I feel like such a f**k up

[bonbon87]

@jquill89 Yup

 

[willie10]

@grammytania I worked until 41 weeks and beyond for all 5 of my pregnancies. FMLA doesn’t even start until your due date but I kept going because I had to stock up on PTO so I could keep getting paychecks during my time off. I assume you live in America, maternity leave is nonexistent here and working moms get the crap end of the stick.

 

[antarctika]

@grammytania It really depends on your company too. Mine doesn't start until after the baby is born too, but I get 16 weeks paid, and 12 weeks FMLA.

 

[wandereruk]

@grammytania We can take time off before due date for medical reasons in the US but in California you can go out up to 4 weeks before due date for non medical reason. I would bet there is another state or two that is same.

I find a lot of people don’t know enough about leaves of absence for maternity in the US to maximize their time out.

 

[grammytania]

@wandereruk In Pennsylvania we only get 12 weeks of FMLA and it has to be a signed medical reason from a physician, and that is for 6-8 weeks then goes into your baby bonding time off. But here it’s all unpaid unless you have vacation time banked or pay into short term disability, but that doesn’t cover the bonding that would only cover your medical healing after birth. I know for mine I wanted to take a week before but my fmla was denied until my due date. I’m sure other states/employers have different rules

 

[rickydom]

@bonbon87 How many days until your due date?

Not sure what type of work you do, but you might as well just make the hours up as fast as you can so you can go off again. For all you know the baby could be a few days late and you’ll be fine.

Also don’t be so hard on yourself! Your HR should have known you didn’t have the hours before approving your mat leave.

 

[bonbon87]

@rickydom 47 days until our due date! I was definitely hoping I could come back 5 days a week and just work a few weeks to get it all done. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a couple days here and there so it's not cutting it so close!

I went on mat leave super early because my job is fairly physical and I was really struggling, also Christmas is a pretty slow time for us so some days I was struggling to find enough work to fill 3 hours a day.

They should have let me know, right? When I called my boss and told him I didn't have enough hours he said, "yeah I know, didn't I tell you that?" It's a small family business and he is kind of an air head...

 

[coolas]

@bonbon87 Usually it’s your responsibility to let HR or whoever in a small business about maternity leave beforehand. HR would be the ones to tell you what you qualify for.

 

[jquill89]

@bonbon87 In Canada you can take up to 26 weeks of EI sick benefits while pregnant, and it will switch to mat leave when baby is born. All you need is a doctor's note. I recommend going back and getting those hours as fast as possible and then get a doctor's note rather than start mat leave early.

 

[silent_wolf]

@bonbon87 Why not use up vacation time? I used up a week's worth of vacation during my last week because I wanted to leave (I was off for 2 months in the summer so to make up my hours, I legit worked up until 38wks. It was horrid).

57hrs - that is brutal. Hope you have a chill job!

 

[bonbon87]

@silent_wolf We just get vacation pay on each cheque as opposed to actual days.

It's kind of chill? I left early because it's pretty physical and I was struggling but it's chill in the sense that I can eat while I work, take breaks whenever I need to, and nobody ever tells me I'm working too slow.

 

[silent_wolf]

@bonbon87 The physical aspect of my job is why I left for a bit too. It's hard. It's nice that people are understanding. I hope you make it through these last shifts. Hopefully it flies by. Good luck

 

[bonbon87]

@silent_wolf Thank you!!

 

[ifightforgood]

@bonbon87 I get 4wk prepartum leave and although 2/5hr per week doesn’t sound bad - some days are better than others …. So I hope all goes well, you don’t have any hard days and baby doesn’t come early! Don’t feel like a fuck up! Our brains are scrambled and healthcare/leave stuff isn’t exactly easy to decode

 

[bonbon87]

@ifightforgood Right? Totally doable! As long as he doesn't come early...

 

[katrina2017]

@bonbon87 Just do what I'm doing, request for light duty. Talk to your doctor about a note. I'm working 8 hours now and not doing the physical lifting or transferring. Sit down when you can, and drink lots of water.

 

[monkeypaw2]

@bonbon87 Fellow Canadian here….. Maybe if the baby does come early you could get your boss to “fire” you/ lay you off? Maternity leave is generally just EI anyways (unless your company has extra benefits), so as long as you can qualify for EI, you can still get some money coming in and then hopefully they’d be willing to hire you again in a year?

Maybe not the most ethically correct thing in the world but that’s kinda dumb if it’s over a few hours at the end of the day.

Hopefully you can just get your hours in and plan A works out fine. More babies come late than early, especially if this is your first! But might work as a plan B if not? Good luck!!

 

[betron]

@bonbon87 I’m in the US, so obviously things are quite different, but I was having a really hard time working an 8hour day once I hit about 30 weeks and didn’t have any options for taking maternity leave early (or I would lose that time after the baby came and it’s already like NO time post partum) so I had my doctor put me on “bed rest” which allowed short term disability to cover my leave. I don’t know if you have similar options in CA but it saved my butt!!!! There’s no way I could’ve continued working til this point!

 

[sambridge15]

@bonbon87 It's confusing! It's not ideal now but if you can work up the hours you will be thankful for the extra two weeks you couldn't take now at the end of your maternity leave