Should I be Working at 30 weeks pregnant?

[Hollybob77]

Hi I have been told I shouldnt be working past 28 weeks pregnant is this correct?

Is the someone who told you that knowledgeable in this area? It's not the case where I work and a pregnant friend hasn't stopped work yet and she's over 30 weeks

I worked till 38 weeks pregnant in a factory job with my 4th. Are you confusing it with when CAN maternity leave start, which IIRC is 29 weeks?

I was NHS but non patient facing and I worked up to 39 weeks. I was healthy with a great pregnancy though so I kept majority of my mat leave for after.

Everyone is different but check with your employer when your maternity leave will kick in.

@Joeblack066

I worked till 38 weeks pregnant in a factory job with my 4th. Are you confusing it with when CAN maternity leave start, which IIRC is 29 weeks?

I believe OP is talking about the Covid risk assessment for women who are 28 weeks pregnant. A lot of women are having their roles adjusted or being suspended on full pay from 28 weeks due to the increase in risk of being severely ill or pre-term birth if they catch Covid from 28 weeks.

I'm 35 weeks and midwife hasn't mentioned shielding at all. I wfh so not a risk there but I'm still going out shopping and sending toddler to nursery.

I have an elcs booked and even for that I've only been asked to isolate for 3 days beforehand.

Depending on the job and how you feel. I worked all the way to week 37/38 both times but I wasn't doing any hard physical work, I was working in a safe environment, had no health issues and I was also feeling fine.

You should not be working after 28 weeks unless your employer can ensure that you can maintain social distancing at all times, and you have a COVID risk assessment completed which supports a safe working environment. For most people, this means working from home after 28 weeks. If you can’t work from home or do an alternative, safe role then you need to be suspended on full pay.

Shielding ending isn’t relevant here. Pregnancy is still classed as being clinically vulnerable (not extremely clinically vulnerable, the category that did require to shield), and as we aren’t routinely getting vaccinated then we still need to be protected as we are more at risk of becoming seriously ill from it in the 3rd trimester.

Read the government guidance that has been posted in this thread, and also Pregnant Then Screwed and Maternity Action are great resources for finding out your rights.

I worked until 37 weeks 1 day. Baby born 37 weeks 2 days

I worked as a teacher until 39 weeks with all mine.

I have a Dr friend who will stop being patient facing at 28 weeks and work, which I think is common in the NHS during covid times.

@Hollybob77

I’m 30 weeks but have been told by someone after 28 weeks you are classed as clinically vulnerable due to the pandemic and should be shielding, I had planned to work until 38 weeks. I work in a busy deli serving the public and hadn’t really thought about being at more risk until today.

No, you shouldn’t automatically be shielding.

I’m finishing at 30wks which is this weekend.
Im a healthcare professional, frontline in very close contact with patients so no way of being able to social distance. Stopped seeing patients at 28wks and have been doing admin since. I have a lot of annual leave to use up hence leaving at 30wks, but if I didn’t, and they couldn’t redeploy me into a safe role/work from home they’d have to suspend me on full pay until the date I intended to start maternity leave. The employer can’t force you to start mat leave earlier. Your employer needs to do a risk assessment and if social distancing cannot be maintained in your usual role look at different role/working from home/suspension on full pay. If you can social distance at work you can work as long as you like 😊

I’m working until 34 weeks pregnant. I’m an accountant so working from home, desk based etc but my blood pressure has been very high so I’m taking annual leave in order to avoid stress when heavily pregnant.

Pre covid I worked to 39 and 38 weeks with my two. Im a teacher so both times worked up to a holiday. Spring Bank and summer holidays.
Not sure what I would do now...

I worked to 37 weeks but now in a WFH role I'd probably do what two colleagues did and work right up to my due date (although both their babies arrived more or less on time - neither got more than about two days off!)

So maybe finishing at least a week before would be a good idea

Shielding ended today - you’re ok to work if you feel well enough. Congrats!

I worked til 36 weeks with my first and was incredibly bored at home for 4 weeks but It was a heatwave so at least I didn't have to commute in that.
But it was 14 years ago and there wasn't a pandemic (and I don't have a public facing role) so probably all fairly irrelevant.

I worked until 38 weeks with ds. Thought 2 weeks would be just a nice amount of time before he arrived. Until he was 12 days late and I ended up being bored out of my mind

If your work can’t provide you with a safe working environment due to COVID, you have to be medically suspended on full pay in the third trimester. My work have done it for me but I’m only 13 weeks

Shielding ending DOES NOT affect pregnant women! we weren’t shielding in the first place. And shielding has ended because those who are extremely clinically vulnerable have been vaccinated - pregnant women haven’t. We are still classed as clinically vulnerable.

Please don’t confuse shielding and pregnancy Covid risk they are not the same thing.

www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/coronavirus-pregnancy/covid-19-virus-infection-and-pregnancy/#c19

I’d look at this OP.

I am over 28 weeks and in a job I can’t socially distance so WFH.

I think your employer can automatically put you on maternity leave from 30 weeks if you are repeatedly sick etc, but no you can still with at 30 weeks if you feel up to it. I worked right up to 38.5 weeks and my daughter came on the day after my due date so I still got 10 days to myself to nest and get ready! It's how you feel but many women work right up to when they are about to drop.

Depends what you do. I stopped work around 3-4 days before giving birth with my first (they arrived 1 day before due date). I had planned to stop at 38 weeks but my employer thought it all very inconvenient and as events transpired kept asking for ‘just another few days’ on repeat. I was a Dr working in a very busy part of a hospital, on my feet all day with long shifts, and my employer was the health system. They seriously didn’t see the problem because if I went into labour maternity was just a few floors above. Nurses had to stop weeks prior but seemingly Dr’s could be flogged until the end.

Had it not been for Covid I had planned to work until 37 weeks but COVID changed all that.

OP I’m a HCP and still working, currently 33 weeks, working till 37 weeks, baby will be born at 38. Am no longer on wards but am working from a health care setting and seeing a select number of patients face to face. Risk assessed within my choosing.

The honest answer is that each woman will make different choices. What’s important is that your workplace isn’t forcing you into a position you are not comfortable with.

For me, I’d much prefer to keep my maternity to have time with baby. I worked till due date last pregnancy (2019). What’s your preference?

You’ll hear a lot of “shoulds” from now on!

All these comments about how pregnant women don't have to shield and should be working up until their waters break under their desks see Pregnant Then Screwed for advice OP - as you're pregnant you're very unlikely to have been vaccinated and pregnancy increases your risk of complications from covid so you might want to take maternity leave a bit earlier than planned.