Pregnant and nervous about maternity leave alone

[Honeybeebloom]

I'm 27 weeks pregnant. I live with DP but he has a job which involves working away, usually for 2 weeks then back 2-4 days. He is currently on a job which is just working away Monday - Friday and back every weekend which has been great but he's just been told by his employer that in 2 weeks time they're going on another job which is back to the usual 2 week on, weekend off rota. Due to the nature of his job he just has to go where he's sent. He left school early with no qualifications and his job is very specific but brings in a decent wage so he says he wouldn't leave it as he would only be likely to find minimum wage work as he's not trained or qualified to do anything else.

We live where he is from so his family are here and I get on well with them but my family all live 4 hours away. I'm friendly with people here and have people to do things with sometimes but I don't have any real friends, they all live back where my family are. I'm really worried about being on my own so much during my maternity leave. To be honest I know I can do things where I'll meet other mums, and I will definitely do those things, but I'm feeling nervous about feeling lonely in that way that I don't have the people who mean most to me around me and because I'll be on maternity leave I won't have work to keep me busy.

Has anyone else had a baby in a place that they don't know many people, with a partner that works away? How difficult is it and what did you do to make it easier?

In this scenario i would be moving back to where my support network is and thats where he comes on his weekend off. Or he changes job.

With just one weekend in two off to spend with you and give you a rest and help around the house and bond and enjoy with his baby he wont be spending a lot of time with his own family and friends anyway. So you may as well be near yours.

Changing job isn't really an option for him for the reasons above, as much as we would both love it to be.

I also wouldn't be able to move permanently as my own job is up here now and jobs are currently not easy to get into in my field as there are 100+ applicants for every post. If I moved down temporarily during my maternity then we'd need to stay with my parents which I wouldn't fancy either.

I live 4 hours away from my parents and when I was on mat leave would just go stay with them for a week every few months. I stayed at their house obviously and there were no issues.

If you are not keen to stay at theirs I guess you could always invite them around yours.

I had a baby in a place I moved to when was 6 months pregnant, no partner and my parents lived about 3 hours away. Pregnancy was hard, I wasn't working so I was just at home alone most of the time, but once I had ds I made friends quickly with the other new mums in the area.

Unless you're going to move permanently, I don't think there's any point in staying with your parents. You need to build up a support network where you actually live.

I spent DDs first few months alone abroad when DHs job moved back to the UK unexpectedly.

Things that helped...
I got out everyday. To the supermarket, or for a walk. On a nice day I would take a book, park the pram up when she was asleep and sit and read.
Hopefully baby groups will have resumed before you have the baby... can be good place to meet friends. Or something like NCT?

Whenever DH was home for a couple of days, he'd take the baby out for a couple of hours (around breastfeeds) and I had a break.

Basically we went with the flow.

Saying switch jobs... real world doesn't work like that. That baby I had alone is ten now. DH still works away a lot. Its what keeps a roof over our heads. And both DDs have always had a good bond. His trips vary from a few days to a few months.