Maternity Leave

Well, I went to my (VERY CONFUSING) Maternity Seminar.... and the good news, AND the bad news, is that we are able to follow our original plan.

Great news for BJ... He is excited about taking some parental leave and being at home with the baby - and I am excited for him to have that experience as well... sorta! haha...
I will be starting the school year in September.. working until I can, and then taking 17 weeks off from there. Then I don't loose anything, I should still get job fair status in September.. so that's good. So I will be off until the end of January/Beginning of February and BJ will take over from there... and he will take until July or August off (it might be kinda nice for us to both be home with the baby in July.. we'll see). The great news is that both of us get "top up" - so that means we won't loose any pay, and the baby will get to be home with his/her "Mommy" or "Daddy" for the first year of his/her life.

The NSTU is sooooooooo confusing... and I CAN potentially take the entire year, but I risk loosing all that I have accumulated... OR I can go back the end of April, and keep my status, but loose just the one year I'm on mat. leave. I don't see the point of loosing the year for 2.5 months... not when BJ can be home... that also means that BJ won't be sailing or going ANYWHERE for the first bit of the babies life! :D

I figure, the next child we have, I will be permanent and taking the entire year without a doubt.. so this is BJ's only chance to take any parental leave... it financially makes sense, and is the best decision for my career... so that's what we are going to do.

Now, all I need is for the rest of the schoolyear to fast forward so that September is closer! hehe..