u/teacherlady4846

California just passed 14 weeks of maternity leave starting Jan 1, 2027. I'm completely shocked!! This is my second baby, my first baby was born October 2024 and I had been a teacher for 9 years at that point and had hardly ever taken days off so I had a TON of sick leave banked and was able to take a mostly paid long maternity leave.

I was dreading that this leave would be almost entirely unpaid as I've barely had any time to accumulate sick leave. I'm shocked at how lucky the timing is.

I'm pregnant with my second baby. For my first, we hired a doula and although she was wonderful, it didn't really feel super necessary since I had a hospital birth with an epidural. I definitely don't want to spend another 2k on a doula this time and feel more confident I know what to expect going into birth. My doula had some clutch items last time though, like peppermint oil to smell when I vomited during labor and a comb to hold before I got the epidural. What are some other easy items I can bring and have my husband be in charge of?

I absolutely love my nanny, and she does an amazing job watching my easygoing 20 month old boy and my friend's 21 month old girl (nanny share), 25 hours a week in the mornings. When we first hired her, it was as a solo nanny, but it worked out for everyone for her to watch my friend's kid, and she was happy to earn extra income (she went from $26/hour to $36/hour).

She has an afternoon job with another family and has that until June 2027. We told her want to keep her on until June 2027 as well, at which point we'll put our toddler in preschool, and she was happy to work with us another year. I believe my friend that does the nanny share will likely be enrolling her daughter in preschool within the next 6 months so the nanny share component of her job will dry up.

I'm currently 7 weeks pregnant and due in January 2027. We would love to have her still work until the agreed upon June 2027. I'm not sure what the etiquette is regarding when we tell her (certainly not until 12 weeks, but after that ?) and also what an appropriate pay raise would be, or if that should be expected? I would be on maternity leave until June 2027, so she'd be primarily watching the toddler while I take the baby, but I would like to be able to "switch" sometimes and get to spend time with my toddler while she takes the newborn. She has mentioned before that 18 months to 3 years old is her favorite age range, but I'm guessing she'll be willing to help out as she's very accomodating and has mentioned really loving our family (she also gets 14 paid weeks off as I'm a teacher with long breaks, and I don't have her come when I'm off work). I want to do right by her as she's mentioned being willing to do things I don't think are fair. For example, she said it would be okay if I didn't pay her during my 6 week long summer break since she won't be working. I said I was not comfortable with that because it's not like her bills stop during the summer. I know her afternoon family is not paying her over the summer, but this seems unfair to me.

I'm 5 weeks pregnant with a 19 month old. I'm planning on nursing as long as I can but absolutely do not want to tandem nurse so he needs to be weaned by the time the baby comes. I heard most toddlers weaned themselves around 5 months pregnant? What was your experience?