When to start maternity leave

[sue_88]

Leaving at 35 weeks ! (next week)

Yes it's 5 weeks to myself beforehand but still got nearly a year when baby arrives to spend my time with her.

 

[2ndtimeluckyX]

Just done my last day in work today at 38 weeks. I'm on 2 weeks holiday now and my maternity leave starts on my due date (unless baby arrives before of course).
These two weeks are to spend time with my little girl

 

[MamaFlick]

I'm starting maternity leave at 36 weeks (a week from tomorrow! YAY!). In the US, you get 4 weeks disability before due date, and you can't save it for after baby is here. It doesn't reduce the amount of pay you get after baby is here. The only thing it reduces is the amount of sick time/vacation time you might have left for after baby is here, depending on how much you decide to use during that period of time. And it reduces the FMLA time that you have left over, which is 12 weeks total. However I live in California, so I get an extra 12 weeks on top of that and there's no way I'm going to use all 24 weeks of job protection (I couldn't afford to).

I have Aflac insurance so I'm just going to use that plus disability (55%) and not use any of my sick or vacation time until after baby is here, except for what's needed to cover health insurance.

Honestly I don't think that I could tolerate another week of work. I just need to rest.

 

[Medipea]

As of right now I'm starting mine at 38 weeks. I get a full year of paid maternity since I'm in Canada. (and thankfully the military tops me up to 93% of my normal salary) Although every day I work I think about going off earlier and earlier. Pretty exhausted these days.