That's it!! I'm moving to Finland!!

mamabernsteinbear15 · September 2014

I have to say, I know I am very lucky now with what my maternity leave is. When I go out I will have 3 weeks paid vacation and then get either 6 or 8 weeks paid maternity (vaginal or c-section). I also can take up to an additional 6 weeks at partial pay... But this is just ridiculous!!!! How is the US in the same category with Suriname and Pap New Guiana!!!???

I know there's nothing we can do and sorry for venting!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/laraparker/this-is-what-paid-maternity-leave-looks-like-around-the-worl

mamabernsteinbear15 · September 2014

Wonder what the weather is like there???

Sarah04Marie · September 2014

Move to Canada

we have 3 seaaons but it's not that bad. However, ask me in January when we are in the middle of winter and I may take that back .... It's supposed to be even worse than last year ....

kayneg924 · September 2014

Finland sounds lovely!

Sarah04Marie · September 2014

Oops - we actually have 4 seasons ... Baby brain? Or maybe it is too early to be online (6:30am) - and sorry, I am on the app and don't have an edit feature!

amystan · September 2014

I'm in Norway, our maternity leave is really similar to that in Finland. Definitely feeling lucky about that but of course I miss being close to my family during this time, and the shopping for baby isn't the same over here! It's super expensive and not everything you can get in the states is available over here.

arlinar · September 2014

That makes me sad to live in America. What's the American dream if us women can't even get at least a year off with pay.

It's more sad that Iraq and Afghanistan has paid maternity leave.

USA needs to step up.

HoneyBunn24 · September 2014

Sarah04Marie said:

Oops - we actually have 4 seasons ... Baby brain? Or maybe it is too early to be online (6:30am) - and sorry, I am on the app and don't have an edit feature!

We only have 2 seasons...Winter and Construction! haha.

redheaded14 · September 2014

Is 167 weeks right? That's over 3 years!! I'd prob rather pay US taxes, I'm sure they are sky high in Finland to support that, but I agree that the US has got to do something. This isn't the 70s where most women stay home so maternity leave isn't needed. It's crucial to support working women. Do yourself a favor though and never read the comments of any online article about US maternity leave. Obviously the comments section is terrible for any website but I have never read more hateful diatribes against women, babies, etc then in an article about our maternity leave (or lack thereof).

thelittlepear · September 2014

@Sarah04Marie, I heard that too, and wanted to cry

@HoneyBunn24, that's what we say too... are you a Manitoba mommy also?

inawe07 · September 2014

4:22AMOops - we actually have 4 seasons ... Baby brain? Or maybe it is too early to be online (6:30am) - and sorry, I am on the app and don't have an edit feature!

You had it right the first time. :b We've skipped fall altogether this year and went straight to snow and winter.

RIngReady · September 2014

I'd move to Finland not for the maternity leave, but for the 'baby box.'

Every mother knows the #1 thing you need after delivery is a box of government condoms.

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22751415

MissLMS · September 2014

@amystan, where in Norway are you? I used to live in Oslo and we visit every couple of years.

My Norwegian cousin is currently on maternity leave there and it's FANTASTIC. I would LOVE to have the same benefits Norway does in terms of maternity/paternity leave and just families/children in general. They are doing it right.

amandamarie2 · September 2014

Glad to be Canadian! I won't be on maternity leave this time as I'm a university student but I really appreciate the full year we have here. DH will be taking a short amount of paternity leave from the military when baby comes

JaneShops · September 2014

We are living the American dream..
I would say my leave is worse, all unpaid. Gotta use up my accumulated vacation/holiday hours to have income. Glad I supplemented with a Aflac's short-term disability. But the monthly on that was pricey

hazyleyedbeauty · September 2014

I saw that article. I might just be moving to Finland or the UK. I wonder how dh will feel about that lol

ewilson74 · September 2014

HoneyBunn24 said:

Sarah04Marie said:

Oops - we actually have 4 seasons ... Baby brain? Or maybe it is too early to be online (6:30am) - and sorry, I am on the app and don't have an edit feature!

We only have 2 seasons...Winter and Construction! haha.

Here in Vancouver we have Rainy (also known as Octapril) and Not Rainy.

The benefits to publicly funded maternity/paternity leave outweigh the monetary costs. I am so appreciative of having a full year and that my employer tops it up.

Babog10 · September 2014

We get 26 weeks paid here in Ireland and an optional 16 weeks unpaid parental leave, I didn't realise the situation in America! Finland all the way

Ardmhs83 · September 2014

I'm jealous

(

I'm a teacher and used all of my sick days with DS and since having DS I've needed to take days for sickness and what not. I probably have 3 weeks of paid left...maybe? I'm going to have to apply for short-term disability and I also plan to take a year off, but have to plan to not get paid. It's sad that the US doesn't value family as much as they do money. We should all be able to be home with our babies the first year.

JaneShops · September 2014

@clairhuxtable‌ sorry to hear you didn't get in on Aflac. I joined maybe 5 years into my job, & I work for the county. I only knew of it when I was getting married & my (awesome RN) coworkers were telling me the ins & outs
The math came out, if I have 1 baby every 4-5 years I'll even out. So worth it in that sense

knitfastdiewarm · September 2014

@clairhuxtable There is actually a fairly reasonable STD policy for Fed Employees, but I had to hunt it down. It wasn't advertised with any of our benefits. I'll PM you the info when I find my paperwork. I know it doesn't help you now, but maybe in the future.

joanakunzler · September 2014

I'm Brazilian and now I couldn't be happier to be living in Germany!

contrex · September 2014

I'm in Sweden and we get 400days as a couple. And ten days together when the baby is born. And you can save days until the child is 12 if you want to take some days later on. And 5weeks paid vacation per year. I'm pretty happy.

springlove59 · September 2014

Boo America sucks!

70point3 · September 2014

America does not suck. Yes, the maternity thing is a bummer, but after now living in my 3rd non-US destination, there are reasons that all the US expats stock up when we're home. You don't miss the awesome til it's gone. Plus taxes are so comparatively low too.

I'd be happy seeing equal paternity and maternity leave. It's not like just one of us is becoming a parent here.

Til then, I'll take my US company provided 4 months; 2 full pay, 2 half pay. I actually get nothing from Singapore law since I'm not a PR.

bsdub · September 2014

Wait - in the USA u dont get may leave paid by the government???
Canadians get all their vacation time, 16 weeks of sick leave ( if your on bed rest) and 12 mths off work. This baffles my mind - how do people afford to have kids?

Lightside · September 2014

I've been thinking about this issue a lot lately. In New Zealand we currently get 14 weeks paid leave and 52 weeks in total (ie your job is secured for up to a year), and this can be shared between both parents. Depending on the outcome of the general election later this month, it will go up to either 16 or 18 weeks paid leave before I give birth in April. Part of this is paid by the government and the rest by my employer -- with the benefit the the bigger portion being paid in bulk at the beginning of my leave. I also get my usual 5 weeks annual leave and two weeks special leave during pregnancy. All going well, our plan is to try to stretch the $ out to cover at 8-10 months of leave. So, it's better than the US (where I'm from) but nothing compared to this Scandanavian awesomeness I'm hearing about!

amystan · September 2014

@MissLMS‌ I'm in oslo! Look me up next time you come visit!

70point3 · September 2014

bsdub said:
Wait - in the USA u dont get may leave paid by the government???
Canadians get all their vacation time, 16 weeks of sick leave ( if your on bed rest) and 12 mths off work. This baffles my mind - how do people afford to have kids?

Nope. Most gotta save up and spend wisely. Also remember that a lot of every day things are also cheaper in the States than many other countries.

But those that pay taxes, don't pay the high 50% that many other countries have and the other half our country is on govt aid. So I guess, for some, it is paid for?

Win some, lose some.....

AFrye0726 · September 2014

I was just looking into this too, my HR guy told me I had to use all of my vacation and used the words "we are nice enough to pay you for the other 4 weeks." So I get no vacation time, and only 6 weeks of Maternity leave. I'm glad to be able to be paid, but still. I definitely expected a little more.

mrsctmac · September 2014

I'm in the US & have never (this is baby #4) had any paid leave. Always just saved up $ while pregnant to get through till I could go back to work. I think this has a lot to do with why breastfeeding rates are lower in the US (especially amongst lower income folk- ie people who work jobs that don't have sick days etc) I am really looking forward to this time getting to use the week of sick pay as income during my 6 weeks pp (finally have a job with sick/vacation pay!). I hope that as Americans we eventually get better at this! Maybe when my daughter's a mom? *fingers crossed*

MissLMS · September 2014

@amystan Jealous! I used to live near Ulleval stadium, in Sogn Studentby. We took our kids on vacation to Oslo last spring to visit family there and they loved it. I miss it so much!

nursenikki80 · September 2014

I hear ya. I'm hoping by the time I deliver to have almost 12 weeks of paid leave, but that's only because I've worked for the same hospital for 12 years. If not, I'd be SOL.

HoneyBunn24 · September 2014

@thelittlepear South Western Ontario here. My IL's recently had their street dug up...was supposed to take 2 weeks to replace the water mains and fix the driveway entrances and pave to be done. It's been rainy and cold since they started and they are now a week behind...It wouldn't be so bad, if they didn't have to park a block and a half away from their house.

jackieanddan1989 · September 2014

This issue has been stressing me out a lot too! I am the primary breadwinner (DH works full time but is underpaid for the work he does, so it's really my salary that is needed to pay the mortgage) and I am hoping I will be able to scrape together enough vacation time/maybe short term disability to MAYBE get 6 weeks paid. There is no way we can afford for me to take any unpaid without depleting all of our savings...which I really don't think is a good idea with a new life to take care of and all kinds of emergencies that could happen (not to mention the hospital bill from the birth itself lol)

So I will be picking up a lot of overtime to try and save more just in case and DH is job-searching like crazy.

The scary thing about using my paid-time-off is that it's also my sick time (and is the same hours that get depleted during short term disability) is that I have been told I am high risk to need to be on bedrest to prevent pre-term labor. if I use all my sick time doing that...what then??

very scary indeed.

Amandysergio · September 2014

In the same boat as many of you... with DD, I was taken out of work unexpectedly at 33 weeks and didn't even have her til 38 weeks. Well before I had her, my income from work was done. I only had so much time saved up as I used a lot for doctor's appointments. THAT was rough since I am the primary breadwinner and I still had to pay the weekly insurance/dental premium from my job on one income (and it was $55/wk). I went back to work when DD was 6 weeks old... and that was sooo hard.

This time I have short term disability, just in case this pregnancy is anything like DD's. Right now, I have about 2 weeks saved up in time roughly. I don't think I will have much more by the time I'm due.

Saving, saving, saving !!

LouiseAsk · September 2014

I live in Denmark and studying my Master degree. I'll be having 12 months of leave starting a month before the due date. Then my boyfriend will have 14days off from his work immediately from my water breaks, and he will also have 3 months of leave when he wants with full pay. Because I'm a student I'll just keep on getting the monthly income we get from the government while we study. And because I'm working 10 hours a week on a job beside school I'll also be having maternity-money from the gouvernment beside my education income. And all of our education is btw free as our Health care also is, because we pays 38% - 50+% in taxes according to how much we earn a year.

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