Planning for the not too distant future?

[Night Flower]

Good morning ladies

Im a huge planner (capricorn) and I'm starting to plan. And my S.O asked me when I planned on taking maternity leave. At 11weeks 4 days, I hadn't thought about it. But now I am. I had planned to work maybe a week before I'm due?

How about all of you beautiful mamas out there? When do you plan to take maternity leave? Do you have plans before your little one(s) comes that you want to achieve?

I know this is very early on, and its not good to count tye eggs before they're laid but again, I can't help but plan and be prepared.

 

[Mrs HM]

Well with my first pregnancy I was due to finish work on the Monday and my waters went on the Friday morning before that, so I never got to unwind from work and enjoy some time to prepare for the baby. I had plans to cook and freeze meals, tidy the house and bake a few treats for my DH in my maternity leave but it didn't happen. It was hard to adjust from working woman at 9am to mum by 8pm, so this time I'm planning on finishing a lot earlier! I'll prob finish at the start of May, which would be 6 weeks before due date.

 

[Mummafrog]

Personally I am studying but my course leaders and lecturers have been really supportive and said I can leave when I need to. I am thinking I might like about a month before the due date to prepare and nest and get things ready for birth and a new baby, and also just enjoy being huge and spending those last few weeks with my baby in my tummy, doing yoga and going for walks etc hehe I like to think in advance too, it makes me feel calm to know that things are arranged and organised.

 

[Sassymom]

I was planning to work till my water breaks lol. I guess it all depends on what I have left to do by mid May.

How long does everyone get for maternity leave if they are saying a month/6 weeks before baby? I get 6 weeks paid for natural birth and 8 weeks for C Section, I could extend it by 3 weeks if I used EVERY SINGLE VACATION DAY FOE A YEAR... it stinks being in America sometimes!

 

[koomy56]

My fiance is a Capricorn and from the minute he opens his eyes in the morning he's planning out the entire day. Sometimes into next week.
I'm an aquarius and I've been mapping out the timeline to my pregnancy. We're getting married in January, and I'll be 15 weeks. I didn't realize it until just a few days ago but I'll probably be showing then! And then my birthday is in February, and by that time I'll be pretty huge at 19 weeks. Other than researching out how big my baby belly will be throughout the next several months is as far as I've gotten into planning.

 

[Celesse]

I'm a SAHM so no job to finish and plan for this time.

A July baby means we are gonna be going on our summer family camping trip a little earlier in May. I can put a tent up at 32 weeks pregnant I'm sure. And my sister gets married at 34/35 weeks so I have a wedding to go to.

By June it will just be a waiting game.

With #1 I went on maternity leave at 36weeks and delivered at 42. I was bored. Everything was tidied by 37 weeks and had to be redone at 41.5!

 

[ItsAWonder]

I am also in the US and will get 12 weeks unpaid leave. So, I am going to work until I can't possibly work anymore. Hopefully until I go into labor. I want as much of the 12 week break to be with my little peanut. Luckily DH has a flexible schedule so after 12 weeks he can stay home during the day and work at night. I hope to work 4 days instead of 5 so we may be able to avoid daycare until the babe is a bit older. (We have been planning ahead too...)

 

[Celesse]

Completely OT (apologies OP)..... but what happens with maternity leave in the US if you have a preemie?

My sister's baby was born at 26 weeks so 14 weeks early. He won't even be home / at his due date when he is 12 weeks old.

 

[Sassymom]

I am also in the US and will get 12 weeks unpaid leave. So, I am going to work until I can't possibly work anymore. Hopefully until I go into labor. I want as much of the 12 week break to be with my little peanut. Luckily DH has a flexible schedule so after 12 weeks he can stay home during the day and work at night. I hope to work 4 days instead of 5 so we may be able to avoid daycare until the babe is a bit older. (We have been planning ahead too...)

Wow! That's awesome, I wish I could work where you work! Lol

Edit: I just re-read and saw UNpaid leave. Not as awesome, but still good that you will have that much time with your baby

 

[ItsAWonder]

I am also in the US and will get 12 weeks unpaid leave. So, I am going to work until I can't possibly work anymore. Hopefully until I go into labor. I want as much of the 12 week break to be with my little peanut. Luckily DH has a flexible schedule so after 12 weeks he can stay home during the day and work at night. I hope to work 4 days instead of 5 so we may be able to avoid daycare until the babe is a bit older. (We have been planning ahead too...)

Wow! That's awesome, I wish I could work where you work! Lol

Edit: I just re-read and saw UNpaid leave. Not as awesome, but still good that you will have that much time with your baby

Sassymom - you are entitled to 12 weeks unpaid. The FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) is federal law for the entire country which gives you 12 weeks unpaid leave. Your company has to offer this if they have 75 or more employees that work 20 hours a week or more, and if 50 of those employees live w/in a certain mile radius. You can look it up online. Massachusetts, where you live, has additional Maternity Leave laws. Few states offer this but it's nice. This gives you paid leave if you choose to have it, but for lesser time. You can choose which plan you want to use.

If your company is not big enough to have to offer leave (mine is not) talk to your employer about these options anyway. Mine had no problem offering FMLA which is all we have in my state. Most small businesses still will as it looks bad and is hard to keep employees if they don't.

 

[ItsAWonder]

Completely OT (apologies OP)..... but what happens with maternity leave in the US if you have a preemie?

My sister's baby was born at 26 weeks so 14 weeks early. He won't even be home / at his due date when he is 12 weeks old.

There are certain states that will offer an additional 4 months for situations that cause "disability". Meaning a preemie needing extra care, complications with delivery etc. Federal law also allows a person to apply for more time but it's not always granted. Some companies will allow a person to use vacation time on top of maternity leave and some people in the company can give their own vacation days to a co-worker if/when needed. The law does not give us much protection though. Technically, unless the government okays an application for extended leave to disability, the company does not have to hold your job and you can find yourself unemployed. Then you can apply for unemployment which is 50% of your salary for 6 months.

 

[hfm5110]

I'm also a very big planner and so is my OH. I haven't told work yet, but plan to after Thanksgiving. I plan to work up until my due date, but from home a week or so beforehand. I work an hour away from home, so I don't want to deal w/a commute while in labor. I'll play it a little by ear on how the visit doctor visits go in the last month.

I should receive 3 weeks paid leave and plan to start checking back in after a month or so. And by checking in I mean going through emails once a week.

The ladies oversees have much better maternity and paternity leave than the US!

 

[xjesx]

I had thought about it early on. I changed my mind at 25 weeks.

I am working up to the start of my 37th week.

 

[Celesse]

It must be very stressful working right up until you go into labour. I think in the UK most people tend to start the maternity leave at 40 weeks, but tend to have 2 or 3 weeks + off before hand. As we get an entire year off work (though the last 3 months isn't paid) we generally have to use up leave first. I had about 4 weeks of leave before mat leave with both of my other children.

With DS (I wasn't going back and it financially best way due to child care) I started mat leave at 29 weeks, which is the earliest you are allowed to unless you deliver beforehand. But prior to that I had 4 weeks leave and a couple of flexi days so I left work at 24+ just past my viability date.

I think I'd still go off as early with DS. But with my first I'd probably take a bit of holiday earlier in the pregnancy when I could still enjoy it and work longer.

 

[SaskMom]

I'm in Canada... We get a year here as well (paid but only 55% of regular pay). Regardless, I worked to my due date with my first and a week before with my second. I rather not waste my precious mat leave sitting at home without baby... rather do it with the baby in my arms . I had to warn all my clients though that even though I was still booking appointments (and significantly cut down my hours) I could have the baby anytime.... I did lots of planning to make sure my area would be covered if I went on leave unexpectedly early.

 

[Elizabean]

I'm due June 11th but I will probably be induced on June 4th because of a medical condition. I think I might start my leave about 1.5 or 2 weeks before the due date, depending on how I feel though. If I'm not up to travelling to work I could work from home before that.

Sorry American ladies- but your maternity leave is terrible! your country has many awesome features, but obviously maternity leave isn't one of them!

In Australia you can take a year off for maternity and your job has to be kept open for you. After the first year you can request an additional year of unpaid leave and your employer pretty much has to accommodate requests for part time or flexible hours, unless it will jeopardise the business, up until the baby goes to school.

Is child care easy to come by in the US? Where I am the wait lists are very long and its quite expensive. I already have my baby on a few waiting lists to hopefully get a spot in June 2015!

 

[Linny]

With my first I was massively lucky, I saved all my leave and left at 34 weeks. My actual maternity kicked in a week before due date and I got 6 mths full pay and a further 3mths statutory maternity (about £500 a month). While I was on mat leave I also accrued all my leave and bank holidays, went back with reduced hours and so stretched that another two mths paid. So very lucky.

Not so much this time as I'm getting made redundant on 31st December!! I will be around 16wks.

I can't believe ladies in the us can only get as little as 6 wks off! X

 

[Mummafrog]

Wow, I would find it very hard to only have six weeks off, strength to you all who need to do it that way for your families. Some of that maternity leave sounds amazing! All countries ought to be that respectful to new mothers
I'm in the uk and from what I know, maternity leave isn't great here.. But it is different me because I am studying, which is why I can leave and have a year out when I need to.
I do want to try and keep going with the course as long as possible though, so I have maximum time with my sproglet ^^ I'm doing a practical course though, where I work in hospitals with patients and being massively pregnant would get difficult at some point hehehe

 

[josephine3]

This is all just terrible i feel really sorry for u all now! In the uk we get 9 months paid leave (not sure exactly how much think 90% pay) and can take another 3 months unpaid if we want! So a yar in total. It still doeasnt feel like enuf! Last time i left at 32 weeks which was great but i might try to go to 35 this time to get paid a little longer.

 

[Rickles]

With Maddie I worked up until 37 weeks - she was born at 39 weeks so just enough time to watch the London Olympics (which was where we live), waters broke after the closing ceremony

This time however I have a 1.5 hr commute to work (2 hours from my hospital) and I'd like to spend some time with Maddie preparing her, get the house (food) organised etc. so I think I will stop work in mid May - use annual leave up to June and then start mat leave about 34 weeks xx