I didn't take paternity leave when our kids were born. In retrospect, I should have... we were lucky though, in that we had support and help during the first few months.
Did your SO take paternity/maternity leave? Do you wish that they had, or if they did - did you wish that they hadn't?
squash / 13764 posts
DH is planning on taking two weeks off after LO comes. I wonder if he'll actually last all two weeks or if he'll be itching to get out of the house and go back to work before then!
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
My husband will, but we don't know exactly what it will be yet. He works for a very small start up company so they don't really have a paternity plan in place. He will probablydo something like take two weeks completely off, and then maybe work from home for another week before he goes back to the office.
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
DH didn't and that turned out to be a mistake ... could have really used the support. Oh well, you live and learn!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
DH took a month off and I was so grateful to have him around!
pomelo / 5321 posts
DH came home from deployment for R&R right before my due date. He had to go back when LO was 10 days old but the army did give him 10 days of paternity leave when he got home.
cantaloupe / 6687 posts
My husband's company doesn't have paternity leave but he accrued the max PTO (paid time off) days that they allowed and he took almost 4 weeks off. He became an expert diaper changer and we had a great routine while he was home. It helped that LO was born on Nov 11th so he also had time off for the holidays. It was great having him with us at this time...he would get LO, change her and bring her to me to nurse, then get us something to eat/drink while I nursed, then put LO back down after another diaper change...it was so nice having that time to learn how to be a new family of 3
bananas / 9118 posts
Yes, my husband took 3 weeks off. Now we wish he had taken at least another week for figuring out a routine after family left.
He works for the county, so while he gets good benefits, it would have been unpaid if he didn't have so much sick time and vacation time accrued. Having a baby is a whole new level of money stress!
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
My husband took time off. We adopted and immediately found out I was pregnant with twins so my oldest son was only 8 months old when my twins were born. Since I was having a c section and it was for twins my doctor wrote that I needed assistance for 8 weeks. Lucily his work approved and he was home with us for two months. It was so great. I couldn't not have cared for an 8 month old and two newborns by myself. It gave us plenty of time to adjust and bond.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
He's going to take 2 weeks off at the beginning and then take other time as needed after that.
persimmon / 1087 posts
He took 3 weeks off and just went back today. We are both happy that some sense of normalcy is returning....for him at least lol. For me, I will be looking for a new sense of normalcy.
grapefruit / 4671 posts
DH is only planning on taking a couple of days off as the baby is due quite close to the end of the school year. So he will have a couple of days with us and then back to work for 2 weeks or so, and then he will then be home for 10 weeks for the summer break. The perks of being married to a teacher!
GOLD / wonderful olive / 19030 posts
DH is hoping to take at least a week off, I'm hoping for 2. He's in charge so it should be doable, but he doesn't like to be away for that long. So we will see when it gets closer!
eggplant / 11824 posts
My husband isn’t taking any sort of technical paternity leave. He’s a professor and his semester ends on LO’s due date (lol, we couldn’t have planned this timing!). He’ll be off for the entire summer except for needing to work on his book, and attend some meetings here and there. We’ll both basically be on “leave” with LO for 12 weeks.
pomegranate / 3414 posts
DH had planned on taking about a week off but was laid off exactly one week before my due date. He accepted a contract position when LO was 3 weeks old so I had his help for about 2 weeks. While it was nice to have him home I was glad when he was able to return to work.
With this pregnancy, I'm hoping he'll take at least 1-2 weeks because I'll have a toddler and newborn at the same time.
squash / 13199 posts
I wish my husband had but he didnt. I ended up having an unplanned c-section and it was hard taking care of the baby in the 1st couple of weeks. For our next baby he will definitely take time off
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
He didn't with Lo. He 'll probably take time off for #2 though
GOLD / pear / 1845 posts
Nope, he works weekend nights so he took off the weekend they were born (both my girls were born near the weekend, at night) and then was home during the weeks and my parents came on the weekends to help out. So both times I had someone to help me out everyday for a bit over a month. So wonderful! We just couldn't afford it, even though it's paid in Canada, it's only 55% of your normal income and we can't live off that with me at home.
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
Yes, Mr. Jacks took 2 months off with Jack Jack... Thank goodness because I couldn't take a leave, though I am now going to work part time for the next couple of weeks to have some bonding time with the littlest one!
pomelo / 5178 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: I'm so glad you're able to take a little time now! Have fun on your maternity leave. 
My husband took two weeks right away with both kids, and then the month of December off; well, hopefully he'll get all of December off this year. He might have to go in for one week at the beginning of the month, and then he'd stay off through the first week of January.
pear / 1837 posts
DH took off three weeks, and it was great. He then took off another week to watch LO when I first went back to work.
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
Dh took a week off then worked from home for a week. It was a good amount of time.
coconut / 8681 posts
He doesn't have paternity leave but he will be using his vacation (one week...wahhh) when LO is born.
pear / 1723 posts
Hubby is taking off 2-2.5 months for our twins. I'm so thankful. I think it's a combination of sick and vacation hours, but he'll get paid 100% the whole time. He'll probably also take a good number of extra days throughout their first year. Luckily he has a lot of leave stored up.
For a singleton, he probably would have taken 4-6 weeks, but since this is the only paternity leave he's ever going to take, we decided to maximize it! 
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
He had planned on one but was offered a second so he took it! It was vacation time.
He and I wished he could have taken more!
grapefruit / 4006 posts
My husband gets 3 weeks for paternity leave, which I think is quite generous (although I've heard law firms give 8 weeks or more). He said that some co-workers told him not to take all 3 right away because the baby sleeps a lot in the first month, and to take some later on when the baby becomes more "interesting"!
coconut / 8498 posts
Hubs is taking about 4 weeks off and can take up to 6. I don't think he'll take the extra 2 weeks, but it's nice to know that it's there if he needs to take time off here and there without digging into vacation time.
eggplant / 11287 posts
My DH gets 6 weeks of fully paid bonding leave. It has been amazing and everything has gone so smoothly. I don't want him to go back!
pomegranate / 3388 posts
My husband took 2 weeks of PTO when the baby was born. After I'm done w/ my maternity leave in July he's going to take another 4 weeks of California state paid bonding leave to watch DD while I go back to work.
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Oceanis723: holy moly! How did I not know this story!! So you had THREE under 1... and THREE under 2.... wow!!!! Nice that your SO's work approved the paternity leave.
With our first, Wagon Jr. got 2 weeks paternity leave and took his accrued PTO as well, which made 5 weeks. It was SO nice. This time around he will take however many weeks his manager approves (probably 2?) and then go back to work. Later on, about a month or two later, he'll take a week off here and there to give my mom a break to go home. He has a lot of saved vacation time this time again, so he'll also take a lot of time around the holidays.
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
@mrs.wagon. Yep three under a year. It was a bit hectic. Now with my daughter I am four under four. Life is crazy but it's great
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21616 posts
Sadly DH could only take a week. He's only in his second year of work with this company, so he doesn't have much vacation time/PTO/Sick time accrued. We are taking a vacation to see his family in July and another week in June for a family vacation with my family, so he only have one week he could take for paternal leave. It was really hard having him for only one week, but my mom and sister came by to help me, and then the third week a good friend of mine came to stay with me to help out. It was so nice. I really missed my husband though.
pomegranate / 3983 posts
No, but DH happened to be on vacation when LO was born, so he had a week home before going back.
hostess / papaya / 10540 posts
Yes! DH had almost 2 months off. I was sooo thankful to have him.
honeydew / 7968 posts
hubby took like 3 days off or so, while i was at the hospital. but he didn't take additional days off. he's saving his days since he can get paid for it for when we move to jersey. i was with my mom anyway, so we don't regret him not taking any time off. he came to visit us regularly and was able to get some sleep.
pineapple / 12526 posts
DH was allowed 10 free days from the military but ended up getting 3 weeks because I spent so much time in the hospital.
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
This is interesting! DH's company used to offer 2 weeks and this year they eliminated that. He will have 2 weeks paid vacation he can use in addition to sick and personal days...but I'm not sure how much he should use (vacation). I'd like the option of him having some 'saved' days between September and may, when his time resets, in case I'm sick...vacations, etc.
ILs live next door and my family is 5 minutes away, too.
persimmon / 1194 posts
DH will be using his vacation days and taking 2 weeks off. He'd love to take more but he works on commission mostly and we would be hurting pretty bad if we only went by his base pay.
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
At DH's current job, he gets 2 weeks paternity leave. If he's still there when we have a LO, he'll probably take those 2 weeks, and if it's a slow time of the year, he might also take another week of PTO.
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