The other witness mentioned having the leave potentially chunked out into different times. That could be very helpful. As I said, I was off for about 11 months, which meant I went back to work about a month before the death anniversary of my child. That coincided with the holiday season, which is already a hard time for bereaved people.
When I returned to work, I had to embark on a bit of a struggle with our long-term leave supplier, because in addition, I needed the week off surrounding New Year's Eve. They did not quite understand why it might be difficult to return to work on January 2 after a difficult holiday season. My therapist got involved and was able to ensure that I would not return to work until after that time unless I had that time off.
There are other milestones. For me, because her birthday and her death date aren't significantly close together—she lived seven and a half months—both of those times are difficult, and I continue to use my vacation to not be at work for those times. That might be something that could be included.