I doubt that will happen. When I go back to work, LO will go into daycare part-time like DS.

Sparkles01 · August 2012

I'll be taking off the 3 months that my company allows, which is unpaid. Then it's daycare from there. I'm touring my first daycare on Tuesday and there's already a wait list. Yes, daycare is currently my biggest stress.

michelleb729 · August 2012

I also have great benefits and pretty decent pay at work. Not to mention, I love my job, and can't imagine not working, so I do plan to return. My plan now is to take 8 weeks off. I know that I can get 5-6 of those at 100% pay, and then the last 2-3 weeks I will get 60% of my pay. Not too shabby. I'm just hoping that I'll feel ready to go back after 8 weeks!

I don't have any daycare plans nailed down yet... Still pondering that. It is just so expensive, and I don't even live in a city with a high cost of living!

alpierce130 · August 2012

I know I'll only have maybe about 5 weeks paid and the other 7 I'm entitled to would be unpaid but we most definitely can't afford that. The only way I'd be able to take any more time is if I somehow got short term disability under constant care of a physician but I doubt I could do that but if I did I'd still get 60% of my pay. We have a lot of family willing to help but I think I'm going to loo into daycares as well.

KMac570 · August 2012

I love my job, and will definitely be returning full-time. We haven't figured out daycare yet. As for leave, my company's policy provides for 16 weeks at 90% salary, which I will definitely use. I will probably also take another 4 - 5 months, with government maternity benefits and our savings to rely on during that time.

Jenny935 · August 2012

If all goes as planned and I really do have a baby in early March, I'm hoping that my 12 weeks (6 paid, 6 unpaid) will get me to the end of the school year. If it doesn't get me all the way there, it'll be close so I'm sure I could make it work with either DH or flying in a grandparent. That makes me lucky enough to not have to start school until LO would be 5 1/2 months old. From then on, it's daycare during the school year. Even though we'll have to pay for all week, DH is planning on keeping LO home with him on Mondays when he doesn't work and I will have LO at home in the summers. (Some places around here offer reduced rates for teachers in the summers, just a "hold your place" fee rather than the whole shebang.)

missliz5507 · August 2012

Hey i know Day Cares are stressful!! i actually work for the state and go around to different day cares and accredit them, things like that.. if you have any questions about what to look for, just ask!

PinkRoses53 · August 2012

I work at a school so I am planning on taking the remainder of the year off, so I will have about 6 months with the baby before I return to work. As for daycare, we hope to have family watch him/her 1-2 days a week and then possibly have in home nanny for the other 3-4 days.

KatK421 · August 2012

For my full time job, I'm planning on taking (hopefully) 4 weeks off and then I'm lucky enough that I can take LO with me to work. (I'm a nanny) For my part time job, I'm not sure I get any maternity leave, so I may just quit a few weeks before my due date and go back to school next fall.

OhMySpawn · August 2012

I'll be returning to work full time after taking 12 weeks of maternity leave. LO will go to daycare.

caladpi02 · August 2012

In my department people take 6 months using vacation and sick time. Depending on how much people have saved, some take unpaid time off. I am a trial attorney, so my office does not want us back until we are really ready to jump back in to the grind.

We are going to start looking at daycare in the next few weeks- my thought is to ease into it by having the LO go a few days a week so the transition to full time is not so jarring. We will also price compare with a nanny share. I have two local mothers clubs that I am going to join after the first tri is over. Hopefully I can get some leads from them.

ctmom2011 · August 2012

Hopefully I'll be able to take 8 weeks but only 3 will be paid (I don't get maternity I have to use vacation time). I'll work full time and both LOs will go to daycare.

Sparkles01 · August 2012

missliz5507:
Hey i know Day Cares are stressful!! i actually work for the state and go around to different day cares and accredit them, things like that.. if you have any questions about what to look for, just ask!

Where do you suggest I start my search? Is there somewhere to look for church or in home daycares? For living in NYC I am having a surprisingly difficult finding anything.

Artzichick · August 2012

I would like to go back to work part time (3 days) once I return from maternity leave. I just started the job in March and didn't think we would be having kids so quickly so I honestly don't remember what the STD policy is and don't want to ask until I tell them I am pregnant. I think I get 6 weeks paid though...and another girl just went on maternity leave and she is taking off 4 to 6 months. I am guessing I will just take 3 though.

ccreagh · August 2012

I am a teacher so I plan on having the baby in early March and taking the rest of the school year off. 6 weeks would be paid, 6 weeks unpaid, and I would be paid over the summer. By the time I go back to work my LO will be about 5 1/2 months old and will have to go to daycare every day.

wittyschaffy · August 2012

I have to take five days PTO and then my major medical plan kicks in. I think I can take up to 3 months but we will see. Little one will be in daycare when I go back to work. I joke that I may start my own center though... My sister has one kid and another will follow soon, I'll have one, and one of my cousins is due in feb.

Adele 1981 · August 2012

I am planning on taking 6 months for maternity leave, about half of that paid with saved up time off. After that, DH and I are going to take full advantage of our semi-flexible schedules: he will be on baby duty during the days until I get home, then work late afternoons/evenings and weekends. I am very grateful to not have to worry about full time daycare anytime soon. (We may need to get a sometimes babysitter for days when the trade-off won't work)

Shoshie · August 2012

I work full time get 12-16 weeks (but my boss took about 6 months).

I can work from home - but we are probably going to ha ve to do a combo of us and nanny until the matzo ball is 6 months - then I can see a combo of nanny and daycare (I put in for the waitlist at my office).

lenya_35 · August 2012

I get 12 weeks at 60% pay. Then my work lets me take 4 more weeks unpaid. We're still trying to figure out if we can swing it financially, but I'm going to do my best to make it work.

As for daycare, this baby will go to the same daycare that DD goes to (which she started at when she was 3 months old). We will most likely move a few months after I return to work, so we'll have to figure out something new then.

teacherjulie · August 2012

Baby is due end of march I will use 3 weeks vacation then std for 6 weeks to the end of the school year

RibbitGrl930 · August 2012

Can you not use FMLA time to make up for the weeks you'd like to take that are not covered by maternity leave? I'm not sure how many people are staffed at your local library, so not sure if they're required to offer FMLA, or how long you'd be willing to go without pay. Just an option I thought about.

alpierce130 · August 2012

I work for the county which staffs thousands of people, but at my branch there's only 25. But they're not the ones employing me the county is so I am entitled to fmla which gives me 12 weeks unpaid but they deplinish all of my vacation and sick time first which is about 5 weeks of pay. I just don't think I could afford 7 weeks unpaid leave. To all the ladies planning on using short term disability, how are you planning on doing that? Do you have to be under the constant care of a physician who confirms a disability or what are your rules for using std?

Vicki3203 · August 2012

I am planning on taking 3 months maternity leave, which is covered by my company's short term disability, which pays 60% of my normal salary(thank goodness) I'm trying to convince my mom to retire to take care of LO, but she's not cooperating lol LO will go to the same church based daycare DD went to. I've found that I, personally like the smaller daycares rather than the chain daycares

koolaidmsyl · August 2012

alpierce130 - typically physicians will write you out on STD for specific number of weeks based on method of delivery. It should run concurrent with FMLA.

For me I'll be out at least 8 weeks (hoping for vag birth which physicians typically write out for 8 weeks). 8 weeks of FMLA with 1 week of Sick time used and 7 weeks of STD paid out at either 60% or 70% (depending on which plan I choose). I wish I could be out more but I don't know that we can afford 4 weeks of unpaid time off.

The kicker for me is that I travel for work so we've got to figure out how to manage that. I hope to begin sending out resumes as soon as possible after giving birth so that I won't be constantly traveling once the baby arrives.

kewltif · August 2012

I'm not sure yet. I will definitely at least take off till September (unpaid) but I might take off till the end of the following January.

CADE387 · August 2012

koolaidmsyl:

alpierce130 - typically physicians will write you out on STD for specific number of weeks based on method of delivery. It should run concurrent with FMLA.

For me I'll be out at least 8 weeks (hoping for vag birth which physicians typically write out for 8 weeks). 8 weeks of FMLA with 1 week of Sick time used and 7 weeks of STD paid out at either 60% or 70% (depending on which plan I choose). I wish I could be out more but I don't know that we can afford 4 weeks of unpaid time off.

The kicker for me is that I travel for work so we've got to figure out how to manage that. I hope to begin sending out resumes as soon as possible after giving birth so that I won't be constantly traveling once the baby arrives.

Natural births are actually typically only 6 weeks and it is 8 weeks for a c-section.

SissynJitters · August 2012

As of right now, after LO arrives, I will not be returning to my current job. At my current job, I would get up to 12 weeks off without pay. However, my job is just a job. I don't love it. I don't even like it. DH and I agreed that I would be a SAHM for 6 months, and then start working part-time. We've already started putting one full pay check into savings each month to bank up some money for my time off of work. It will be tight, but we are willing to make it work!

toriwc · August 2012

I plan on taking ten months off, unpaid. We are on my benefits, and I will retain those during the FMLA portion of that time, then we will have to pay for insurance through DH's employer. I can take up to two years unpaid, but the time we've planned is as long as we feel comfortable living on one salary (we will have to dip into savings during that time).

ebp913 · August 2012

I will have 12 weeks of leave (some paid, some unpaid) before I go back. I want to move to part time after maternity leave so we'll see if we decide to do that or not. Baby #2 will have a spot at the daycare Olivia is at but it's fulltime so we may need to start looking for a part time option here soon. Ideally I'd like to work T, W, Th and have Mondays and Fridays off or work 3 1/2 days a week.

koolaidmsyl · August 2012

CADE387:
koolaidmsyl:

alpierce130 - typically physicians will write you out on STD for specific number of weeks based on method of delivery. It should run concurrent with FMLA.

For me I'll be out at least 8 weeks (hoping for vag birth which physicians typically write out for 8 weeks). 8 weeks of FMLA with 1 week of Sick time used and 7 weeks of STD paid out at either 60% or 70% (depending on which plan I choose). I wish I could be out more but I don't know that we can afford 4 weeks of unpaid time off.

The kicker for me is that I travel for work so we've got to figure out how to manage that. I hope to begin sending out resumes as soon as possible after giving birth so that I won't be constantly traveling once the baby arrives.

Natural births are actually typically only 6 weeks and it is 8 weeks for a c-section.

Flip flopped that one, didn't I?

NovOwl · August 2012

I'm so so so lucky that I have fantastic benefits. I will work as late as I possibly can (I'm a teacher) and then I will take about a year off. I get 18 weeks of full pay, and then employment insurance for the rest of the time. (I'm in Canada). After that, we have family that will be watching LO during the day while I'm in school.

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