Quote:
Originally Posted by pepper24
Before you plan too far ahead and get too excited I'd wait until your wife does her 13 week ultrasound. Before that time, the rate of miscarriage is high then after your chances go down considerably. I'd only tell close family and avoid telling friends and co-workers until you hit 3 months. I have known too many friendss that have told everyone and bought all the baby gear to only be utterly disappointed. My personal experience we were tied lipped until that appointment, then went nuts.
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While I'd strongly suggest that you don't tell coworkers/supervisors until 12 weeks - I firmly believe it's up to the individual about telling friends and family before that point. Some people feel that (god forbid) if something goes wrong, if they've told people, they'll have the support of their friends during what can be the most gut-wrenching point in their lives. Others feel the same way as Pepper and that it's awful to "untell" people. I've had friends lose babies at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 16 weeks, 20 weeks, 36 weeks - so at some point they told people and had to untell even after the 13 weeks for some of them - it is really up to you to decide what you want to do.
As for EI - you need 600 hours in the past 12 months to be eligible for mat leave. Don't forget that if you start collecting EI 8 weeks prior to the due date that your EI will end 8 weeks prior to your child's first birthday- you only get 52 weeks of mat leave/parental leave total. EI is calculated on a max of about $40K of earnings.
Congrats and good luck!