Am I being unreasonable to work 'till 40 weeks pregnant?

[Nightfall1983]

It's my first post on mumsnet, just registered today though I have been "lurking" for a few weeks :)

I'm currently 29 weeks (29+2) pregnant with my first (v. excited), I am planning on working until the day before my due date (due on a Saturday, want to work till the Friday) so I'll be 39+6 on my last day - I want to do this because:

• Although I'm not planning on returning to work after the having baby the maternity pay is still important to help ease us into budgeting for being on one wage only. Also I get 6 weeks on 90% pay so if I'm off for say two weeks before my due date and babe is 2 weeks late then I will only have 2 weeks pay left! (*I know I'll continue to get the statutory payment for a few months after this)

• I'm a worrier. Big time. Always have been. If I have a couple of weeks off before the birth I don't think I'll be able to relax, I'll just be stressing about the birth and worrying if everything is ok - I can imagine myself doing kick-counts every half hour, that sort of thing.

• It's the end of August, so much as I'd love two weeks off in the sunshine it will probably rain, so why bother? :)

• I've had a pretty easy pregnancy so far - touch wood. Fairly nasty morning sickness for the first 20 weeks which did make work hard but haven't yet had to take any time off. Morning sickness gone now and the last couple of months have really enjoyed being pregnant - but I know it's going to start getting harder!

So tell me - am I crazy? How much time did you have off?

I'd say play it by ear. It's nice to have a bit of time off before the baby arrives to just chill out and enjoy your baby free life (as much as you can when you're elephant-sized!) but too long can give you horrendous cabin fever. I'm a teacher and I planned work till 38 weeks but on my final week I actually fell asleep while tutoring a child so I stopped teaching and just carried on my tutoring work, as that had to be finished up for payroll reasons. I was incredibly, bonecrushingly tired, mainly because I couldn't sleep at all at night due to terrible heartburn and discomfort. I needed the last couple of weeks lounging on the couch to build up enough energy for labour.

Well, first babies are usually late, aren't they? But you can easily be 1 or 2 weeks early, not up to you!

Having said that, I felt better at 38 weeks than I did at 35 weeks. I had inflamed ribs though and felt like I was being stabbed by knives from 16 weeks through to 37 1/2 weeks. Had all day sickness up to 14 weeks. DS1 was 2 weeks late, so those last 4 weeks were actually the best part of my pregnancy .

And I moved house at 8 months pregnant with both of my pregnancies - without help from DH. Keeping busy helped a lot with keeping my sanity. (Figured moving BEFORE the baby was born would be easier than AFTER the baby was born!)

do whatever you feel like doing when the time comes, there's nothing wrong with working til the end. I did with my first, he was 10 days late and, as I was a worrier like you say you are, it was for the best.. those 10 days were the longest of my life !
The second was 3 weeks early so I just didn't turn up one monday morning and rang from the hospital :) that was even better!
make sure you have everything done and dusted at work a few weeks before your due date, and you'll feel relaxed and ready for anything. And yes, planning in regards to money is sensible of you and will make you feel better. ( that's me the worrier and breadwinner speaking! )
You might feel like you have to stop work early but you'll know if that's the case and you just can't manage anymore...! and that's ok legally, your doctor can write a note for your employer if you say you are too tired. No 2 pregnancies are the same, so you might be bouncing til week 40! Or not.....I did for the first, def not for the second... god knows why.
oh and a note from a money-worrier to another : there is something called the "dollar fairy" once you have a baby... somehow you always more or less manage and money/work/etc turns up when you think things are going to get difficult. A friend a mine told me this when I was expecting DS1 and it's completely true ... you will manage! good luck with it!

I worked with my first until 40 weeks as i wanted to extend my maternity after baby was norn rather than taking it before. That worked out fine, i felt fine although a little exhausted. With my second i found i was more tired (working full time, plus a 16month old) so i worked to 37 weeks.

There is nothing wrong in working to 40 weeeks if you are able to and feel fine. Maybe just see how you feel nearer the time

oh and shall I add, here is something which helped me a lot with the worrying , I wish I had known about it with DS1 : do try, it's helped me immensely for general well-being as well as a natural, peaceful, drug-free birth( my birth story is on the website somewhere...) :
www.natalhypnotherapy.co.uk/

As others have been saying, see how you go - but be aware that you could get a bit of 'second wind' towards the end too. At somewhere around the ?33 - 35 week mark with DD1, I think it might have been, I felt like I couldn't wait to go on mat leave, but by the time it came to leaving at 38 weeks I felt like I could have gone on for longer. I stopped working 2 weeks before the due date by using holiday; I reckon what you're doing sounds sensible too, though I did think it was nice to have a block of time when I thought it was pretty unlikely I'd be having the baby yet and I could do stuff round the house (or just nothing much).

Re work and pay - have you investigated the Keeping In Touch days that you can take during maternity leave? You can go in to work for up to 10 days, and these days are paid. Obv the expectation is that you will be doing this in order to keep in touch prior to returning to work, but if your work is such that you have any small projects or stand-alone pieces of work that you could do within that sort of time scale, you could do that and get a bit of extra pay during your leave.

i know a teache who worked til 2 weeks before her due date. she would have worked longer but it fell in school holidays.

I would maybe have a week or 2 off. With DS1 I could have worked until the morning I went into labour. But I did enjoy having the 2 weeks to slob in front of the tv and just be able to relax.

But with DS2 I had to be signed off at 35 weeks as I had bad SPD. I don't work now but if I did I would have probably stopped working at 30 weeks. I really struggle to walk.

So I'd see how it goes and how you feel.

I'd just see what your gut tells you. If you are fine, then crack on - do what you want and don't let other people pressurize you.
I worked till 34 weeks with twins - everyone said I'd be stupid to work past 28. I was fine.

I worked till 37 weeks, and went into labour 2 or 3 days after going on leave. I was in fine shape until labour started. I actually cycled to work until the end. The problem with the 40 week is that if your job is important, you'll need to hand over your work. It's not good for planning if you suddenly go into labour. Most women have their babies between 38 and 42 weeks.

However if your boss isn't unhappy for you to suddenly 'drop off the radar', and your are feeling healthy enough, then go for it. I'd rather spend more time with the baby then sit at home doing nothing. I'm glad I only have a few days of idleness. I think I'll go mad if DD was born at 42 weeks.

I worked up until the day before with dd and I was fine with that. With ds I worked up to 37 weeks and really would have liked to have left earlier as I was exhausted. You just don't know (until you get there) how you will feel. Wait and see.

I worked until the birth, went from the office to the hospital in my suit (37 weeks). I had DD1 in Spain where that's standard as the maternity leave is so short.

But it does depend on what you do (my work is very unstrenuous, I sit down all day) and your commute (I walked to work).

I was working when DS 1 came 10 days early. I was due in work at 9.30am and he was born at 7.30am.

DS2 was born 7 days after I finished work. He arrived on his due date.

I think see how you feel. I work in a similar type of job (consultant) so my role is desk based with site visits to clients. I worked for 39 + 5 and was fine, but I did get to work at home two days a week from 35 weeks (mainly negotiated because it was Jan 2010 when we had all that snow and the trains were impossible). I felt I needed that because of the commute rather than the work though. I was pretty pleased to finish then though.

Yanbu, as long as you feel up to it. You can always change your plans if need be.

Ds1 was induced early at 37 weeks and I worked up until the say before. Ds2 was born on his due date and I worked to the day before then too.

iWork from home though, so no commute which makes a massive difference and lunchtime naps easier to come by.

Thanks to everyone for your kind replies. I will think about what you all said, I think in summary it sound like:

It's not unreasonable for me to work to 40 weeks, plenty of you have done it but a) I should keep it under review and see how I feel as the third trimester progresses and b) I really should consider the advantages of a couple of weeks at home to relax/sleep/veg/slob about as it's my last chance :o

So excited that I wish I was 40 weeks tomorrow, not because I dislike work but because I just CAN'T WAIT to be holding him/her in my arms...

aawwwwww - that's so sweet. I luff snuggly newborn babies.

Play it by ear - it's hard to tell at 29 weeks how you'll feel at 39 weeks!

I stopped work at 37 weeks with DD1 and had her a week later - I'd been working full time on my feet all day doing 12 hour shifts and was glad to finish. It was lovely to have a week off sleeping, meeting friends for lunch, catching up on organising the house and baby things etc.

I worked until the day I had DD2, but then I had her at 34+5 so not quite to plan.

I wasn't working regularly when I had DD3 but with 2 other children to look after doing locum work suited me just fine and I didn't work after 22 weeks due to horrendous SPD.

I almost did with dc1. I worked until 38+6 and went into labour at 39+1 ( over the weekend) it worked out perfectly as I got my full year mat leave.

Only you know if it's unreasonable, and you'll only know when the time is there.

If you have a job that requires hand over to other people, I would suggest you time all handovers to be complete at 34ish weeks, so you can actually leave as soon as baby is born and don't have to worry about the job and how your colleagues will cope. You won't have time or energy to do this after baby is born, and you'll feel more relaxed knowing it's ok for baby to arrive whenever it's ready.

What's your commute like? If you have to travel by crowded trains then sods law will give you the first hot August in five years.

I taught until 38 weeks. It was fine - I was tired but not totally exhausted.

I worked up to 36 weeks on dc1 and 34 on dc2 as I couldn't physically do it any more.

On dc1 I gave 38 weeks, but I never dreamt of it being so hard so on dc2 I gave 34 weeks.

What's your commute like? You are very unlikely to want to be on an overcrowded tube at 40 weeks pregnant (I'm assuming from what you've said that you're not in London though). And assume nothing. My DD arrived at 35 weeks when I was in my last week at work before maternity leave.

You also won't know how big you'll be by then - with DS I was huge at 39 weeks and struggled to walk more than a few yards without needing to stop (this is despite being super fit - my pelvis wasn't happy). With DD I was quite small at 35 weeks so still very active. You'll find that babies call the shots in the end, not you!

I worked until my due date with my first and she came 2 weeks late.

I planned to work until my due date with my second, but she came 2 weeks early

Took no chances with my third and finished as soon as I could, at 28 weeks!!
He came just about on time!!

As another poster said, wait til 35 weeks then see how you feel!!