October 2022 Moms

Maternity Leave Discussion

What are your plans for maternity leave? How long are you taking off? Do you have to do a lot to prepare to be gone? Just thought I’d start a place to share thoughts if anyone else is starting to get anxious like me!

Re: Maternity Leave Discussion

  • My husband only gets a week of paternity leave but we have been saving his PTO so he can take an extra 2-3 weeks off. 
  • Thank you for starting this! 

    I will take all of the leave I can get - which is either 6/8 weeks of Short Term Disability (depending vaginal birth or csection) followed by 12 weeks of NYS leave.  I have been saving my time for years (thanks infertility) so I can get paid while I'm out.  I'll be using about 40 days of sick/vacation time  :open_mouth:

    My husband will take 12 weeks of paternity leave following my leave.  This brings us to 7.5 or 8 months until we have to deal with daycare, but I"m already stressed about it. 

    I thought I had everything pretty much covered at work, but as life goes things have gotten a lot more complicated as both of the people who were planned to take over my role temporarily will also be gone on medical leave for different reasons.  I'm not really sure what will happen now and I'm just bracing for complete chaos that I have no control over. 

    My work stress levels have been too much as I'm feeling the pressure to get everything in as much order as I can before I leave.  Which is the other thing - how do I even know when that is exactly??? Thanks for listening to my rant of the day  :#
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  • In Canada we can choose either a 12-month leave or an 18-month leave. If you pay into employment insurance through your work (most people do) then you get a percentage of your insurable earnings from the 52 weeks prior across your maternity leave. The percentage differs depending how long a leave you take. Since I'm not a high earner I'm opting for the 12-month leave as it means each paycheck from EI is a bit more. Some workplaces also do a top-up paid maternity leave for some of that time, but many do not. DH can also take up to 5 weeks parental leave paid by EI in a similar percentage system.
  • edited July 2022
    I am taking the standard 12 weeks, then going down to 20 hours/week (3 days) for the foreseeable future. I think baby's grandparents will babysit, as they offered and are retired. I have a close working relationship with my boss and had the discussion pretty early - as soon as we went public with the pregnancy news I told him I would be taking a step back from work to focus on motherhood. I'm 39 and this will likely be our only, so it's been a long time coming. :-) (fortunately not infertility, just personal choice) My husband gets one week for Paternity leave. 
  • I’m taking the 12 weeks I am able to. I wish it were more. I could possibly request a personal leave if needed too. I don’t think they’ll let me do part time, but I may ask and it’d come out of my PTO (what I will have left of it). It depends on how the babies are doing if I look into other options.

    Luckily a policy just went into place this year at my husband’s job and he gets 12 weeks paternity leave as well. He’s planning to start his when the babies (triplets) start coming home from the NICU. 
  • I’ll be taking 12 weeks. My job pays me for 6 weeks and I have to use PTO for the other 6 weeks. DH is going to try and take two weeks. It’s harder for him to be off since he’s a teacher and it’s pretty early into the school year. Fortunately as a nurse I still have 4 days off a week when I come back so I’m hoping the transition won’t be too difficult. 
    TTC History
    Me: 35 DH: 34
    Married 07/2012
    DD born 07/2014
    DD2 born 10/2018
    DS born 10/2022

    IF history:
    TTC #2 since January 2016
    June-Aug 2017: 3 IUIs w/Clomid = BFN
    Sept 2017: Dx w/Endometriosis
    Oct 2017: IUI w/Letrozole = BFN
    Nov 2017: IUI w/Letrozole = BFN
    Dec 2017: pre-IVF testing
    Jan-Feb 2018: IVF--17 eggs retrieved, 13 fertilized, 9 frozen and 1 transferred on 2/10 = BFP on 2/19!!! EDD 10/29/2018
    FET Oct 2021: BFP on 10/31! MC at 5 weeks
    FET Feb 2022: BFP on 2/15! EDD 10/29/22


  • I’m planning to take as much short term disability as I can; I’m eligible 4 weeks before my due date and then 6 weeks after giving birth if vaginal delivery and 8 weeks after if c-section; I believe it pays at 85% up to a certain dollar amount that doesn’t impact me. Then I can take 12 weeks paid leave covered by the state (NJ) again at 85% pay. There’s an option to take only 8 weeks but spread it out over the first year (ie work 3 days and use family leave for the other 2) but I would prefer to be home. I’m nervous though because I work for a super small company and there is a chance I won’t be eligible for those programs because of that. I get a minimal amount of sick time and no other pto or benefits. I’ve pulled together some savings, but again, super nervous to see how this goes. Basically have to submit the paperwork at the last minute ( for the 12 week leave it’s after birth) and see if my application is approved. 🙄 oh well! We’ll figure it out. 
  • Oh gosh @krthouse your post makes me want to move to Canada!!

    I get 12 weeks maternity leave starting after the baby gets here. I can use PTO prior to that if I want, or just go into labor at the office I guess lol. I have 10 days PTO to use for the rest of the year, but 5 can bleed into next year. I'm going to see if I can bleed more into next year and go back 3 days a week and use PTO on 2 days a week for a little while to ease back in. I'm the head of a brand new department at work, so luckily everything will mostly just pause while I'm gone. 
  • @stephers_ Do It! We have healthcare too! 
  • bows22bows22 member
    My EDD is October 18, and 10/15 is a huge deadline for me (which is the 17th this year since the 15th is a sat). So I’ll be working up until my due date if I make it that long. Then I’ll be off until the end of the year and working 2 days a week in January. We don’t have a maternity leave policy, so I’m assuming it will be unpaid after I use my PTO (I have about 3 weeks left). But there’s a little drama with that (that has nothing to do with me) so I may end up getting paid something. The flexibility I have there is invaluable so even though stuff like that is annoying, I don’t really care as long as other people actually pick up some of my work and it doesn’t all just pile up waiting for me to come back. 

    I did part time for awhile before I went back full time with DD also and if that is an option for anyone I highly recommend it!! So nice to ease back in.  
  • rcgwrcgw member
    @krthouse I want that.....oh my gosh I want that!!!
    I own a small business of just me, which is great for many things, but I don't get paid maternity from myself so we've been planning a couple months of no work for me and saving for the no income from me during that time. DH also owns his company (larger than just him) and works from home so he'll be taking a couple weeks off then slowly building back to full time. But neither of us will have paid time off. 
  • I’ll be taking 12 weeks fully paid. 6 weeks paid by STD, and the other 6 paid by my company. I work until delivery (with my last I was working up until the anesthesiologist made me stop to place my epidural). 

    Preparing for leave has been super stressful, because I have 7 people covering for me in different ways, and they’re all learning from nothing. Thankfully we’ll be getting into the slow season at work with the holidays, so most big things can wait until I get back right after Christmas. 

    My husband gets 2 weeks at 50% which just isn’t worth it. He’ll use some of his vacation time to supplement. We both mostly work from home, and my last baby still hasn’t been to daycare (born in February 2020), so this one won’t start at daycare until he’s at least 7 months old, but probably later. 
  • mia80mia80 member
    I'm in Canada and will be taking 12 months mat leave. I'm planning to start Oct 12th (2 weeks before my scheduled csection) to give me some time to get organized and relax a bit before baby gets here!

    My company does 6 weeks salary top up, or 8 weeks if you have a c-section. Then Employment Insurance kicks it. EI is a lot less than my normal salary at work, so I've been putting a bit of money away each month to help get through the year.

    Also, the province just bought in a daycare supplement this year so we're planning on keeping our 2 year old in daycare for the next year so he can socialize and I can have a bit of time with baby #2. 

  • I'm moving to Canada ASAP  :D Just joking, so happy for you ladies!  I wish US would get on board.
  • mia80mia80 member
    I seriously don't know how you American ladies do it, 6 weeks is insanity!!!!!!
  • slv_aslv_a member
    I plan to take 12 weeks, but I have no pay, no job protections (haven’t been at my job for a year yet), basically just hope they don’t decide to terminate my position while I’m gone 🤷‍♀️ And my husband is self employed so while he can be flexible, no work= no pay. We have another 3 months after that where we will not have daycare so it’s going to be interesting this time around, but I do have my own side business that will hopefully help bring in a little $$. 
  • I’m taking the full 12-week FMLA. My work pays for 6 weeks of it as “parental leave” for the “primary caregiver”. (There are lots of couples that work here, so they do six weeks for the primary and three for the secondary.) I have enough sick time accrued to cover the remaining 6 weeks, but it will wipe me out. I’ll still have vacation time though, so I’ll probably have to use that for doctor’s appointments next year until I can build up more sick time. I’m hoping baby boy is born on or a little after (or at least close to) his due date on October 7…if he’s early, I’ll have to come back to work between Christmas and New Years, or worse right before Christmas, and I’d prefer to just start back in January without having to burn more vacation time.
  • bows22bows22 member
    I also forgot to say above, I’m in total denial about how much work I have to get done before I’m off. I’m 100% in nesting mode at home but at work it’s just business as usual. I really, really need to get my act together in case I have the baby early. There are people that can pick up my work obviously but I’m in charge of the area and it’s a busy time for them too so I should care more about making it easier for them haha 
  • @wolfiebaby I'm with you on starting it early. My job is super physical, even with my coworkers carrying gowns for me. At the end of my shifts I get crazy Braxton Hicks from the exertion all day. Working through labour day weekend then I'm ready to take it easier and enjoy the extra time with DS.
  • I will also plan to work up until delivery. With my last, I finished up my last project bouncing on my ball while my husband cleaned up after my water breaking all over the living room floor 😂. Hopefully I will be more caught up to not feel pressure to finish “one” more thing before leaving for the hospital this time!

    I plan to take 12 weeks of FMLA, that is covered by 6 weeks of STD and my company pays 2 weeks at 50% of salary.

    I am hoping that if this baby stays in longer than my other 3 did, I might be able to stack some more FMLA into next calendar year and extend my leave longer. I only took 8 weeks with my 3rd and regret it. If I make it to 10/10, I can do the back to back FMLA without returning to work in between, so fingers crossed!

    I am the bread winner for our family though so need to do planning/saving to make it happen. I am so jealous reading about leave in Canada, Norway, Denmark, ect.
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