Parental leave....basic human rights?
Today I am 39weeks and 4 days pregnant. I thought I might be holding my little bub by now but it appears she is content in there, hopefully for only a few more days.
I'm as big a house type of pregnant and I'm also covered in powdered sugar from the French Almond Croissant I am not so delicately eating while sipping my adorably brewed soy chai late. I'm sitting in a popular trendy cafe attached to our local library. The sun is shining, its cold outside at only 8 degrees (Celsius), but the cafe is bustling as its lunch time and the locals are all filtering in for a cuppa (something warm to drink) and some toasty baguettes.
If I was still living in NY where I was born, this would most likely not be a luxury afforded to me. I can do this on a Monday afternoon as I have no where else to be and I'm still getting paid by my job to "rest up, enjoy the peace and get ready" before my baby is born.
When I first starting telling people that I was pregnant many friends asked how long I would take off from work, I shrugged my shoulders as it wasn't something I had thought about yet. My work started asking me soon after as well, how long do you want off and when will you stop working. I knew my due date was June 25th so I said I'll be here till the end of the June. Going on my predisposed knowledge of maternity care in the US, you work till you give birth and then you have a few months at home with bubs until you have to go back to work (unless you decide to quit your job and be a stay at home mom longer).
As the months faded on and the bump grew, more and more friends that I knew here in Australia asked me about my last day at work and talked about what theirs would be. Most friends I knew said they would work until 36 weeks pregnant, taking one month off before baby came to do the above said "rest and prepare." I was quite shocked when people told me they would take a whole month of their maternity leave just for themselves, why wouldn't they want that month with the baby I thought? As my work began enquiring more about my last day I thought I'll bring it back a bit and combine my American culture with Australian rituals and work till the middle of June taking maybe a week or two before bubs. People started to scare me that it wasn't safe to work "so pregnant" by the responses I got from friends when I said I would work until I gave birth.
I met with my employer soon after to talk about maternity leave. My company affords each new mom with 6 weeks of full pay when they take maternity leave. You can also use any vacation leave you have if you would like and any other combination of time off you have (except sick leave) and you can take all of it at half pay extending the number of weeks you get paid if you would like. The government in Australia affords new moms with 18 weeks of paid parental leave at the national minimum wage (currently around 670.00/week). I did the math and figured out that if I took my 6 weeks parental leave from work with my leftover vacation time at half pay and the 18 weeks from the government I would be on paid parental leave for 9 months. I was pretty ecstatic about that. I then found out that your job is guaranteed in Australia for up to a year from birth but most companies are flexible and you could negotiate longer if needed, you are also allowed to come back to work in any combination you could negotiate with your employer, part time for example, up to and wait for this.....you're child starts school. That means for the next 5 years of my life my job is guaranteed even if I choose to only work 2 days a week. They will make up for the rest by employing someone else. I was floored.
I have been living in Australia with my husband (from South America) for 3 years and I had ever heard of such a lovely way of treating people, but we weren't that surprised either as we knew how well Australia took care of its people. There is a plethora of benefits here (for example free national health care) that I am completely not used to growing up in the United States. As I have adopted many Australian ways over the years, a benefit or curse of living abroad (the same happened to me living in Chile for three years) I thought if most Australians stop work one month before due date and still take a year off after baby is born, why shouldn't I?
I have been lucky to have had an "easy" pregnancy, besides first trimester miserableness and nauseous, there have been no complications and I feel good most of the time. I have been able to keep up some activity, yoga, social life and hobbies over the last 6 months, just had to alter all of them to accommodate tiredness and the bump in one way or another. So I decided I could work to 37 weeks pregnant (honestly I was perceived as a hero for doing this at work and by fellow pregnant friends) and then take the full 9 months off with baby using up the paid parental leave and then see how i feel at that stage, to stay home longer or start back part time.
I have now been out of work for just over two weeks and can say one thing....I've never felt better (for being 9 months pregnant). Its very difficult to sleep now, but does that really matter when you don't have an alarm waking you up in the morning? What do I do all day long? Well, whatever I want really. Its the most liberating feeling and I'm sure being exposed to so much sunshine and fresh air has helped me to feel this good as well. When working I would spend 8 hours in an office building and at least an 1 hour in the car, if I worked out it was most likely in the gym. My days were long and sometimes very boring. In the last two weeks I have taken care of all those to do list things that expectant moms do before bubs come. Ive decorated, washed clothes, made meals, cleaned the house, gone shopping, and made sure we had all we thought we needed. But that's not the best part, the best part is everyday I go for a long walk (between 2-3 hours), I meet up with friends for coffee, lunch, dinner, movies, whatever, I go to the library, I read, I write, I listen to my meditation mp3s, I go to yoga, I cleaned out all the stuff in our apartment we didn't need anymore, I have watched a lot of movies, I spend time with my husband, and I cook something yummy from scratch everyday.
I know in a few days my life will be yet again drastically different to what I just described. I can't help but admit that the American culture inside of me is screaming lazy, you should be working! You should be doing something, how can you take naps and long walks and get paid! I'm doing everything to ignore and get over that part of the culture that is ingrained in me, in the same way that I have given up eating in the car, rushing through lunch, thinking I needed to be doing something every minute of everyday and walking so fast that I don't see whats happening around me. Living abroad has changed my perspective on many areas of my life, being married to someone from a different culture has changed my mind about many practices I once thought "were the only way to do things."
Its not been easy to be pregnant and expecting somewhere where we don't have any family nearby, but at least we are doing it in a country that cherishes women, families and basic human rights. My husband never ceases to be amazed when he sees laborers drinking coffee in a cafe sitting next to a business man. A restaurant filled with people at lunch from different walks of life and different occupations, something that doesn't happen in his very income segregated country. Its a breath of fresh air. As is knowing that when I give birth my husband will be with our baby and me for the first 2-3 weeks full time. I cant imagine what I would do without any family here if he couldn't do that, but again, its not a question in Australia. All dads or partners stay home with new bubs for at least two weeks of.....drum roll...paid parental leave as well.
I hope that in the coming decade America can catch up with the rest of the world. I don't need to point out to anyone that it has the worst maternity leave of any first world country. Australia seems like a utopia to me, but it doesn't even hold a bar to maternity leave in Denmark, Germany or Sweden. I haven't paid one cent out of pocket for any of my pregnancy care being afforded national free health care. I have had top medical care for 9 months in one of the best hospitals in Australia for....free. I would be curious to one day do research on the differences in labor, birth and infancy outcomes of moms who had more maternity leave before baby was born.
Well the croissant is finished and I'm covered in powdered sugar, off to buy some groceries and go home and make something yummy for dinner. Better take advantage before bubs arrives. Thanks Australia.
I'm as big a house type of pregnant and I'm also covered in powdered sugar from the French Almond Croissant I am not so delicately eating while sipping my adorably brewed soy chai late. I'm sitting in a popular trendy cafe attached to our local library. The sun is shining, its cold outside at only 8 degrees (Celsius), but the cafe is bustling as its lunch time and the locals are all filtering in for a cuppa (something warm to drink) and some toasty baguettes.
If I was still living in NY where I was born, this would most likely not be a luxury afforded to me. I can do this on a Monday afternoon as I have no where else to be and I'm still getting paid by my job to "rest up, enjoy the peace and get ready" before my baby is born.
When I first starting telling people that I was pregnant many friends asked how long I would take off from work, I shrugged my shoulders as it wasn't something I had thought about yet. My work started asking me soon after as well, how long do you want off and when will you stop working. I knew my due date was June 25th so I said I'll be here till the end of the June. Going on my predisposed knowledge of maternity care in the US, you work till you give birth and then you have a few months at home with bubs until you have to go back to work (unless you decide to quit your job and be a stay at home mom longer).
As the months faded on and the bump grew, more and more friends that I knew here in Australia asked me about my last day at work and talked about what theirs would be. Most friends I knew said they would work until 36 weeks pregnant, taking one month off before baby came to do the above said "rest and prepare." I was quite shocked when people told me they would take a whole month of their maternity leave just for themselves, why wouldn't they want that month with the baby I thought? As my work began enquiring more about my last day I thought I'll bring it back a bit and combine my American culture with Australian rituals and work till the middle of June taking maybe a week or two before bubs. People started to scare me that it wasn't safe to work "so pregnant" by the responses I got from friends when I said I would work until I gave birth.
I met with my employer soon after to talk about maternity leave. My company affords each new mom with 6 weeks of full pay when they take maternity leave. You can also use any vacation leave you have if you would like and any other combination of time off you have (except sick leave) and you can take all of it at half pay extending the number of weeks you get paid if you would like. The government in Australia affords new moms with 18 weeks of paid parental leave at the national minimum wage (currently around 670.00/week). I did the math and figured out that if I took my 6 weeks parental leave from work with my leftover vacation time at half pay and the 18 weeks from the government I would be on paid parental leave for 9 months. I was pretty ecstatic about that. I then found out that your job is guaranteed in Australia for up to a year from birth but most companies are flexible and you could negotiate longer if needed, you are also allowed to come back to work in any combination you could negotiate with your employer, part time for example, up to and wait for this.....you're child starts school. That means for the next 5 years of my life my job is guaranteed even if I choose to only work 2 days a week. They will make up for the rest by employing someone else. I was floored.
I have been living in Australia with my husband (from South America) for 3 years and I had ever heard of such a lovely way of treating people, but we weren't that surprised either as we knew how well Australia took care of its people. There is a plethora of benefits here (for example free national health care) that I am completely not used to growing up in the United States. As I have adopted many Australian ways over the years, a benefit or curse of living abroad (the same happened to me living in Chile for three years) I thought if most Australians stop work one month before due date and still take a year off after baby is born, why shouldn't I?
I have been lucky to have had an "easy" pregnancy, besides first trimester miserableness and nauseous, there have been no complications and I feel good most of the time. I have been able to keep up some activity, yoga, social life and hobbies over the last 6 months, just had to alter all of them to accommodate tiredness and the bump in one way or another. So I decided I could work to 37 weeks pregnant (honestly I was perceived as a hero for doing this at work and by fellow pregnant friends) and then take the full 9 months off with baby using up the paid parental leave and then see how i feel at that stage, to stay home longer or start back part time.
I have now been out of work for just over two weeks and can say one thing....I've never felt better (for being 9 months pregnant). Its very difficult to sleep now, but does that really matter when you don't have an alarm waking you up in the morning? What do I do all day long? Well, whatever I want really. Its the most liberating feeling and I'm sure being exposed to so much sunshine and fresh air has helped me to feel this good as well. When working I would spend 8 hours in an office building and at least an 1 hour in the car, if I worked out it was most likely in the gym. My days were long and sometimes very boring. In the last two weeks I have taken care of all those to do list things that expectant moms do before bubs come. Ive decorated, washed clothes, made meals, cleaned the house, gone shopping, and made sure we had all we thought we needed. But that's not the best part, the best part is everyday I go for a long walk (between 2-3 hours), I meet up with friends for coffee, lunch, dinner, movies, whatever, I go to the library, I read, I write, I listen to my meditation mp3s, I go to yoga, I cleaned out all the stuff in our apartment we didn't need anymore, I have watched a lot of movies, I spend time with my husband, and I cook something yummy from scratch everyday.
I know in a few days my life will be yet again drastically different to what I just described. I can't help but admit that the American culture inside of me is screaming lazy, you should be working! You should be doing something, how can you take naps and long walks and get paid! I'm doing everything to ignore and get over that part of the culture that is ingrained in me, in the same way that I have given up eating in the car, rushing through lunch, thinking I needed to be doing something every minute of everyday and walking so fast that I don't see whats happening around me. Living abroad has changed my perspective on many areas of my life, being married to someone from a different culture has changed my mind about many practices I once thought "were the only way to do things."
Its not been easy to be pregnant and expecting somewhere where we don't have any family nearby, but at least we are doing it in a country that cherishes women, families and basic human rights. My husband never ceases to be amazed when he sees laborers drinking coffee in a cafe sitting next to a business man. A restaurant filled with people at lunch from different walks of life and different occupations, something that doesn't happen in his very income segregated country. Its a breath of fresh air. As is knowing that when I give birth my husband will be with our baby and me for the first 2-3 weeks full time. I cant imagine what I would do without any family here if he couldn't do that, but again, its not a question in Australia. All dads or partners stay home with new bubs for at least two weeks of.....drum roll...paid parental leave as well.
I hope that in the coming decade America can catch up with the rest of the world. I don't need to point out to anyone that it has the worst maternity leave of any first world country. Australia seems like a utopia to me, but it doesn't even hold a bar to maternity leave in Denmark, Germany or Sweden. I haven't paid one cent out of pocket for any of my pregnancy care being afforded national free health care. I have had top medical care for 9 months in one of the best hospitals in Australia for....free. I would be curious to one day do research on the differences in labor, birth and infancy outcomes of moms who had more maternity leave before baby was born.
Well the croissant is finished and I'm covered in powdered sugar, off to buy some groceries and go home and make something yummy for dinner. Better take advantage before bubs arrives. Thanks Australia.
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