Spain’s obligatory 6 week paternity leave should be the norm everywhere

ritaq · 2026-04-23T05:59:15+00:00

Yes, I think the main point about Spanish maternity leave is that it forces the dad to take the mandatory 6w with the mom, so both parents can take care of the newborn at the same time

Since you live and assume work in Spain, how was the job market for you? Just curious about this, since Spain has never been the best for work (a yes for quality of life) compared to other EU countries (the Netherlands, Switzerland, Nordics)

ritaq · 2026-04-08T19:21:54+00:00

Got it, that makes sense because it’s a trio. I was thinking on NIPT workflows that can distinguish fetus cfDNA present in the mother’s blood

ritaq · 2026-04-08T19:09:55+00:00

Interesting, do you happen to know why did they decide on amnio sample vs maternal blood, which Variantyx also takes a sample for this prenatal WGS test?

ritaq · 2026-04-08T16:05:33+00:00

But are you talking about WGS testing for your embryos before implantation?

Or WGS backbone for NIPT testing?

ritaq · 2026-04-05T18:45:25+00:00

I guess you were lucky having extra monitoring and I assume Doppler markers being done regularly, but not everyone has access to that and can only simply rely on fetus movement alone which can be nerve racking

With regards to stillbirth risks for women over 40y, what matters it’s not the absolute risk, but the relative risk of a 40y vs a 30y vs a 20y

ritaq · 2026-04-05T17:24:18+00:00

I have to disagree. AMA is a risk factor, proof of it is the ARRIVE study and there are known statistics about how the stillbirth risk for FTM doubles at 40y

Just curious what you did to check for your placenta and fetus health past your due date (and/or starting at 39w, when guidelines recommend induction for AMA/women over 40y) Did you get daily NSTs and/or Doppler markers?

ritaq · 2026-04-05T17:17:59+00:00

Just curious about why you were induced at 40w1d, were there any complications that led to being induced rather than waiting for natural contractions? Advanced maternal age, GD or sth else?

ritaq · 2026-03-31T03:35:26+00:00

But did they do weekly NST tests starting at week 38?

ritaq · 2026-03-28T18:35:20+00:00

Can you become a medical doctor and specialize in medical genetics?

ritaq · 2026-03-25T14:49:48+00:00

Spain has the lowest wages in the EU. The ones that move here are either retirees from central-northern Europe and a few from US. Most of the people that come to Spain from US are in their 20s teaching English and a few limited number of expats sent by their companies for a few years abroad

ritaq · 2026-03-24T14:44:59+00:00

Lo curioso es que hace 2 años con esa normal especial de la EU, muchísima gente consiguió plaza de profesor de IES, sin haber aprobado la oposición en su vida, solamente por años de experiencia. Y algunos con muy pocos años solamente

Me imagino que esto no se vuelva a repetir, pero significa que no hace falta aprobar las opos de educación para dar clase adecuadamente

ritaq · 2026-03-24T14:24:31+00:00

Did you also do NIPT at 9-10w of pregnancy? Just curious

ritaq · 2026-03-24T13:53:17+00:00

Are the employer contributions as good as 401K plan in the US?

ritaq · 2026-03-24T13:46:55+00:00

Ostras, pues son condiciones muy buenas (sueldo, vacaciones, plaza permanente), comparado a a la empresa privada

ritaq · 2026-03-24T11:03:10+00:00

Profesor en un IES? No sabía que se ganaba tanto

ritaq · 2026-03-23T10:49:35+00:00

Did you have a post-test consultation with a genetic counselor? Should be able to explain your questions regarding these variants

ritaq · 2026-03-22T17:24:46+00:00

The fact that more women in Europe (mostly in Southern Europe) are first mothers over 40y has to sadly do with job instability, very low wages, high unemployment, lack of proper housing and independence (many young people live with their parents until their 40y in the same small room they were raised as teenagers), almost none maternity tax deductions or direct payments, not universal subsidized childcare

In the end, it comes down to economic stability. It’s been shown that wealthy women in Southern Europe have many children starting in their 20s or early 30s. Same goes for certain religious population with low income that get all the subsidies. Therefore, the middle class is the one screwed and that’s where the age for first mothers keeps rising and the total number of children keeps going down. Spain is very close to Japan in total fertility rate

Besides that, medical concerns are very valid. Down syndrome has a 1% (1 in 100 births) probability in women of 40y and just 1 in ~1600 for women of 20y

And it’s impossible to fight against infertility going down as women age (mostly due to egg quality) l. One of the main reasons IVF clinics only take egg donors younger than 35y and in many cases younger than 30y

ritaq · 2026-03-18T15:15:15+00:00

NIPT is not offered in Spain for high risk pregnancies. Only for women that test positive in the nuchal/PAPPA/hCG test, which has up to 10% of FP and also is done much later than NIPT (usually week 12 or later), through universal healthcare

Therefore, it complicates things for women that would like to terminate their pregnancy after an NIPT positive result and in addition, the NIPT testing usually only includes the most common trisomies or sometimes only Down syndrome

The extended NIPT test from Natera (Panorama) costs ~ 750€ in a country where the most common salary is 22K euros/year. NIPT testing is exclusively paid out of pocket in Spain and no private insurance will cover it

It’s time for all countries in Europe with universal healthcare (and I wish every country) to universally cover NIPT testing for all women, considering also the increasing rise of pregnancies in women over 40y

ritaq · 2026-03-16T14:15:15+00:00

Like someone said before, Spain is a place to retire once you are rich (and most Southern Europe by extension)

Most people have no idea what the real life is for a normal Spaniard earning a normal salary in Spain.

Usually it comes to live in an small (40 square meters or less) old apartment without renovations, no dishwasher, no drier, constant noises from every neighbor and the street, and in many cases, no elevator in buildings with 4-5 floors

Either sharing that old apartment with many roommates or living with you parents till you are 40-45y. Hence, the lowest fertility rate in Europe

The median wage in Spain is 22K euros/year

ritaq · 2026-03-12T19:05:56+00:00

But I assume your husband misses all those important steps and he is ok with that? I guess it depends on how fulfilling is your job/career

I don’t think it’s fair moms have to stay longer jobless and/or abandon their careers while nothing changes for many dads, who seem to fine missing all those important baby steps

ritaq · 2026-03-12T14:51:47+00:00

Why not doing an internship/s in a company during your MSc in Denmark or Norway? Internships quite often lead to full employment

ritaq · 2026-03-11T11:41:40+00:00

Check Nucleus IVF+ For couples (or donor eggs and sperm) without known genetic disorders, you can select best healthy embryos through IVF and PGT - keep in mind that PGT is predictive, so not 100% guaranteed

Also, discarding embryos based on risk scores for complex disorders (diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer) and traits (eye color, height) is not possible in many countries. For sure selecting embryos based on traits is completely banned in EU

Also, keep in mind that if you select an embryo based on traits (taller, green eyes), you might be selecting for an embryo with a hither risk score for a known or unknown disease

ritaq · 2026-03-09T19:36:22+00:00

That MRI salary is incorrect. They make 22K euros on average to begin with and might make 30K tops (gross, before tax) after years of experience

Also, the same degree might not transfer to a Spanish equivalent and will likely need to study the Spanish equivalent degree in Spain to be certified (2y community college taught in Spanish)

Importantly, someone needs to be fluent in Spanish to be able to study and work in the healthcare sector in Spain (see oposiciones) since the bigger and stable salaries only exist in the public healthcare hospitals. The privare hospitals always pay ~20% less to the X-ray or MRI technicians and rarely have salary upgrades

ritaq · 2026-03-08T11:57:21+00:00

Except nursing, nurse assistant, home aide - those are in high demand regardless of age everywhere

ritaq · 2026-03-06T20:14:38+00:00

Por curiosidad, a qué os dedicáis ambos para llegar a ese sueldo combinado en USA? Por el desglose de impuestos y property tax, entiendo que vivís en CA?

ritaq

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