How did you plan your maternity/paternity leave?

DataMom · January 2016

I'm a first time mom and I'm wondering the best way to plan my and my husband's leave?
Financially, it would make sense if my husband and I didn't overlap our time off (child care is super expensive where I live). So, I take my 12wk leave first while he works, then I return to work and he takes his 12 weeks off to stay with the baby.
However, I'm sure we will want some time off TOGETHER after the baby is born. But how much time should we overlap? 2-3 days? 2-3wks? I have no idea.
We don't want to disadvantage our child or stress ourselves too much, but we are also trying to be frugal and need to get back to work. What would you suggest?

imakeeff0rts · January 2016

They way my BIL and SIL did it was that she stayed home and took her full maternity leave. They overlapped by about a week or so, and he took his paternity leave. He also took some paid vacation time to get some extra time with their LO.

I am a SAHM, and my situation is going to be kind of weird, so I don't think it would really help much.

Kristin712 · January 2016

My husband doesn't get paternity leave. He will be taking two weeks PTO after birth and I will take my 12 weeks (completely unpaid, unfortunately).

Jenniferk08 · January 2016

My first time I waited until a week before my Edd to start my maternity leave. I went into labor the morning of my last day.
This time I'm starting the first of August so I have some solid time with my son before the baby arrives.

hannahh18 · January 2016

I'm a photographer and will stop shooting at about 37 weeks And start again 6 weeks postpartum. Husband has 4 weeks paid paternity leave right after baby is here!! He also might take a few days off at the end (using paid time off) to help get everything ready for baby and spead quality time with our 2 1/2 yo!

bananers · January 2016

Kristin712 said:
My husband doesn't get paternity leave. He will be taking two weeks PTO after birth and I will take my 12 weeks (completely unpaid, unfortunately).

This. This is what we did for DS too. Two weeks is a good amount of time to bond and get into somewhat of a routine. Depending on how "easy" of a baby you end up with, by the end of two weeks you should either feel ready to go it alone or be aware you can't and line up friends/grandparents for reinforcements.

ThisisNumber3 · January 2016

Will you have any other help or visitors coming in? My DH only took a few days off work because after that my mom was here. However if that's not the case I would plan maybe one week overlapping at the start. I was induced so I was in the hospital four days before I went home (labor plus recovery) so maybe plan time off for delivery and then a week at home.

Bubblegum5586 · January 2016

Kristin712 said:

My husband doesn't get paternity leave. He will be taking two weeks PTO after birth and I will take my 12 weeks (completely unpaid, unfortunately).

We are doing the same but possibly only 1 week for H. Luckily my mom and sister live 10 minutes away so they will be able to help me out after the week.

1faceinacrowd · January 2016

I think it'd be good for his first week off to be during your last week, so that you can be both be home for that week and he can get acclimated to the routine you've created.
My DH doesn't get paternity leave, so he's just taking the first week off after the baby arrives, and then I'll be home for a total of 8 weeks (including one week working from home at the end, so long as my boss approves).

charmedlifex3 · January 2016

My husband only gets 5 days vacation for the whole year where he is right now... So he will take off the day(s) of labor / birth, then my doctor keeps us for 48 hours. He'll go into work the day after the baby is born, then take off the day we come home. (two days after birth) That would be it. So - two to three days off. He'll need the other 16 hours to be able to come to appointments. He is trying to see if he can go in early, and leave early one day a month to get that time back, and spend a few extra days home.

I have 8 weeks paid mat. and 3 weeks vacation, and a week of sick. I'll take off 10 weeks, and my mom is moving in with us from my last week home, for a month, to help ease the transition back to work. (and delay daycare until after 3 months old)

pbsnowflake453 · January 2016

I'm a teacher, so I've really been debating how much time to take. I get 12 weeks unpaid, and I have to use my sick leave concurrently which means I'll end up with about four weeks paid and eight weeks unpaid. I'm due Aug. 7th and school starts Aug. 3rd. If I took the full time I'd be coming back the first week of November. I'd love to just take the whole semester, but I don't know if my principal or district will allow any extra leave. I'm also not sure if we could afford that much unpaid time off.

I noticed several other teachers on the job thread...what are you guys planning for next school year?

CoffeeBeanFiend91 · January 2016

DH doesn't get paternity leave so he will use a bit of vacation time. We will set back tax return for the financial part as I don't get paid leave.

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