Maternity Leave Defined

Okay, I have my answer from Personnel on our policy. Any time the doctor says I'm unable to work I can charge off to sick time (usually 6 weeks for vaginal birth, 8 weeks for C-section). After that, I can take the balance of the 12 weeks of unpaid time to which I'm entitled under Federal FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act)-my employer is not subject to the Connecticut FMLA, only Federal (Connecticut's allows 16 weeks, but again, unpaid). I MUST use any paid personal/vacation time first once I'm in the "unpaid" period before I get to actual unpaid leave. (I hope that makes sense...)

So lets say I don't have any medical problems and I work up until delivery. Then the doctor says I need to stay out of work for 6 weeks for recovery. I can take 6 weeks of paid sick time. Once I get past those 6 weeks, I can still stay home for up to 6 more weeks. At that point, I have to use any paid time off to which I'm entitled first (sick time cannot be used since I am not "sick" per the definition in our contract). So I have 3 weeks of vacation time. If I can't afford to take any unpaid time off (which is the case), that would mean I could stay home for a total of 9 weeks paid. If the doctor says I need 8 weeks recovery, then it would be 11 weeks paid (which is what I was hoping for anyway, although I wanted to save 1 week of vacation time for at the end of the year to spend time with our families after Christmas). I'm hoping I can get the doctor to approve 8 weeks...and worst case scenario, I can go back to work after the 9 or 11 weeks. I'll still have 2 personal days that I can save and take them off after Christmas, allowing me to have some time off at the end of the year just not as much as I originally planned. It's not exactly what I was hoping for, but it's better than nothing. And I'll still have plenty of sick time left over for illnesses after this at least.