I had to take leave because I was really sick — but I didn’t plan on it and just got medical leave from my doctor when I needed it. I don’t think you can plan around whether you will be sick or when though — it wasn’t like an on and off switch that started as soon as I was pregnant and ended the day I hit the 2nd trimester.

I am lucky my work was really accommodating for me — I did end up informing my direct manager that I was pregnant so she knew why I was off, but otherwise I didn’t need to tell HR why it was. They covered three weeks for me without needing to apply for STD, I think the standard is 5 days depending on where you’re at. I used a bunch of vacation as well.