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Unfortunately there isn't anything you can do. Are you offered vacation/sick time at your employer? Is your position covered through FMLA? If you are eligible for FMLA, then at least they have to guarantee you the time off. Many employers make you use your vacation/sick time with your family leave anyway. Otherwise I would just stash away any extra cash you can from now until the baby is born

I missed out on a private Aflac plan for LO 2 but I still got some money thru California EDD.

That is a really big pain. Are you sure your insurance company won't cover it if you sign up mid-term? I know my insurance covers women even if they are mid-pregnant and don't sign up until then. I don't think it is that way with all insurances, but could be a possibility.

So do you get ZERO leave or is there something else the company offers? You might check your state benefits or see if you can just hoard the sick time and come back early.

I wasn't able to get short term disability either as i hadn't been working at my employer for a year. I took a 6 week maternity leave and with vacation/sick time, 3.5 weeks were paid and only 2.5 were unpaid. Could you do something like that?

You won't be able to get paid through a STD plan if you're not enrolled, but if your company is large enough, you should still be entitled to FMLA- which gives you time off, but it's not paid, unless you are able to use sick/vacation time that you've accrued concurrently.

I would signed up as soon as you can though, if you are ok with the premiums. You can't use it for this pregnancy, but you'll want it if you have another child and short-term disability doesn't cover just pregnancy, so it's a good thing to have if it's available.

@MrsKMM: The same thing happened to me. I was only 1 month into a new job when I got pregnant, and I'd assumed that (like my old job) STD was automatically included--but it wasn't! So I decided to go balls-to-the-wall with saving and saved like a madwoman for the 10 months I had until I gave birth. I ended up having just enough to buy our major baby necessities and pay myself about half my regular salary for the 4.5 months I took off work.

This time, I already signed up for STD for when I do get pregnant.

When I was pregnant, I was not covered by FMLA or offered STD. My employer did allow me to take 12 weeks of maternity leave, but I also saved all of my vacation, half of my sick time, and used a week of comp time to help bridge the gap. Along with that, I saved money over the nine months to cover my portion of the bills. I ended up having four weeks of pay, but I spread it out over four pay periods. I only ended up with one month that wasn't "paid."

@MrsKMM: FMLA eligibility is based on the size of your company; if that helps.

@MrsKMM: your husbands short term disability won't cover it you have to be covered by your employer we looked into that last time

@MrsKMM: sounds like it's definitely big enough. I think there just has to be more than 10 employees.
I also just get FMLA. Basically 12 weeks unpaid, but my job is safe.

@MrsKMM: Yep at 6 weeks