More frequently asked questions are:
How long can you stay at home with your kids when you get triplets?
If you get one baby in Sweden parents combined are allowed to stay at home with the child for a total of 480 days. 390 of these are with pay, approximately 80 % of the salary at your regular job. The remaining 90 days you are paid 180 SEK ($30 per day).
If you get more than one baby, the insurance system adds 180 days per additional child. So, we will be allowed to stay at home a total of 480+90+90 days. Out of these 480, will be with 80 % pay.
I you have one child the parents are limited to stay at home simultaneously for a maximum 30 days. When both are at home, two of the days mentioned above are "consumed". But if you have more than one child, both parents are allowed to stay at home in parallel for as long as the days last. In other words, Anna and I can stay at home together for 240 days with 80 % pay.
However, it is not possible to get a place in daycare before your child is one year old. (That's the "Swedish model" - parents are to stay at home with their kids the first year, and daycare is "designed" to be able to take care of kids aged 1 though 5.) In real life it is hard to get daycare unless the baby is 18 months old and/or if you ask for daycare starting in August (when some kids leave for school, there will be room for younger kids).
Dads are in addition allowed two weeks of leave with 80 % pay the first two weeks after having a baby (or after the baby can leave the hospital after being born). These two weeks are multiplied if you have more than one child, so with triplets I can stay home from work the first six weeks after leaving the hospital.
Our plan is to stay at home with the triplets for almost two years (probably until August 2013) by stretching these days out. We'll try to split this period equally and have a nice long summer together next year.
- Do you need to move to a new house now?
No. We have a spare bedroom and can put a day bed in the common area upstairs. So as long as the triplets share one room we have room for all of us, and have somewhere for guests to sleep.
- Are there room enough in your car?
Yes, we have a 7-seat minivan. We can squeeze in the whole family in that, and then have room to go and by milk, but not much more...
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