May be alone during labor

He should be able to get FMLA paternal paid leave

I’m in the same boat! My husband has to work, we have had this job planned for over a year now (we own the business) and it is the same week of my due date! I’m hoping this baby comes early just so he can be there! Wishing you the best of luck 🩵

@Hanna Creger FMLA is not paid and a lot of places unfortunately don’t offer paid parental leave.

He is considered a self contractor. He is a tattoo artist. He don't get paid unless he has apts

@Kaylis could he maybe rearrange his schedule and pull a few more appointments in the next few weeks? Just to put back money so that he could take time off to be with you in the hospital, maybe a bit longer. And then to give himself a ‘leave’ (I know it’s not the same, I’m so sorry) he could do like less sessions a day after maybe spaced out so that he can come home to you and baby?

It's been touch and go with apts and he is the one keeping us afloat. We are currently struggling financially. So u less something changes . And I will be going to try to get food stamps tomorrow. Hoping it'll be something to help. We took a financial hit and then finding out we were pregnant bad timing.

@Kaylis I totally understand. My partner currently is the only one working, I’ve stayed at home with our one year old for almost a year now. We definitely were not expecting to get pregnant again so quickly as I have PCOS and don’t normally ovulate on my own at all. I struggled to get pregnant for years but I guess once I started losing weight my body said “Haha jokes on you!” I did apply for SNAP, unfortunately right now we only qualify for $280 a month which is definitely not a lot, but it does help. I’m in the same situation at the moment where I might be in the hospital alone and will definitely be home alone with our toddler and newborn after my repeat c section. Terrified of that, but I don’t know what else to do… his company does not offer more than 2 weeks of leave and it’s only paid at 40% which we absolutely can not do.

Do you have anyone who could assist in his place that you feel comfortable with as a backup? I’m doing it solo and have a doula to be there as my birthing coach but I understand that’s an extra added expense.

There is no excuse in my opinion for a husband to not be at the hospital to support his wife during childbirth. If you’re financially struggling, then you’re financially struggling 🤷🏾‍♀️. That one day of work is not suddenly gonna solve all of your problems, so might as well take it off to see the birth of your child. There’s nothing worse to me than a woman alone during childbirth, it’s a very stressful time and you might not be able to speak for yourself about certain decisions due pain/stress, someone should always be there to advocate for you, cause hospitals can be very neglectful and things can go left very quickly. Money is not more important than your well being and the well being of your child. He should at least make the sacrifice to be there for the delivery, then he can go back to work.

@Brooklyn my husbands has been with our last 3 kids. If you pay taxes you pay into the family leave act which gives you 6 to 12 weeks off but usually only 2-3 days paid leave

@Hanna Creger I know that there is paid leave, but that is not mandatory… FMLA is unpaid. It’s there to protect job status while you take time off. Companies CAN pay you, but they’re not required to do so. We weren’t paid for ours and won’t be again this time either.

I may be. My husbands job gives him paid parental leave for 12 weeks BUT if I go into spontaneous labor instead of making it to my induction which is set a couple days after my due date I won’t have the choice but to do it alone because he’s going to have to be with our toddler.

My boyfriend is saving up all his vacation/sick time at his work so he can stay with me and the baby when she gets here. He’s going to try to stay for 2 weeks. I told my boyfriend if he can only stay for a week that’s ok. My boyfriend is the main provider so he needs to work to support our family. I work but it’s only 20 hours a week if I’m lucky. I have an expensive car payment that takes a lot of my check. I only work to pay for my car . I have one more year left until my car is paid off. I didn’t know I was going to get pregnant or get a boyfriend at the time I got the car almost 5 years ago. 🤣 Life can be difficult sometimes but you got this , I hope your husband will be around for the labor!

@Brooklyn not trying to jump in but I lived in WA state and we had Paid FMLA it’s for certain states. I had that attached to my work leave which was two separate payments. They also of course protected my job but paid me as well.