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178698 tn?1228774338

Maternity leave

Just curious how many weeks you are planning to take?  I do work full time so I can take 12 weeks off under FMLA.   I'm hoping I don't have any problems and can just use all of those 12 weeks for right after the baby is born.   I told my DH he was taking some time off for paternity leave.  So I think he's asked for a couple weeks off too.  

Do you think 12 weeks is too much? What plans do you ladies have?
17 Responses
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720688 tn?1237311532
Wow. To me, 12 weeks seems like a very long time. I am in the militatry and they only allow us to take 6 weeks. Which i really dont think that seems like long enough. I have never had a baby before, so I am not actually sure. But, i do know that if I had the chance to take 12 I would. Good luck with everything!
Helpful - 0
229439 tn?1245812437
I plan on taking the full 12weeks fmla. Only 6weeks at 75% pay and the other 6 weeks no pay which may be rough but worth it.
Helpful - 0
784127 tn?1261404576
Here in Australia we get a baby bonus from the government.  For twins we get $10,000 divided up over 6 months in fornightly payments. so its kind of like getting paid maternity leave for six months. I think I will take a year off, then only go back to work on weekends. That easy for me because Im a Chef and my husband can take care of the kids on the weekends. He calls them 'daddy days' and loves it. Saves on Childcare costs which are $65 to $100 a day here. You have to be making at least double that to be worth going back to work!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
PS.  In Germany law also is that if I wanted to I could take up to 3 years off after the birth of a child and the company has to guarantee me a job at same or equal level when I return.  First 12 Months of that time is at 67% of net pay up to 1800 EUR/month.    After that, any time taken off is unpaid, but still with job guarantee up to 3 years.  

I plan to go back though when the babies are 4 months old and then my DH will take time off under the above plan :) for a few months paternity leave.  We did the same last time with my DD until she went to daycare at 1 year old.

I always feel bad for my friends back in the US!  I couldnt imagine having to go back to work after just a few weeks or working up until the day I deliver!

Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I live in Germany and I get 6 weeks before the birth and 12 weeks after the birth (because of twins, I get 4 weeks longer after the birth than mothers of single babies).  
Helpful - 0
719902 tn?1334165183
I am a teacher and get 30 days (6 weeks) with pay, although what bums me out about it is they take ALL of your own sick days first, so you return to work with a newborn and NO sick days for the rest of the year.  In my case, I will have 4 kids (including a newborn) and no sick days.  Aaaahhh!!!  Makes me nervous just to think about it. = )

Because my daycare provider takes a week vacation in October (***** for me), I would be back to work just two weeks then paying her for vacation time.  So I am planning to take 3 extra weeks off without pay.  (We are allowed up to 12, but the last 6 are without pay.)  I am planning to teach summer school this summer (up to 8 days before my due date!) in order to afford the extra weeks off.

Another thing to consider... if you are planning to breastfeed, take off as much time as possible!  It is possible to continue after returning to work, but NOT easy!!
Helpful - 0
178698 tn?1228774338
Oh Canada has awesome maternity leave!! I'm bummed out reading what you wrote about.  And you know the funny think about FMLA is that it just recently came into being within the past 15 years or so.  

I am definitely taking as much time as I can I didn't have that much of an opportunity to do that with my other kids.  

Thanks for the input!

Helpful - 0
456039 tn?1302660148
tiredbuthappy - I think that is so weird. I guess I'm just used to how it runs here. It has been a year here for quite some time (at least 13 years) but when my older sister was born my mom got three months and with me only a month,  Maternity is the first 6 months Parental is the last 6 months. So if your husband/partner wants to take the last 6 months off and you return to work then that is allowed (as long as they have the E.I. time saved up as well) Or you can take 9 months and your partner the last 3 months. However you want to work it out (I believe). It makes things a lot less stressful that's for sure, you don't have to worry about early childcare etc.  I hope that all the other states bring in some form of maternity leave as well.
Helpful - 0
459969 tn?1398170254
I plan taking 2 months off. I don't think I can afford to take anymore off. I do not get any kid of paid maternity leave. So my one week vacation I do get, I'm getting it then.
Helpful - 0
171768 tn?1324230099
The current maternity laws are sad and pathetic in the US. I have read our coverage is comparable to and even worse than that in many developing countries. Many people feel the feminist movement had a lot to do with it. In our quest for total equality, the fact that we are the ones who have children was overlooked.

In the states you are protected by a family medial leave act, FMLA, which only guarantees you your job back- no pay. And there's many conditions. It allows for up to 12 weeks unpaid leave, but you get your same job back. You have to work for the employer for 12 months before qualifying, and only larger employers (over 50 employees) are required to honor this.

The rest is up to the states. Up until this year, many pregnant people in NJ were covered under disability insurance deducted from paychecks. They got 6-8 weeks disability pay, depending on vaginal or c-sec birth. Not everyone qualified though- i think it was similar to the conditions of FMLA, And for some stupid reason, public school employees such as myself did not get DI deducted from our paychecks. There are a few states that consider pregnancy and childbirth to be a disability and cover it.

I believe there are currently 3 states that provide a paid family leave. I know NJ and CA are 2 of them, i don't recall the third. Like I said, it's not much, but covers fulltime workers for up to 6 weeks. A huge step in the right direction. The only reason NJ enacted it is because our brilliant governor was injured in a terrible car crash when he wasn't wearing his seatbelt. While he was recovering, he realized the burden caring for a loved one can have on a family.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
As little as is physically possible.  Not that I wouldn't love to take more, but I'll only have had the job that I'm going to have at that point for a few months, so taking epic maternity leave seems inadvisable.  And then at the end of September or the beginning of October, the school year starts.  
Helpful - 0
456039 tn?1302660148
How does mat leave work in the USA? Im from Canada so I get a year off at 55% (I believe) of my pay and can take sick leave before maternity if I am taken off work early. Of course there are standards that need to be met to get this. We pay Employment Insurance off of our pay checks which when I was making a little over 2000$ a pay check was only 7$ off. You need a certain number of hours worked with E.I. deducted in that last 52 weeks to get it but the hours are low (I worked full time for four months and had all but 70 hours needed - which I had from part time jobs I did/ do) **My job now is self employed and therefore not E.I. deducted**

That is how it works in Canada (at least Ontario).  What criterias do the US have? Are all the states different?  Just curious cause I've heard (as above) all the different weeks people take off and always wondered how it worked.
Helpful - 0
667409 tn?1309152183
I'm planning on taking about 14 weeks off...I have enough sick and vacation leave to cover that. I'd like to take off a little longer, but I don't think we can afford it. With my last baby, I planned on taking 12 weeks off initially, but I just couldn't force myself back to work. LOL. I had about 8k in the bank to remodel my kitchen and, well...my kitchen never got remodeled, but I got to stay home for six months with my son! It was fantastic. And I work for a government agency, so we are allowed to take off up to a year for family leave.

Tricia
Helpful - 0
210400 tn?1325380570
I can take 12 weeks but I will only take 6 because only 6 wks is partial pay...I'm the only one working so I don't think I can survive long on 50% of my salary. :( I wish I could take longer.
Helpful - 0
229760 tn?1291467870
I am going to take off until after the Christmas break. I am teacher so I will just start the year in January.  I only get 10 days of maternity leave, so I am trying to save all of my personal and sick days to carry over to next school year. I also pay for short term disability each month so I will either get paid for 6-8 weeks depending on whether or not I have a c-section again.  I know this will not be long enough but I just feel guilty staying home being that we are still in limbo about Baby Angel Cooper's medical bills.  My dh says he supports my decision 100% and if I want to take the whole year off he is perfectly happy that decision. God bless that man, I love hims so much!
Helpful - 0
171768 tn?1324230099
last time was 4 months. It was supposed to be 3, but since she came a month early it ended up being 4. I was glad to have that extra month.
This time it will be either 3 or 4 months... most likely 4. Havent decided for sure yet- I have to look at the calendar and calculate days. My tenure date gets pushed back when I take leave, and I dont want to push it past next June.

NJ just passed a PAID family leave act. GO NJ!!! It's only 6 weeks, and it only pays 66% of your salary, but it will definitely help! DH is taking 3 vacation weeks, and 1 week paid family leave to stay home and help out. Since I have to have a c-sec, i will be needing a lot of help.
Helpful - 0
349463 tn?1333571576
Last time I took 6 weeks and I wasn't ready to go back I should have taken longer. This time I work from home and set my own schedule so I'll probably only take 2 weeks off and then I'll ease back into it an hour or two a day.
Helpful - 0
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