How'd you decide your last day of work? - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[jr'smom]

I find that being off before I go into labor makes every day seem like an eternity.  I work for myself. (I'm a chiropractor and have associate doctors who cover for me when I'm away.)  After having been through this 4 times already, my plan this time is to cut my hours shorter in the last month because I'm on my feet 12-13 hours/day and I start to swell. But I'll keep working until I go into labor.  My water even broke at work the second time!   This works well, so the patients who only want to see me, can arrange to come in on my hours if they really want to and I feel less guilty about taking more time off afterward. I plan to take about 14 weeks off afterward.

[jessmn]

I'm jealous, I want to be off work! :)  I will say that work keeps me distracted, and if I were at home all the time I might be prone to increased anxiety.

I am getting a little exhausted with getting up early, driving to the park and ride, taking the bus to the city, walking to my work, and then working all day and traveling back home. Luckily I spend a lot of my day seated and can take an elevator, but I'm still pretty exhausted. I am thinking I might ask about having my home computer set up to access everything on my work computer so maybe I can work a day from home or cut out some hours actually at work. I might do that once I officially hit the 3rd trimester, or am a few weeks in. I really have no health complaints except feeling a little worn out.

My current leave plan is to assume the babies arrive at 38 weeks, and that I work up until then. My HR manager said to assume the best, and that if things change, she figures out how to get me as much leave as possible (I can apply for donated leave, etc). It's a nice weight off my shoulders, and keeps me looking forward and positively to 38 weeks. My plan is to take 6 months off work (so excited!!!) but unfortunately my husband started a new job last October and doesn't qualify for FMLA until his anniversary, so he'll only be taking two weeks off with me once they are born. That was VERY disappointing news to find out. Then he'll take his FMLA time sometime between October and before the babies are 1 year old.
 

[Loogiejane]

Ok so turns out since my work needs to replace me when I leave, they would appreciate an exact end date. I

m a part time teacher. So I guess I'll give them a date of a couple or a few weeks before my EDD. 

[nstewart]

My DS was due July 20, and my last day of work was June 30.  He wasn't born until July 26, and I was SO BORED!  It was way to much time off.

This time, I am going to be done working April 18th, and my EDD is May 2.  I picked my date based on how much vacation time I had (and I had some carry-over from last year) and back-traked from my EDD, which gave me April 18th.  I DO want a bit of time off before baby arrives to sleep and relax and prepare, but not almost 4 weeks like last time.  If the baby comes before May 4 (which is technically when my leave starts because it's my first unpaid day) then my leave will technically start the day baby is born and I'll get paid out for my vacation days.

I am in Canada and get a year off, so it's less critical that I have my timing right close to the EDD, I guess.  And just for info purposes to clarify a comment upthread, its "sort of" paid leave.  You get paid unemployment insurance during your year off, and so the max amount is about $1000 per month, and that is taxable income.  So you get the same amount during your year of leave if you make $40k per year as if you make $150k per year (as the EI benefits max out at about $40k), and if you make less than $40k, you get less than the $1000 per month.  If you don't qualify for EI (ex. self-employed, SAHM, haven't worked 400 hours) you don't get anything.

Not complaining, I feel very fortunate, but unless you get substantial employer top-up (like if you work for the federal gov't I think they pay the full salary for the year, my last job topped up for 12 weeks, this job for 6 weeks) it can still be a big hit financially especially when the mom taking leave is the bread-winner, as is so much more common now.

Still, a year off rocks!

[Loogiejane]

Originally Posted by nstewart 

My DS was due July 20, and my last day of work was June 30.  He wasn't born until July 26, and I was SO BORED!  It was way to much time off.

This time, I am going to be done working April 18th, and my EDD is May 2.  I picked my date based on how much vacation time I had (and I had some carry-over from last year) and back-traked from my EDD, which gave me April 18th.  I DO want a bit of time off before baby arrives to sleep and relax and prepare, but not almost 4 weeks like last time.  If the baby comes before May 4 (which is technically when my leave starts because it's my first unpaid day) then my leave will technically start the day baby is born and I'll get paid out for my vacation days.

I am in Canada and get a year off, so it's less critical that I have my timing right close to the EDD, I guess.  And just for info purposes to clarify a comment upthread, its "sort of" paid leave.  You get paid unemployment insurance during your year off, and so the max amount is about $1000 per month, and that is taxable income.  So you get the same amount during your year of leave if you make $40k per year as if you make $150k per year (as the EI benefits max out at about $40k), and if you make less than $40k, you get less than the $1000 per month.  If you don't qualify for EI (ex. self-employed, SAHM, haven't worked 400 hours) you don't get anything.

Not complaining, I feel very fortunate, but unless you get substantial employer top-up (like if you work for the federal gov't I think they pay the full salary for the year, my last job topped up for 12 weeks, this job for 6 weeks) it can still be a big hit financially especially when the mom taking leave is the bread-winner, as is so much more common now.

Still, a year off rocks!

Man, I should obtain dual citizenship and just move :)

My mom was born in Canada so I can obtain it. I love Canada. 

[adventuregirl]

N, that SO rocks! I really wish the US would get a freakin clue, it would make life so much easier for moms AND employers (they don't realize that)!

[nstewart]

Originally Posted by adventuregirl 

N, that SO rocks! I really wish the US would get a freakin clue, it would make life so much easier for moms AND employers (they don't realize that)!

So true.  I can't imagine being a happy, productive employee with a 2 or 3 month old baby at home who isn't sleeping more than a couple hours at a stretch.  I do think it makes things difficult on employers to have someone take a full year off, as they have to hire mat leave covers to replace the person, but maybe having someone take 8 or 12 weeks is worse in a way, because how do you even cover that?

And, even though there is some inconvenience for employers, at the same time I think it's better all around and those employers have usually benefited themselves at some point from the year of leave or will at some point.

[adventuregirl]

N, good points. I think a lot of moms end up leaving their jobs altogether when faced with all that comes from a short mat leave. I am not sure I would be able to return after 6 wks. If faced with that, I might have seriously considered just quitting and finding something new when I was ready to return to work. Or gone back a big giant sleep-deprived ball of stress who would do a crappy job and possibly end up quitting anyway. 12 wks seems a little more reasonable and not so daunting (or so I'm telling myself). Besides, I really like my job.

I think the job itself depends a lot on how coverage is done, so an employer may benefit differently depending on which position they are looking at and how easily they can find coverage. At my work, we have had a lot of mat leaves over the last few years and usually they hire in a contractor for the (usual) 12 wks. However, it doesn't work that easily for heads of depts since their job of managing is much more in-depth and would take a huge amount of training to get them integrated and thus not worth it for a 12 wk stint. My boss is a VP and I am a Director, and neither of us had nor will have hired-in coverage due to that reason, our bosses just cover the interim management and employees pick up other slack. I imagine if we had a year, it would be more justifiable (and necessary) to hire in someone to cover us, and the employer may be happier since they wouldn't have overworked employees covering others.

In the end I just think it is of the employers benefit to have moms return after a time in which they can feel happy about returning to work and not be stressed/worried/distracted, so that they can do a better job and stick around.