Extending maternity leave
okay.. this may be long or may not so bare with me. I want to start off by saying my 2nd born is 4 months but he was desperately wanted and long awaited for after 7 years of unexplained fertility. I had my first at 19 as a teen mom but lived with my in laws so the support was around the clock. now that I had my second, my frontal lobe is developed lol and I have my own place and i’m able to parent the way I want. I am extremely attached to my baby.. I have anxiety at the thought of leaving him to return to work. He is also breastfed. i’ve been out of work since July 10th on SDI and PFL. I am expected to go back Dec 15th. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and I’m considering asking my nurse practitioner to extend my leave through SDI for postpartum anxiety. I absolutely do not feel ready to go back to work, especially as a case manager I know that returning to work, that means my hands will be full again. Has anybody had experiencing extending their maternity leave? My mind is in a constant battle between my career and motherhood. My job is very good to me and the income helps a lot. I know the job market sucks right now so I feel stuck.
TIA 🤎
The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.
Learn more about our guidelines.
Mine could only get extended through the FMLA and meant i do not get paid. We couldnt afford not getting paid for 4 weeks. And thought to use PTO but HT was a pain and said i needed to be full time back to use it and sign a waiver opting to not use the rest of my family leave. So I had to temporarily return back as part-time. It was hard concept for my team and I had to push back saying nope. My PM made me the bad guy and this whole ordeal.... long story and still an issue.
So questions are: are you able to extend? Is it paid? If not can you afford the extra time off? Do you slave PTO you can use? Is a temporarily part time an option for you? Explore your options. Look into your employee handbook. Talk to your HR, hopfully they nicer than mine who basically told me they only care about me and not my baby.
Download the Peanut App
