I'm pregnant with triplets. I work in a doctors' office with 20 employees. I'm one of nine technicians. I was wondering if I could use SDI before using FMLA if I end up going on early bedrest. Also will that combination allow me to keep my job without fear of being let go? One of the doctors made it seem like they wouldn't be able hold my job if I required more than four months off.

SDI is how you are paid when you are ON leave. It's not an either/or. My understanding is that both the federal FMLA and the California version, however, require that the employer have at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius of your job location for the employer to be subject.

What other options you might have for leave and/or pay, though, is not my area of expertise, so you might want to check some of the other California posts in this forum for more information or wait for a responder more versed in the intracacies of CA maternity issues than I.

You won't qualify for FMLA or Ca "FMLA" since your employer does not have enough employees.

You should qualify for: Pregnancy Disability Leave-(under Fair Employment & Housing Act)
An employer must provide up to four months disability leave for a woman who is disabled due to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition. (subject to med. cert.) However, if an employer provides more than four months of leave for other types of temporary disabilities, the same leave must be made available to women who are disabled due to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition.
Eligibility for pregnancy leave-
A woman who works for a covered employer is eligible for pregnancy disability leave regardless of the length of time she has worked for the employer. Further, an employee does not have to work full-time in order to be eligible.
(This is unpd. job protected leave.) Applies to employers with 5 or more employees.

SDI doesn't grant additional leave but pays you while you are off.

Congratulations on the triplets. You're going to have your hands full there. :)

PDL protects your job for up to 4 months if you are disabled by the pregnancy. You can file for SDI to receive pay, which usually goes through 6 weeks post partum. Then after that you may be eligible to file for Paid Family Leave, which is 6 extra weeks of pay.

Since she doesn't qualify for FMLA or CFRA, she apparently won't have any job protected leave time off (after her pregnancy disability time off) to collect Paid Family Leave.

Is a Paid Family Leave claimant's job protected?
The Paid Family Leave program does not protect anyone's job. It simply provides partial wage replacement when an employee cannot work due to the need to care for a child, parent, spouse, or registered domestic partner, or to bond with a new minor child. Some employees may have their job protected under other laws, such as the FMLA or the CFRA.