Pregnancy: Second Trimester Community

My employer doesn't pay for maternity leave i have to use my PTO hours which isnt much cause of my just starting in dec of last year. I plan on working till i go in to labor and stay out no longer then 6 weeks if possible. its just me and i have a 4 year old already. so i have to work. Plan on coming back to full time as soon as i can. we will see how it goes.

Even though I work at a place where I should get 12 weeks FMLA - they only allow 6 weeks for maternity (8 for a c-section). Any extra time off will have to be from vacation time. So I may take an xtra 2 weeks off once I get my 6 weeks. FMLA is not paid -however - if you pay in for LTD then you get 2/3rds of what your check usually is. Since I pay into this - I will get some pay - just not all of it. But it's better than none! I'm still trying to understand how my employer does this FMLA thing. I know it's federal law that you can get 12 weeks off and they'll hold your position. So I don't know why work only allows for 6 weeks for maternity??? Maybe that way, in case something else comes up, then you'll still have your other 6 weeks to fall back on??? Not sure....
But - I do plan on working right up till I have the baby which should be the end of May sometime. Then I'll take the rest of June off and 2 weeks in July

I am due July 11th and hoping to also work up until the day I have little man ! I will prob take about 8 weeks HOPEFULLY MORE. It really depends on how tight the money is I dont get paid maternity leave I do have PTO though but I'll prob only have like 50 hours maybe more. SO we shall see !

I'm due July 15 and I'm a teacher. I'll probably work up until Memorial Day and take what's left of the school year off (our school year ends June 23rd). I'm taking more than a month off before the due date because my first was 5 weeks early so my doctor wants me to have some extra downtime. I don't work summers so depending on when my little peanut arrives, I'll have 7-8 weeks before the new school year starts. I'm okay with going back so soon. I did the same with my daughter and as much as I love her, I was dying for adult interaction and mental stimulation! Plus, as I already mentioned, I'm a teacher and I wouldn't want to miss the beginning of the school year with my students; it could make for a difficult and long school year!

I doubt very many employers in this country pay for maternity leaves because our government doesn't require it. 6 weeks for vaginal delivery and 8 weeks for c-section are also pretty standard because, once again, that's the standard set by our government. I pay for private disability insurance (teachers in California don't pay into state disability or retirement accounts) so once I use up all my sick days, the school district still pays me, but deducts the cost of my substitute teacher. The insurance, however, covers whatever I lose.

This could go into a whole other discussion, but when I looked into all of this with my first pregnancy, I felt like I was being punished for having a baby! I've done some research and found that the US ranks as one of the lowest in terms of maternity leave benefits. My sister lives in England. When she had her son, she got a 6 month PAID leave and then had the option of staying home an additional 18 months at 25% of her salary! And there are many other countries who value childbirth much more than ours. = (

FMLA was a nice relief introduced by Bill Clinton, but not everyone can afford to take advantage of it. If you've been with your employer for a year or longer, you qualify for this leave, and although your position is guaranteed to be there for you, it is an unpaid leave.

Sorry if this got too long. I guess it turned into a bit of a vent session! = )

When my daughter was born in 2008 I took the 12 week FMLA leave. It was unpaid. My employer divided up the PTO I had saved up to cover the cost of my health insurance during my leave. Usually that left me with a check for less then $100 every other week. However, when I first learned I was pregnant I started taking 10-15% out of every paycheck and putting it in a seperate savings account. That way we were still able to cover the bills while I was on leave. This time I will have enough PTO saved up to take 6 weeks off paid. I would love to take a full 12 weeks and will start putting money aside again. Luckily, I now only work part time so going back to work shouldn't be so hard. I also plan on working right up to my due date.

When I was employeed at my last job they didnt have maternity leave either. Howerever you used your FMLA time for the 6 weeks and my STD only payed for 6 weeks unless there was a reason to be off longer and then it had to be aproved by the doctor. I was very ready to go back at the end of 6 weeks. Currently I am unemployed so we will kind of be playing it by ear once I am released to work again.

With my first pregnancy, I worked til the day my water broke (I was 36w5d). I got 6 weeks maternity leave, however you don't get paid the first 2 weeks you're off so I had to use vacation/sick time. For the other 4 weeks I got either 40% or 60% of my usual check. Per FMLA you can take up to 12 weeks off. I had to use the rest of my sick and vacation hours for the rest of the time. I ended up only taking 11 weeks off because I ran out of time and money.

With this pregnancy I plan on working til I go into labor again. I also plan on cutting my hours in the last month of my pregnancy, so I can try and prevent pre-term labor. I have to take the full 12 weeks again because my daycare won't have an opening until August when school starts back. As long as he's born close to his due date, then the 12 weeks should work out perfectly. This time, I have a little money saved back from my tax return so hopefully I wont run out!

Lurking - First Trimester
I'm actually kind of afraid how this is going to go for me. I haven't done too much research about it but I have a few things against me in this department. I lost my permanent position back in November due to a lay-off and just started a long term contract position February 4th. They even asked me at the interview if I thought there was anything that would keep me away or take me away from the contract completely or anytime during the length of the contract. And I said forseeably, no. Of course at the time no idea that I was actually pregnant or that I could even get pregnant. But alas somehow my body decided to work, and hubby's little guys found their way in... But the contract agency is the one who has to follow the FMLA policies, and depending on what's in my contract, they could possibly let me go. But I have a friend who works in HR and I plan on talking to her about all of this to see what my best move is. If she can't help me hopefully she can point me in the right direction to someone that can.

Wow! Reading all of your concerns and comments regarding maternity leave has left me very thankful I live in Canada and not the US. We get a full year of paid maternity leave and the father even gets 5 weeks of paid paternity leave (on top of the year the mothers get). A part of the leave is actually called parental leave meaning the father can take it rather than the mother.

I cannot even imagine having to leave my 1 year old to go back to work let alone a 6 week old. It's too bad that there is no option out there allowing all of you out there to get a longer paid leave. I hope that all of your circumstances work out and that you get to take the most time possible...

I plan on working until I go into labor or my dr. schedules my c-section. I don't get paid maternity leave either. I get 60 days maternity leave and then I have 2 weeks of vacation so in all I have 8 weeks. I don't have FMLA because my employer has less employees than whatever the requirement is. What I don't understand is, my 60 days include weekends. I don't even work weekends. So that takes off quite a bit of time that I could be home. I don't plan on being home forever but 8 weeks is not enough time. I was thinking that whenever I do have my little guy if things aren't going as planned then maybe my boss will let me come back part time or something till I'm up to working 40 hours again. Who knows. My job has changed so much in the past two months I may not even have a job when that time rolls around.

I will be working until the day I go into labor. Maternity leave in this country stinks, sorry but it's true. I'm from europe, but I've been living here for about 10 years. Even in the poor countries there, pregnant women go on their leave at about 25-30 weeks preggo and its paid leave, after the baby's born, you get 1 year fully paid leave and if you wish you get additional 1-2 years to raise your child.
Anyway, I work at a big hospital here and will be getting 6 weeks of paid leave and that's at 60% of my pay and then I can take additional 6 weeks of unpaid. This is insane. How can you put your 3 month old baby in a day care or a babysitter? There is no time for bonding, its all about the money in this country-employers don't want to pay, daycares looking on cashing in big on infant daycare(its about 1500 to 2000 monthly where I live), its sad, very sad. I wish I could afford not to work, but it's also impossible cause of all the bills we have to pay.
Sorry for the vent....

Im working up until the day I have her! Im due August 11th and will be having a scheduled c-section. I'm going to take at least 6 weeks off and Im not sure it will be paid but I think it will. After that, I will be taking the baby with me to work!

Wow I am amazed ladies!! At how many of you don't get paid just like me!! I thought it was just cause I worked for family I see that isn't the case. I really think we need to send a copy of Canada's Maternity leave laws to our fine government! Thanks for sharing all your stories now I have a very good idea that I am doing the right thing with maternity leave.