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Tell Shared Parental Leave what your maternity/paternity leave was like: win a voucher!

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  • My maternity leave was the happiest time of my life.

    My advice is to double check how much you are being paid...
    I worked in a school. Unfortunately the council calculated my maternity pay incorrectly and overpaid me slightly each month. Obviously this all added up to a significant amount, but because I didn't know I was being overpaid, I spent it. When they eventually realised, they demanded an immediate payment of over £1500 which was impossible! It took a lot of persuading for them to see that it was their mistake and to offer me a reasonable repayment plan.
  • Maternity leave was a blur for the first few months. I thought I'd have time to bake and be a domestic goddess... Actually I barely kept it together!
  • There was never any question of us sharing it - S was getting the year off to be a first time mum. I got 2 weeks which was great. Planned in some Annual leave too to take it up to 4 weeks.

    Every moment is precious, would have valued even more time, but wasn't even a consideration to share the leave, much harder still for the dad to justify taking lots of time unless the mum has a critical career.
  • I was working for an agency on a month to month basis(for 4 years!!), they told me my contract had come to an end literally as I found out I was pregnant(they didn't know I was pregnant). I was depressed and had awful morning sickness for most of my pregnancy. By the time my son was born I was so lonely, I was broke and my husband was working all the overtime he could to support us. It wasn't a very enjoyable experience. It would have been so much better if I had worked my pregnancy and had some money saved up.  
  • I went back before the full year, partly finances pushed me but my Mum looked after my daughter for me so I knew she would be better that great. I enjoyed getting back into a routine again but did miss having all day everyday with my daughter. My maternity leave was brilliant, loved every moment.
  • Looking back it was a lovely time, my employer and colleagues were supportive although I did feel some (self imposed) pressure to get back to work. My other half wasn't so lucky as his boss at the time wasn't very helpful with flexibility.
  • I'm currently on maternity leave with my third child. Previously I took very little leave simply because I was motivated to return to work as I really enjoy my role but as this is our last baby, I wanted to have that additional time with him and my two older children.

    It's been fantastic to have that additional bonding time and although I do miss work, I'm keeping a hand in, not out of obligation but so my mind stays active on the work front!

    My company is fantastic when it comes to maternity and paternity leave and also supports parents of older children who can go into work when schools unexpectedly close!
  • I left at 29 weeks, back then there was only 3 months paid and hubby was back to work 2 weeks after my baby was born as there wasn't paternal leave either.It was lonely and exhausting, but I loved every minute of being a stay at home mum .
  • I started my maternity leave at 38 weeks, hoping to get at least a week to rest or get organised, however my wee man had other ideas. Waters broke the night I finished work lol. I took 39 weeks maternity leave, I absolutely loved every minute I had with my baby boy but it was really a struggle with money. I returned back to work on January 2018 and found out on the February that I was pregnant again (oops) so here I am back on Maternity leave with my 2 year old boy and 5 month old girl and life is amazing, busy but amazing. I will be back at work in July after having 39 weeks off again. 
  • Thank you all for entering this sponsored discussion. It is now closed, so we're going to lock this thread, but we will reopen it during the week to post the name of the winner. 
  • Hi everyone, thank you all for entering this sponsored discussion. 
    The winner of the £200 Amazon voucher is @ha2el
    We'll be in touch soon about your prize. 
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