Maternity leave

vnssalcantara · November 2015

I tried to find a thread already started for this but couldn't.... I live in Cali so luckily I have the option to take maternity leave. If you've had children before, when did you go on leave? And if this is your first baby when do you plan on going on leave?

bntfroggie · November 2015

This is our first living child. I will work up until I can't (either I go into labor, or I'm put on bed rest). I want as much time at home with baby as possible.

tJaffe · November 2015

I'm a teacher, no paid leave in my state. I thankfully have short term disability to get a months salary.

I will go out from the day I go into labor until the end of the school year. My mom is going to watch the baby the last week of school so I can be with and send off my little first graders the last four school days. Then I'll stay home all summer with the baby.

None of it will be paid other than a few sick days and the month of disability. It's a huge loss of income for us since I will not receive any pay from April to August, but we refuse to put a 6 week old in day care. (He'll go to an in home day care across the street from my school next school year when he's close to 5 months, the woman only takes 2 teacher babies a school year.)

PinkSunglasses16 · November 2015

I worked right up until my water broke. IMO: if you can work (no restrictions) i would say to do so. The thought of sitting around waiting for your due date sounds horrible and a waste of precious time off.

oceanchild · November 2015

Agree with @PinkSunglasses16. Unless medically necessary, I'd work until labor and maximize time off with baby. My work gave 6w unpaid, but I became a SAHM.

Parker16772 · November 2015

No paid maternity leave her just short term disability. With DS1 I planned on working until I went into labor but ended up on bed rest at 36 weeks so because I had already been off 2 weeks when I had him I really only got 10 weeks with him. That sucked. If you are healthy I would work until you go into labor if you can. It sucks having to sit around and wait for baby knowing you are missing out on that time with them. This time I am going to have a scheduled C-section. I am hoping I luck out this time and don't get Pre-E so I can work up until that time. If we have to go in super early that morning then I will probably take off the day before, if not I will probably work. I am for sure taking 10 weeks maybe 12.

kitteh81 · November 2015

I'm in CA too and with both of my previous pregnancies I was able to take 4 weeks off before my due date without it cutting into my time afterwards with baby.

With my first I was a waitress, so I definitely wanted to get off my feet and loved having the month off before to prepare. With my second I was working in a kindergarten and would have probably taken the whole 4 weeks as well, but I ended up delivering at the end of June so that didn't apply. This time I'm in a middle school, and finishing up my Masters and I'll probably take the 4 weeks before baby to focus on my grad school work, because I'm going to try to finish as much as possible before baby comes so that I don't have to worry about it with a newborn around (I'll have about 5 weeks left in the semester after having little man.)

I've gone almost a week over my due date with both, and I don't recall it cutting into my post-baby leave time, but I'd have to look that up to be sure.

I won't be going back this school year, and we're trying to figure out if I will have to work my usual summer job, or if we can swing it so that I'm off entirely from March until the next school year. That seems appealing now, but I tend to get stir crazy as a stay-at-home mom, so we'll see.

flowerpower5838 · November 2015

FTM here so no experience with any priors, but I plan to work as long as possible before baby is born.

No paid leave here either - just STD at 60% for 6-8 weeks depending on my delivery and whatever vacation I decide to use after. I will roll over ~2 weeks and will have accrued about 1. I can't take any time I have not accrued and I do not accrue time while I am out on leave (with the exception of taking vacation time - so complicated).

I can take up to 12 weeks total as I qualify for FMLA, but I don't think we will be able to swing it so I am thinking 8 weeks, so 6 at 60% pay and 2 weeks at 100% pay through PTO.

oceanchild · November 2015

So cool that CA gives 4wk before baby without messing up your ML!

MrsLeanMeanClean · November 2015

I get 6 months full pay and will take 3-4 more on no pay....

I also plan on working right up to the limit. I work in the same campus as as my delivery hospital and 4 weeks prior won't be allowed to do much anyways so going to go in... watch some netflix... maybe write a review paper and wait for something to happen

irenewslee · November 2015

I also live in CA and my mat leave was 4 weeks before due date and 6 weeks after (8 if I got a C section or complication). I asked the benefit specialist and he said I could not move my 4 weeks before due date to after my delivery. It's pretty strict as to how it works. Also, out of the 4 weeks before due date, 1 week had to be sick leave for benefit to kick in, which means benefit is technically only for 3 weeks before due date. I negotiated with my boss at the time to work during my "sick leave" and moved that week to after my delivery. He needed me to finish some work so he was fine with it, but you could call that "under the table" kind of deal. DD ended up coming out 2 weeks before my due date which worked out perfectly because I got to stay home with her for a longer period of time. I had a vaginal delivery but asked my doctor to sign me up for extra 2 weeks because I did have some complication after delivery. I plan on doing the same thing this time around (minus the complication

).

Edit: Oh and I also took 6 weeks of FMLA which only paid me 55% of my original salary. I could have used my PTO to subsidize it but I chose not to. I ended up with roughly 3 months of paid leave.

alligreer88 · November 2015

I meet with hr in two hours to review my plan and make sure I know how and where to report things to for my group, my insurance, etc. I get 6 weeks paid immediately following, two weeks to use within a year- so 8 total paid. I'll take those consecutively. Then 8 more weeks fmla, plus my vacation and personal time . I'm using all that part time to work 3 days a week may to November. That's uses all the company leave, fmla, parental leave, vacation, and personal time. We get unlimited sick days for us or to care for our spouse or kids, go to appointments, etc. as long as it doesn't get out of hand. This is so much better than 6 weeks unpaid (combining before and after birth) I got before. I was new and it was a small company. My company now is over 100k people and it's a black and white process. I will work up until due date if at all possible. If not I will "work from home " or use a couple free sick days if I'm okay to work but just miserable. If I actually need medical leave before will be paid at 60% I believe. I worked past my due date with dd. it was totally fine. But I've had an office job for both pregnancies. The only annoying this is I'm switching bosses, effective feb 1 so hopefully the new boss is chill about me coming in late or dragging a little. He doesn't have kids but his general demeanor is laid back, so i think it will be fine.

cmerribury · November 2015

With my son I worked until 6 pm the day I went into labor, and was admitted to the hospital by 11 pm that night.

I'll do the same with this one, unless I'm put on bed rest. However, even if I am I have an arrangement with my Director of HR that I will just work from bed until I go into labor.

I want to have as much time home with him as I can. I'm taking 12 weeks leave, but it's all short term. I'll get 5 weeks paid at 60%, and then get all of my remaining vacation and sick time paid out to me. Since my "year" rolls over on my hire date (May) while I'm on leave, I'm entitled to take up to half of my vacation and sick time in advance to be paid out to me from that. So I'll end up with about 5 weeks paid at 60% and about 4-5 weeks paid at 100%, with a few not paid at all. I don't want to waste ANY of that on time for just me. (However, I will state that I work a desk job that is NOT demanding for an extremely family focused company who will send me home to rest—without needing me to take leave—at the first sign that I'm uncomfortable. I'm very fortunate.)

CecilB93 · November 2015

I just started a new job this week, and I'm only working part time, so sadly I get no sort of paid leave. I'm not really sure what they'll allow me to take unpaid, but DH and I can't really afford for me to take off too long anyways, so I'll probably be returning after 6 weeks, 9 at most.

kfarr26 · November 2015

Planning to work until labor here, too. My company doesn't offer STD, and I was unable to find a company on my own that covered much more than a broken leg type situation. I'll have about 4 weeks of vacation and sick time saved up by my due date, so I'll take that and the rest will be unpaid. I'm planning on taking the full 12 weeks protected by the FMLA. It'll suck taking that hit financially, but it's worth it to heal and get that time with our baby before having to leave her at a daycare.

Others at my company have worked 5-10 hours a week from home during their leave to help on that front, but I'm not sure my boss will approve it because she doesn't like people working from home at all. If she doesn't, oh well, I'll enjoy my time off. If she does, I'll probably do it just to take some of the pressure off of the 2 months without my paycheck. I'm not really happy about it either way. The US sucks on this.

MNGrl24 · November 2015

I'm taking 4 months - one of that is paid 100%, the remaining will be paid at 65% on STD. Most of my family lives overseas and they are utterly appalled with how the US views maternity leave

I'm thankful for the time I will be able to take, but it sure is tough to partially (or completely!) lose a paycheck.

meganmarie1087 · November 2015

I worked up until the day I went into labor with my first LO and plan on doing the same with this LO. Although, I will be having a scheduled c section. I plan on taking 8 weeks STD @ 100% and then I rolled over 2 weeks of PTO for maternity leave for a total of 10 weeks @ 100%. I am sure we could swing it for the other 2 weeks at no pay for a total of 12 weeks, but we will see how I feel closer to my due date. I know I was ready to go back to work after 8 weeks with my first LO.

ehowa499 · November 2015

I'm working until about a week before my due date. With DD I worked until Friday, was due the following Monday, but didn't have the baby until that Friday. It was rough the last month, but way better than sitting around like a couch potato (which I totally would have done). I am a pediatric therapist so I have to be pretty active at work.

kimkim86 · November 2015

Only once the baby is born

lewhelm · November 2015

Reading this thread is making me pretty happy about being a Canadian! We get one year paid leave, 35 weeks of which you can share with your partner. I'm taking the whole year myself because my husband is self employed. I'm an instructor at a private college so I'll work until the end of the term (about two weeks before due date).

arcanejinx · November 2015

Also glad to be Canadian! I am not going to school next term but will probably work a bit more (right now I'm only doing one shift a week will be doing a few more at my other job). I probably won't work until the day I go into labour as how I'm carrying now is making it hard to do things-and I work with children so I don't want to compromise their level of care and attention.

I won't take maternity until the baby is born (we have the option to start before if we have to give up work early). I thankfully have that option. If we weren't moving in with family (plan before we got pregnant to save some cash) I would try to stay working as long as possible.

astagray · November 2015

I am having my repeat csection on a friday and will be taking off from that monday before to prep me and my son. No paid leave here but sections here are 12 weeks unpaid. Thank God for my tax return or as a single mom I would be totally screwed.

MamaRoni · November 2015

I work for myself and have worked up until delivery with my 4 big boys.... I came back to work after a little less than a week with my first... 5 days with twins... and even stopped and worked on way home from hospital with my youngest (self employed =no pay if no work). I did bring all my babies with me though
this time I'd love to stay home for 2 weeks... Like LOVE TO.... I just have to hunker down and plan ahead

skruhmin · November 2015

The "one" perk of my work's policy is that I can take up to 4 weeks before my due date. And this time can't be applied to the back end so it wouldn't be good to save it up for after baby comes. With my first, it was supposed to be 2 1/2 weeks before EDD but he came 2 days after my leave started. With my second, I took off 3 weeks before my EDD and he ended up being overdue, so it was really around 4 weeks before he came. I'm planning on 3 weeks before with this one. After they come, as long as you have an uncomplicated vaginal birth, you get 6 weeks of 100% paid. You can take up to 6 weeks after that as FMLA, but it's unpaid, so I can't do that.

Sweet_D · December 2015

Another self employed here. No leave for me. I typically close my business Thanksgiving though the end of February because that's my slow season with minimal money coming in. This year I'm working though Dec 20th just to squeak the last few dollars in that I can. So I'll be closed Dec 20 though Mid April. That give me 4-6 weeks before I go back to work after she gets here. The downfall is every penny I've made the last 2-3 months has gone back into the business to cover office rent when I'm off. I have felt so horrible this pregnancy and my work is suffering because it. Before I even knew I was pregnant I didn't seem to be on the ball with work and thought I was sick. I need the break to get my head on straight before she gets here.

jstanton0822 · December 2015

Still laid off, no leave for me.

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