I guess this is suggesting that being home for the birth of a child (only happens a few times in a lifetime) is not a worthy endeavor, and that we should put the mission first?

Work to live man, not the other way around. I was home (mostly unpaid) when both of my kids arrived and it's something I'd do again a hundred times. You can do an extra 4 day here and there and be back to where you were moneywise. Kinda hard to get back the experience of being there when your kid arrives though.

Johnso,

For our first one I took the NWA SLIP leave as we weren't making squat first year anyways. The second kiddo was under DAL rules, and I had no problems whatsoever with the CPSC and Crew Planning. The key is to get it setup way in advance, as it sounds like you are. They allowed me to move my vacation to begin a few days prior to the due date, and said I could call and shift it sooner if my wife went into labor early. Very flexible I thought. This was all during summer and I can't come anywhere close to holding summer vacation, as you know .

Vacation, plus 2 weeks of FMLA, plus creative bidding and a few PCS moves and I ended up with almost 6 weeks off for the 2nd kid, with only 2 weeks unpaid.

Good luck, and congrats. It sounds like you're on the right track.