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The Lounge
The Lounge Monday
30Jun
346. The Lounge - Did You Take Family Leave
Monday, June 30, 2008 DadLabs Ep 346 The Lounge -- In this episode, we ask our panel of expert and veteran parents the following question: "How much maternity or paternity leave did you take?" Stats indicate the the amount of family leave Americans take is on the wane. Are you part of that trend? Brought to you by BabyBjorn.
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Reader Comments (5)
I am a first-time expectant father and my company pays for 3 weeks paternity leave and I have 3 weeks vacation saved up. So with that being said I will be taking one week off when the baby comes, and then, when my wife goes back to work after 3 months, I am taking 5 weeks off. We are hoping to push back paying for daycare as long as possible! :)
I was a real estate agent before the twins came along. I thought I could work through my pregnancy, but at the 6 month mark I found myself doing an open house by myself and asked myself, "What the HELL am I doing here???" That was pretty much the end of my real estate career. LOL I may take it up again when they start school.
My husband had saved up a LOT of vacation time and planned to make the most out of FMLA. He took 2 months off when the girls were born, and then a third month off around Christmas time. I was very thankful to have him around while I was getting used to being a twin mommy.
I took that 1st week (kinda had to, she was still in the hospital)... And then after her 8 weeks off (at 60% I do believe) I split my remaining 2 weeks (paid) into 4 weeks at half time. I'd go in late evenings after mom got home. Kept him out of daycare for 3 full months that way. Kept my colleagues happy (I was only out of the office 1 week), AND most importantly, I got to spend LOTS of good quality bonding time with the lil' bugger. :)
Sidenote: DaddyDon must now be on vacation. Final production edit... FAIL. LOL!
I'm not sure I should tell you guys how much leave I took for my son's birth.
You might think it's a little unfair.
Ok! I took 3 months. That left my wife with 9 months off from the year we are allowed to take, (at 60% of our pay + top up from our jobs).
Happy Canada Day guys!
I took two weeks off, paid leave. When we planned this, she was going to have a normal birth. But things changed in the last two weeks before the birth of our first son, and she had a cesarean.
And thank god I took time off. For this first few days I had to take care of my wife and my son. And I got very little sleep or rest.
At the end of two weeks my wife felt well enough to be left alone with our son, and I felt confidant that she could be left alone. You see, initially she couldn't lift our son and she need help standing/sitting. So I felt some misgivings leaving them unattended for any length of time initially.