Maternity Leave Plans?

[teachermomtobe]

I know it's still early but I have been thinking about my maternity leave options before I tell my principal I'm pregnant. For any working moms, have you thought about it? For SAHM, did you work before staying home and how do you feel about it?

[cheezee]

I'll get 12 weeks off work. However, when I do return I'll be going part time. To say I'm excited about this is an understatement. I'll go from working three 12 hour shifts a week to about 16 hours a month. It will be a big adjustment but its time. My mom is chronically ill and I'm just so ready to take care of her more and focus on my babies and not stress about work getting in the way so much. Personally, after DD I was soooooo ready to go back to work at 12 weeks. Maternity leave was very isolating for me. I was ready to get into a routine and have a reason to get up and going each day. Otherwise I was a bum with a baby hanging off my boob all day.

[teachermomtobe]

cheezee, sorry your mother is ill. I fear maternity leave will be isolating for me as well. Hence my struggling with my choices.

[teachermomtobe]

As a teacher I have the option of up to 12 weeks (assuming baby came on due date that would have me go back to work pretty much the 1st/2nd week of school in September). My other option is to take the entire following school year off unpaid. I don't think finances are a reason I'll have to do one or the other. I think both options will be hard for different reasons.

[sdlaura]

Our short term disability policy is for 13 weeks at reduced pay. You take one week of sick or vacation time and then have 12 weeks of leave.

I'm trying to change my company policy to being able to come back three days a week for the first six weeks back and four days a week for the next six weeks. At 60% and 80% pay, so it would cost the company nothing. So back totally full time by six months. Not everyone would do it because of the the reduced pay, but I think it would really help with retention of anyone considering quitting to stay home.

I'm not really interested in a longer leave since I work with clients and was glad to go back after my son because I could leave work early and sleep before picking him up from daycare the first few months . But I think being able to ease back in would make a huge difference for me.

[marshian]

I qualify for FMLA, which is nice to get 12 weeks, but as we know, it's unpaid. My company's current unwritten policy is 3 weeks paid at 100%, then short-term disability kicks in for 6 weeks at (I believe) 60%. The remaining 3 weeks would be unpaid.

I've been part of a small group working for the past year to put recommendations for an updated parental leave policy in front of our leadership team. Now I have a fire under my butt to push it along faster. We don't have to tell them about the pregnancy until the 5th month, so I have some time and hopefully they implement an even better policy.

My plan with our current policy is to take the full 12 weeks and request an additional month, depending on what our business pipeline looks like at that time. I work in consulting, so if there's not a role for me, I would just hit the bench, which doesn't seem to make sense.

If our policy changes, I'm hoping we'll have the option of going to 16 weeks.

I'm a FTM, so I have no idea how I'll handle maternity leave, but my current feeling is to take as long as I can to heal and for baby to build their immune system before going into daycare.

[iris1264]

I've been a SAHM since DD was born. When I was pregnant with her, I was working in an environment that was not great for a pregnant lady, and besides I HATED it. I put in my 2 weeks shortly after getting KU. I looked for jobs after that, but had a hard time finding anything since it was coming up on the holidays and I was looking to change my field. After the holidays I decided to wait until DD was born since I was getting farther along. But once DD was born I didn't want to go back to work. And I'm lucky I don't have to (although we do make sacrifices so I can stay home).

[cateyes]

I plan to take a full 12 weeks before returning back to work. I am also still trying to decide if I am going to go back to work full-time, part-time, or not at all. I kind of want to just run my home business and that is that. So many choices!!!

[agm04]

I get 16 weeks of paid leave, for which I am so very grateful. Maternity leave with DD was hard, but my neighbor had a baby 6 weeks before I did, so we were on leave together. That helped a lot.

I'll need to be a bit more plugged in while I'm on leave this time - probably af least checking email when I can. I plan to go back after leave. I work on a large team, and after my first maternity leave, I was really struggling and asked to reduce hours and pay. Otherwise I would have quit to find something more flexible. For the first 6 months or so after I returned, I took Wednesdays and half of Fridays off. It was awesome and I'll aim for the same thing this time. I'm pretty much back to full time now, though I maintained the reduced pay just to keep flexibility. If DD is sick, I stay home. Or if I feel like it. It's worth it to me.

[ihatepizza]

I'm Canadian so I get 12 months and my company tops up to 85%. DH works at the same place so I have the option to split with him. I haven't made up my mind, I really want to give him some of the leave but I know that housework/ chores etc would not happen and still fall on my shoulders. With two months vacation saved we could overlap. I would be a SAHM in a heartbeat but unfortunately I'm the breadwinner.

[dsp2013]

I took 12 weeks with DD under FMLA. With my previous company I was paid out at 100% STD for 6 weeks, took 2 vacation weeks, and the remainder unpaid.

This time I'll just get my 6 weeks partial pay with STD, and the remaining 6 unpaid. I'm contemplating taking just 4 unpaid and asking to come back part time for 4 weeks. This way I won't miss out on too much commission. My salary is only 1/4 of my take home so not getting commissions makes a huge dent. We can survive without it, but I don't think my ego can.

[wineoclock]

I'm a teacher as well. My son was born in December and I returned after 13 weeks of maternity leave. Luckily I only had a few months to go before summer vacation. With this baby being due in June it will be a different situation. I will take at least 12 weeks and may "round up" to return at the beginning of October. The baby will join big brother at our Montessori preschool which we absolutely love. It will be expensive but we will make it work.

Returning to work after my son was HARD. If I could have stayed home with him until the following school year I would have but our need for insurance made that impossible. As teachers we are very lucky to only work 196 days a year. Focusing on the next day off, winter, spring and summer breaks helps a lot.

I've seen many colleagues choose to stay home with their children with the intention of returning eventually. If you choose this route I would suggest taking a leave rather than resigning and keeping up with your in service hours while you are technically still a school district employee so that your license remains current. In Florida, leaving can result in losing tenure so I'd check into that as well.

[teachermomtobe]

wineoclock, hearing from another teacher is helpful. I already have tenure and it won't be impacted by taking a year off. It would be a leave for a year and I'd be guaranteed a job when I come back but it may not be teaching the same grade (which is 3rd and I love and all I've taught for 8 years) so that plays into it too. I carry my grade level and my principal likes me so I hope I'd be back in the same grade. I know we are lucky to have lots of holidays and vacations but as you also know we give so much of ourselves to our students. I just worry how I will balance it. I wish part-time was an option but it's not.

[wineoclock]

Sounds like you've got a good shot of coming back to third if you choose to take the year. Balance is something we all struggle with but I will say it became much easier to leave work at work once my son was born. The important things still get done and my students don't suffer terribly!

[MrsEmuTavi]

As a teacher, with DS I took 12 weeks paid mat leave. With this one I will take about 10 weeks paid and 2 unpaid (I don't have enough time saved). With being a summer baby this time I get the entire summer plus 12 weeks so most likely I will be going back this time next year. H and I are still in conversations about the 2 weeks unpaid. I would rather go back with a few days of paid leave left in case any of us are sick. H would rather I just take the unpaid sick day(s).

[teachermomtobe]

Nov 11, 2016 19:03:38 GMT -5 MrsEmuTavi said:

As a teacher, with DS I took 12 weeks paid mat leave. With this one I will take about 10 weeks paid and 2 unpaid (I don't have enough time saved). With being a summer baby this time I get the entire summer plus 12 weeks so most likely I will be going back this time next year. H and I are still in conversations about the 2 weeks unpaid. I would rather go back with a few days of paid leave left in case any of us are sick. H would rather I just take the unpaid sick day(s).

So jealous that summer doesn't count towards your 12 weeks. It does for me

[lindsay]

I'm not sure what I'll do. My company doesn't give me as good of options as my last company. I have to first take 1 week pto, then can take up to 6 weeks short term disability at 60% (I think) pay. That at that point, I'd have 3 weeks of PTO, but then I'd return to work with nothing if I use it. I can only take 9-12 weeks if I am ok with returning with no PTO for the rest of the year. I feel like that could be bad with a toddler and two babies...

Who knows, I potentially might not return to work to stay at home for a while and do some ad hoc or family business work on the side.

[starsandshamrocks123]

My companies is OK. I will get 8 weeks with ST disability (with the RCS) although the 1 week is PTO days used. Last year they added a week onto that so I should have 9 but the last 2 weeks I think are 80% pay. I'll probably use more PTO to stretch it to 12. Last time I didn't want to lose the $$ and PTO but those last few weeks made a difference and I'm glad we made it work. I would love to take a year off especially since DH travels for his job but I do not see that happening unless we win the lottery!

[honda13]

I can take up to 13 weeks at 100%. I'm not sure yet if that's what I will do or not. Maternity leave with dd was hard for me. I was scared to leave the house and missed being with people. I was excited to go back to work, but when I did that's when the PPD really kicked in. It was a lot to balance. My work has a new and improved policy since I had dd.
We get:
*10 weeks at 100% pay no elimination period and regardless of delivery
*6 weeks parental bonding time to be taken in full week increments in the year following your childs birth.
*I also get 4 weeks of vacation starting in January.

[mreve]

I live in Canada, so I got a year off at 55%. I knew when I was pregnant that I wouldn't return to my job. I didn't enjoy it and it didn't pay well enough to even consider going back. I taught piano one afternoon a week for several years and now I teach two afternoons a week. I still consider myself a SAHM because I teach from my studio in my home.

There's no such thing as maternity leave for a self employed piano teacher, but thankfully I don't teach during the summer so I'll get 2.5 months off before I start lessons again in September.

[bewise]

Jealous of many of your maternity leave options!

I work in a school, so I will be off until mid August without using any sick time. I qualify for FMLA but once we're released from the dr at 6-8 weeks, we have to take any additional time unpaid.

If I have this baby by my due date, I will have 10 weeks off due to summer break. Last time I went to 42 weeks, so that would still give me 8 weeks off. So I probably won't take any unpaid time off. But I will use my sick time very liberally....especially since I won't be using any for maternity leave.

[teachermomtobe]

redrock, welcome! Feel free to intro and stick around even though you are not the one carrying the baby.

[MrsEmuTavi]

I will ditto what teachermomtobe said. Hand around redrock! We would be happy to have you!

[sabrinaml]

mreve, my husband owns our business and I do all the bookwork- no maternity leave for me either. Well the 2 weeks I'm not cleared to drive maybe (will be a RCS.) When C was a newborn I brought him in with me, we had a bouncer and toys for him to play in/with while I worked for a couple hours. (I also wore him a little when he was really small. Will be doing the same with this one and big brother will go hang out with grandma.
I will not be going back to the day care I'm working at 1 day a week though. Right now I'm mostly there so C can play with kids his age and since I'm an employee I get a discount on his tuition. But it won't be worth the one day a week with C (toddler) and a baby. Id owe them more then I would make.
Welcome redrock!! Please stay and join in with us!

[mreve]

sabrinaml it's nice that you have the option to bring your LO with you, and I hope you get at least a bit of a break before you have to go in.
We didn't specifically try to have summer babies because I felt like that would be asking to be disappointed, but I'm so glad that it's happened that way and I have a built in break from lessons.

[leloyd]

With DD I had 12 weeks 100% pay which I thought was great. I had activities planned about 4 days a week and I found getting out of the house was key for me. My company just changed its policy to 18 weeks. I could also tack up to 2 weeks of vacation time on top of that, but I don't think I will. I'd rather use my vacation time for actual vacations. I am already compiling my list of classes and meet-ups that I did last time or want to check out this time.

[honda13]

leloyd, what type of classes did you attend? I learned from my last leave that I need to get out I would love to hear suggestions.

[leloyd]

Nov 14, 2016 14:58:05 GMT -5 honda13 said:

leloyd , what type of classes did you attend? I learned from my last leave that I need to get out I would love to hear suggestions.

So I went to a Mommy and Me Coffee meet-up that was run by a post-partum doula, itsy bitsy yoga, breastfeeding support group, local mothering circle, birth circle group of moms that all gave birth at the same hospital as me, my local chapter for International Babywearing group, Babywearing dance class, my local Hike it Baby meet-ups, Infant Massage Class, Local baby music class and a local group that meets up at local breweries with their babies.


The Hiking Group and Babywearing Group are on Facebook and have a bunch of chapters all over and the dance class and brewery visiting meet-up stemmed from that group. I went to all the postpartum classes that my hospital provided. My doula told me about the coffee meet-up and the mothering circle. I didn't have my own birth circle, since I had opted out, but I kind of crashed one after meeting one of the moms a few times at the breastfeeding group. 

[honda13]

leloyd, great information. Thanks!

[sdlaura]

To follow up on leloyd 's post, my hospital also has a breastfeeding support group that was great to attend after my first baby was born. I didn't have any specific questions, but it was nice to be able to go somewhere and meet up with a bunch of other new moms and be able to breastfeed during it. One of the moms started a playgroup for the moms in the support group, and we all still hang out 4+ years later. I also did stroller strides and a mom and baby yoga class (even though I'm not really a yoga person). I was still glad to go back to work though