Le Congé Maternité

Posted by Analyse at 2:48 PM

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Paid maternity leave in France stretches from 16 to 46 weeks depending whether it's your first or third child or you're carrying a twin or a triplet. A pathological leave could even be added - 2 weeks prenatal and 4 weeks postnatal, if the attending gynecologist judges that a mom needs additional rest. A mom could choose nonetheless to take only 8 weeks of maternity leave with the approval of her gynecologist.

In my case, I'm supposed to stop 6 weeks before and 10 weeks after the D Day. This rule has apparently changed since February 2007. Now, moms could choose to take a minimum of 3 weeks prenatal leave and the rest of the weeks not taken before the D Day would be added on the postnatal leave. That's cool! That would give me more time with my 2 girls.

The end of the year announces a lot of roller-coaster ride at home. We need a breather and this news is really a great one. Louna will start pre-school this September. We will need to change our nanny (we will look for somebody not far from our place). Then the coming of the little girl.

All that looks simple but if you know how it works here in France, you would surely wish me goodluck. Great nannies are rare gems here in France. Much as we wanted to keep Louna's nanny, her place is just too far from our place. Louna's pre-school is just 4 blocks away from our place and it's just logical that we search for a nanny (for the 2nd baby) nearby. The nanny should be able to fetch Louna from school too, in case we're blocked. Thus the necessity that she be just around the area. Louna's pre-school have a nursery which could keep kids from 7am - 7pm so that's pretty comfortable.

Well, all that talks about logistics. But the real big change is that Louna will be a big sister and will start pre-school. How will she react to that change? Nobody knows.

We would certainly need to take a closer look on our time management. Work travels should be organized carefully. I would certainly ask not to travel till the little girl turns one (I did that for Louna) and we should find a nanny who could offer a lot of flexibility.

Well, I know that everything will fall at the right place at the right time. There's always a solution to every problem, right?

15 comments:

Abigail said...

goodluck sa paghahanap ng nanny. kahit dito sa Pinas ngayon mahirap na rin maghanap ng yaya the only plus is here pwede sila stay at home and affordable pa din naman.

be safe.

haze said...

Goodluck on your Nanny hunting Ana. I am sure Louna will enjoy at school because she already knows how to socialize with different kids...being with Nanny & some other kids or crèche life helps. While Mayumi and Basti didn't have nanny's or and didn't mingle with other kids like Louna. Pero tingnan mo nasanay na rin sila ! Goodluck to Louna, she will find it exciting ;)!

lareine said...

good luck with finding a new nanny! and i'm sure louna will adapt well to the new situation --- after all, she's her mother's daughter, right?... and with having a new sis at home, it would be like an extension of school (a new playmate)...

hope you'll have a safe delivery! and enjoy the maternity leave...

Anonymous said...

wait, is that 16-46 months or weeks? tagal ata ng 46months! :) i heard in sweden, 18months paternity/maternity (could be shared between the parents) paid leave naman. atleast you have time to fully take care of your kid diba?

goodluck with finding the right nanny! mahirap talaga to entrust your baby to someone else, kaya dapat yung trustworthy :)

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Analyse said...

To Anonymous and Kant*tan, darn,what a pseudonym! Well, first off, I commented on the meat story or something, so I wasn't informed about the racism part which, of course, I'm against of. I don't read every entry of francesca, I've got a life! How could I agree with racism when I myself is subjected to it here in a foreign land. So it's quite unfair to judge me because of the comment I left which is nothing to do with supporting racism or what.. well, anyway, i won't go to your level of calling somebody you don't even know stupid, or menacing somebody to play with a picture of an innocent kid (that's just below the belt, just showing how uneducated you are! and that's even worst than racism!), or making fun of somebody because she's being fucked by a foreigner!! that's just too pathetic, uneducated, even uncivilized!!

now, if you please, please don't come back, you're not welcome.. im running a clean blog.. i dont entertain such kind of comments..

Analyse said...

Gail, Haze, LaReine and Chung, thanks. It would surely be a tough job, but we're hoping to find a good one.

Anonymous said...

Kung ganun lang sana kadaling makapag sponsor dyan sa inyo ng relative from pinas no? At least kilala mo talaga mag-aalaga sa mga anak mo.

CLC Fashion said...

wow lapit na pala maternity leave mo analyse! enjoy every minute of it. I know you're a wonderful mom either working or staying at home. Being with the kids full-time is priceless...kaya i love it!
Me naman, being a sahm is my ( & the hubs) choice. Aside of i want and i feel it's the right for me, i got the opportunity too to stay at home with my kids.
You're lucky being a working mom...and me i considered lucky myself too been able to earn some income while still enjoying the life of a full-time sahm. Kanya-kanyang choices lang kasi yan..just do whatever the heck you desires and you think is right for you.
Goodluck sa nannny hunting! dito rin sa place namin hirap makahanap...i don't need a nanny tho. I just heard some of our neighbours looking for nannies,too.

Anonymous said...

Hi Analyse,
Wow Ang bilis! Pre-K na si Louna and you are going to have a little girl.
I wish you all the best for finding the right solutions.

btw, I tagged you.
http://mygoodfinds.org/2008/06/10/babys-favorite-toy-and-weekly-question/

Anonymous said...

Ana, wow, still very busy. Dapat every company should have their team building seminars so that the morale will be given a boost.

Sarap naman ng maternity leave mo :)

Re SAHM, i am capable too of not doing anything the whole day. Now that I have one day less of work, parang mas lalo akong tinamad sa household chores whereas before I have too straighten up agad-agad because of lack of time :D

Sorry, no suggestion, just be creative and spontaneous na lang :)

tintin said...

Hi there! All this excitement is eskayting me! It looks like you have everything thought of, now for the execution...Good luck talaga.

raqgold said...

well have fun during your maternity leave am sure masaya si ate louna. and as you said, in every problem, there is a solution :D good luck, too!