Oh baby baby.
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I wasn't pregnant when I went back to work, but I was a few months later and I blurted it out to my boss in a 1-1 because she started talking about planning for the following year and i had a guilty conscience, she took it well haha. In the same meeting I made promises to take maybe 7 or 8 months of mat leave and then come back (I have a very niche job so my work had to be outsourced to a man in New Zealand), she joked that maybe it would be twins and I would want the full year and then surpriiiise it was twins. I've been off a year and won't be going back until May, they've been really supportive and despite having to outsource my job are welcoming me back with open arms. Don't worry, any good manager will be supportive!
@Eilidh a year?? 😭 I wish they had maternity leave like that in the US.. my job doesn't provide maternity leave so I had to use sick/vacation days for my labour and delivery and any time off I wanted after having my baby 🥲
@Kristina 😳😳😳 sick/vacation days for labour + time with baby!! Gosh I sometimes think life is hard in the UK but I'm sorry, that's so sad. Wish you had better maternity packages over the pond! Many pals say they get maybe 16wks there. Must be so stressful
@Katya 16wks is on the higher end as well! Only about 30% of women in the US have access to paid maternity leave and the average leave time is usually around 8-12wks and after that you have to use sick/vacation time.
@Katya also 12wks is the federally protected amount for maternity leave so if you decide to use additional time off past that, your employer can fire you if they want 🤗
@Kristina some places are better than others, I got 12 weeks full pay and then 27 weeks statutory pay and 13 weeks unpaid, but I had 2.5 months of annual leave to tag on the end
I was really nervous to tell work about being pregnant after coming back from maternity too, but the news was taken pleasantly well 😂 Didn’t tell my manager straight away, I told a few close colleagues as they helped out when I was feeling nauseas & had to run to the toilet to be sick. Then a few weeks later, told manager & she was over the moon for me 😃🥹 Really nothing to feel awkward about, hope all goes well 🫶🏻