August '14 Sunflowers. 27 angels. 48 pink, 28 blue. 74 HERE!!

[squirrel.]

Kiara I'm a teacher too, so the whole maternity leave conundrum dictated when we tried for a baby. Thankfully we conceived when we planned to and we're having our summer holiday baby. I plan to take 9 months off. Teachers here get something like 4 weeks full pay, a further 2 weeks at 90% and then a further 8 weeks at half pay... or something like that. After that you get statutory maternity pay till nine months. I'll have to go back in the summer term, as we can't afford for me not to have any income at all. We planned it so that I would be able to get to the end of the academic year, which will be easier for school to find someone new to start in September.

What I'm going to struggle with more is getting my wish to come back part time. I've had mixed messages and warnings from other members of staff that the leadership team don't like it when staff come back part time, but after coming back full time when my son was 5 months old, I am definitely only going back three days a week for a year. I want to spend time not only with this new baby to watch them grow, but also with my son, to make up for lost time having worked full time nearly his whole life.

x

 

[Klara0412]

Squirrel, nice to see another teacher. I work in an international school teaching year 1 (all ESL, exhausting!) My contract runs out on 31st July and my baby is due on 3rd August, which was the planned timing so I get the most maternity leave. In Germany it is 14 weeks at 100% pay paid by health insurance / employer combo (although I will miss out on 8 weeks of this due to my contract running out) and then 12 months at 65% paid by the government. By planning to have our baby to coincide with the end of term I seem to have done myself out of 8 weeks pay but I can't really complain. It is much more generous here than most places. However, my contract would have almost certainly have been renewed if they did not know about my pregnancy, which is unfortunate.

I don't plan on going back to work for a few years because my partner's contract is up for renewal and in his line of work (post-doc research) you have to be willing to move anywhere in the world... It is easier if I don't have to look for a job too but we'll see how long our finances hold out for

 

[Ashley8806]

Its crazy how maternity leave is so different everywhere... here the average is 6 weeks and typically unpaid. I'm taking 10 weeks which will be unpaid also. And will go back to work 4 days a week. I'd love to go back part time but financially can't really do that right now

 

[LittleMinx]

Hey ladies

Sorry... I'm so crap at keeping up with this thread!

Also i'm so sorry to those who have suffered losses ... to you x

How is everyone? Can't believe i'm almost 15 weeks and still no proper bump (unless i poke it out) I kinda wish the bloat had stayed! Had lots of stretching pains this weekend and been getting the odd pops of movement

xx

 

[squirrel.]

Wow Kiara!!! That maternity pay is AMAZING!!! Wish I lived in Germany

Ashley - I have always felt sorry for women I hear of in the US who have to go back so soon after having their babies. I know the system in the UK is very generous in comparison. Most women here take a year if they can afford it. It's amazing that we're entitled to a year in the first place.

x

 

[linz143]

This time I'll be taking 2-3 months off at 55% pay. The first 6 weeks will be paid at 100% due to combining sick, vacation, and work maternity leave, but then the remaining 6 weeks is only 55% from the state. DH is a SAHD so after that, it's back to work I go as I'm the family breadwinner.

Last time I only stayed home 1 week before birth and 5 weeks after. So this is going to feel like a lifetime to me!

 

[mrsswaffer]

I am taking 6 months' (26 weeks) maternity leave like I did with my son. The first 8 weeks are fully paid, then I get statutory maternity pay for an amount of time, and then it goes down again for the remainder.

 

[addy1]

We are very lucky in Canada as far as mat. leave goes. We have one year paid maternity leave from the government, plus whatever your employer offers. I get 17 weeks at 100%, then the remainder of the year is called EI (employment insurance).

I am really looking forward to being at home for the year, but sad that it will be my last mat leave!

 

[Arlandria]

Yikes! My mat pay is awful!!! I only get 39 weeks in total and the pay is 90% of my wage for 6 weeks then offered £136 a week for the remaining 33 weeks. Honestly not worth a lot...

I plan on taking my mat pay and not returning to work as I cannot afford the private nursery and a breakfast/after school club for DD.

I'm lucky enough to have a supporting husband who agrees xx

 

[squirrel.]

Ariandria, wouldn't you be entitled to statutory maternity pay which is something like £500 a month? That's what my maternity pay goes to after the first couple of months or so. I thought anyone who was working or had been working for a certain amount of time was entitled to statutory maternity pay.

x

 

[Ichisan]

£136 a week is SMP, it is quite pants really. I will still be a SAHM this time round but OH will have finished his degree and hopefully be in full time work which will make things a bit easier financially.

 

[squirrel.]

I thought you were talking per month. My bad

 

[HWPG]

Wow, you ladies are quite fortunate.
I get six weeks short term disability - I think it's 60% of my pay. My job is protected for another six weeks (twelve total) but I'm gonna have to patch in vacation time plus no pay for some time. So I'll be taking somewhere between 10-12 weeks, depending. And! My employer's policy: I'd you and your spouse/partner both work at the company, your short term leave can only equal twelve weeks COMBINED! So if OH wants to take two weeks when baby is born, then I'll only be able to take off ten total. Luckily, we're not married or anything official on paper so he's hoping to use vaca time instead of std, but what a horrible policy.

 

[Ashley8806]

Hwpg that's how we are too. But I won't even get short term disability so its completely unpaid, minus the 57 hours vacation I have accumulated.

 

[flyingduster]

New Zealand isn't too bad; if you have worked for like 6 months or more, you get 14 weeks paid for by the government (up to $450NZD-ish a week. Which is $370ish USD or £220ish) but your job is guaranteed to be held open to you for a full year. Combine any annual leave in there and stuff and you could get lots of paid time off. I took my maternity leave and then never went back! We can afford to live on the one income and intend to home school, so I won't be going back to the work force for a long loonng time. Lol!

 

[mel28nicole]

America sucks lol. I get 6-8 weeks (depending on if I get a c-section) paid ONLY because I have Aflac. If I didn't have that, I wouldn't get paid at all. I don't understand it.

 

[2have4kids]

America sucks lol. I get 6-8 weeks (depending on if I get a c-section) paid ONLY because I have Aflac. If I didn't have that, I wouldn't get paid at all. I don't understand it.

You're right, the US does suck, I hope they start supporting women & children/healthcare soon:
(Wikipedia on maternity leave) 'Only four countries have no national law mandating paid time off for new parents: Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and the United States.[3] In the U.S., the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) mandates up to 12 weeks of (potentially unpaid) job-protected leave, including parental leave, for many American workers. Subnational laws also vary; for example the U.S. state of California does mandate paid family leave, including parental leave for same-sex partners.'

In Canada we get 50 weeks mat leave at 55% pay up to $501/week, this kicks in after my employer gives me 8 weeks at 80% pay sick leave. Then we have the choice to take another unpaid year off for breast feeding before your employer can give your job away. Sweden has the best mat leave, 16 months at 82% salary.

 

[ChristiansMum]

Wow after reading all the posts on maternity leave I'm pleased I'm a SAHM! DH hours at work maybe changing so we will be down £100-£200 a month so I may have to get a weekend job once baby is born. But we don't know yet.

Haven't brought anything for baby yet, there is no point in us buying bath stuff and wipes yet because I always have them at home anyway because of DD. Going to look at prams today though because I will need a double and because I'm only 5ft 1 and small I don't want a pram that's too big.

Does anyone else feel like there is so much to do and time is running out too fast? We need to sort bedrooms out and buy a new car and get DD a new bed because baby will be having her cot ... Feel like we will be rushing to get it all done x

 

[mrsswaffer]

I just made a phone consultation appointment with my doctor about this nausea and vomiting. It's got worse, not better. Hoping he'll sign me off from work for a week.

 

[LoveCakes]

I work for the NHS so get 8 weeks full pay then 18 weeks half pay plus stay pay then just stay pay until 39 weeks. I'll have a months leave as well before I go back. We had been saving as it was looking like we were going down the private fertility clinic route so will be ok thankfully. I'm the breadwinner though so back to work but I really like my job. Whether I can leave LO remains to be seen!

Oh gets 1 week paid paternity then is taking 2 weeks leave.

I haven't bought anything yet partly as we have nowhere to put it and partly because my bleeding episode made me more wary. I know mil has and will go a bit nuts though!