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?

You might be fine if you have a fairly easy, low-stress job, but I agree with the posters who said wait and see how you feel when you're much further along. I worked right up to when I had my baby - I was getting dressed for work at 40 + 6 when my waters broke (shame they didn't go in the office because it was only round the corner from the maternity hospital and I live miles away from it).

I worked up untill the day before my planned c-section for the twins... i was 38+4 weeks ;) I was massive ;) at work people made me tea brought me yummy things to eat and genrerly looked after me... at home i had a snotty 2 1/2 year old and a panicky husband ;)

I worked until 41 weeks and could have gone on longer. But I do recognise that I was lucky enough to have a straightforward pregnancy. Just so you know it can be done if you are well. The last week was the most fun at work- the fear on [all the men's] faces that I might go into labour. No pointless AOBs that week!

I worked up until 36 weeks last time. The nature of my job is that there was no way I could risk going into labour at work.... Glad I stopped then (aside from this) as by that point I could hardly walk and was huge. Had him at 39+5.

Stopping at 36 weeks again this time.

I planned on working to 37 weeks, but I was just so so so tired by the end that I finished at 36 +1. Good job really as DS arrived at 37 +3. I had a really easy pregnancy until right at the end where I had some heart palpitations and awful awful awful heartburn. I have an easy-ish desk job, but I was just utterly exhausted. I kind of wish I had finished earlier though, because I was really looking forward to a couple of weeks of potteirng around, getting all the baby's clothes washed, going to the cinema etc. I got one week - which I pretty much slept through, and then DS arrived.

YANBU. With DS, I saved two weeks holiday so I could finish at 38 weeks and start mat leave on my due date. Felt physically fine to carry on right to due date (I was lucky and had an easy pregnancy and also do an office job) but thought it would be nice to have two weeks getting everything ready, chilling out etc. DS however had other plans and was two weeks late so ended up being bored out of my mind after four weeks at home!

This time I'm planning on working right up to the end. As I'm part time, my last day will be Friday and my due date is a Tueday so not literally the day before but this is the longest I can leave it before I have to officially start mat leave. Of course this DC may decide to suprise us all and arrive early, but feel fine with that. I'm more relaxed about not feeling like everything had to be absolutely perfect and also will have a bit more time to sort things as I'm not in work everyday anyway (although do have a fair bit toddler-wrangling to contend with )

Just go with what seems right for you. Of course if you do decide you want to finish earlier that's absolutely fine but I really wouldn't believe that you definitely won't want to work to the end. This may be the case for some people but it's different for everyone.

Good luck

I did a day's work whilst in labour. In my defence, I didn't realise I was in labour, and was only 33 weeks. I would have been fine to keep going though, I intended to work to 36 weeks and that was only because it was when Christmas fell and there was no point going back after Christmas for a couple of days.

The best laid plans and all that... BTW, if your baby does come early, any leave you were going to take before mat leave itself might be put on the end of your maternity leave. It depends on your company's policies. I ended up with 13 months off because of this (and the last month of my maternity leave effectively on full pay).

I felt worst around the 7/8 week mark - could have done with a couple of weeks off then... (I know I could have taken them as sick, but I didn't feel bad enough, iyswim)

If its hot, and not raining, you may change our mind. I had dd in July, many years ago, when it was hot n the summer and the last two weeks were wretched at home, but would have been hideous at work. Partly just the heat, but partly because my feet swelled so much I couldn't find any shoes to fit and spent much of the day with feet in bucket wearing sarong. Pretty it wasn't....

I worked with a doctor whose waters broke during a busy Clinic, she was wheeled off to the maternity unit through a busy waiting room. It wasn't quite what she planned! I think you have to be prepared to go off earlier, the last four weeks are knackering as its difficult to sleep and concentrate.

I worked up to the day before the birth of all 4 of my kids. You dont get good leave here so it was my only option. I was 40 when I had the last 1 too. Its perfectly do able, if a bit tiring

Congratulations Nightfall!
I'm another that agrees with sensible review of how you are feeling.
I've had 2 fabulous pgs where I felt fine & dandy until I was 10cms dilated and didn't feel I needed more rest, 1 ok pg, felt a bit grot beginning & end and ended up leaving work at 38 weeks but wanting to for the last 3 and I really valued the chance to rest up & prepare and 2 really horrible pgs with spd, bed rest and all sorts which meant I left work very, very early but felt bored & frustrated at home with a lot of time to worry.
I also had one lot of waters go on the stairs up to the office at work!
I do consider myself an old hand at pg now and would still play it by ear as every pg has the potential to be different & you can get surprised during the home stretch.
Good luck with whatever you do, don't be surprised if you start wishing your last days away as you are desperate to meet them, especially if they're late! Make use of the practice of doing what's right for you - it's pretty much par for the course once the baby is here that you'll be making use of that skill everyday, get comfortable with telling people to do one you are doing what works for you & your family.

Depends if you feel able to go on working and if your health or that of your baby is not affected, then fine. If, however, working becomes a real struggle or your GP or consultant advises you against it then stop. Good luck!

I'm Self- Employed, which makes it easier, however, I still went into the workshop/offices until the day I went into labour. I knew I had gone into labour the evening before, but I had an important meeting so I managed through that and then popped home, did the washing up - and had to call my sister to drive me to the hospital because I'd left it too long!!! Back to work after a week. The 2nd, again, worked in the morning - had him in the afternoon and popped in to work the next day. Unfortunately with my third he was 2 weeks early and came suddenly at 4am - it was that time of the month when the wages had to be paid so I popped in at 9am to sort that so I could get home again and the midwife called while I was out. She was not impressed!!
Everyone copes differently, but if you are 'that kind' of person and prefer to keep going - DO!! and you don't 'burn' out (well I didn't), I am sure for me it made it easier to hit the ground running!! As long as you are eating well, have a healthy pregnancy and are not on your feet all day it is perfectly plausible.

I worked full time until 38 weeks with my first, my water broke 2 days after I stopped work. I would have liked a bit more time to relax and prepare!

Like everyone says, wait until later. I found it physically tiring towards the end and I went 6 weeks before due date! But then I was already quite big and put on extra weight besides all the baby stuff.

Also you are not going to have 'you' time for a good while after having a baby, so it's quite nice to be able to relax and veg out in the run up.

OldTrout, NicNoc, conors - can I just say 'respect'.

As most people have said, as it's your first you can't know how you will feel until you get there. I had 2 jobs, stopped one of them (the physically demanding one) 2m before DS was born but started it again 6w after he was born (self employed); the other was desk-based plus I could work from home, so I stopped going into work about 37w but still did bits from home and I can't honestly remember when my mat leave actually technically started.

However, my O level geography teacher had her 3rd baby in half term. We were all looking forward to having a supply teacher for a bit - but no! She had it in half term and was back at work straight after.

YANBU
I planned to work right up to the birth with both of mine and did.
Be warned though - DD came at 38 + 0 and DS came at 37 + 6 so nowhere near 40 weeks! :)

Have you used up all of your annual leave - I deliberately kept some of mine to cover the time I took off before due date so mat leave didn't start until due date

First babies often late, so not a daft idea - however, my fear was always my waters breaking at work and whether I'd be able to face going back :) hence why I didn't go to the end (but then went over due date for both children!). The last thing I'd consider is if your dc was born on due date, would you be sad that you didn't have a bit of 'you time' or prep time beforehand, that was quite important for me

Oh and in answer to your question - I took off 4 weeks with dc1 (too long). And 2 weeks with dc2 (perfect esp as wanted to spend quality time with dc1 so maybe 1 week would have been fine with a dc1)

I planned to leave at 38w, with a two week handover from 36w. (I was still cycling 5 miles each way to the office, and had all-day sickness the whole 3 trimesters.)

My boy decided to arrive at 36w (nothing to do with the cycling, probably more the moving furniture and housecleaning on the day), and I ended up spending hours on the phone from my hospital bed (emcs, general) talking my colleagues through the bookkeeping and accounts. Not to mention using my KIT hours to log in from home in the first month to make sure they were doing it all ok.

So the moral is, get that work handover done early, and then enjoy your leave when it comes!

Forgot to answer the question properly.

YANBU to try, as long as you are prepared for it not to happen like that.

I worked until the day before my due date with DD2. No problems at all. I was out doing mountain ecology at 7-8 months. Keeps you fit and stops you getting too lardy. I did not, however, have any very small children at home, my other 2 were much older, so it was a bit like having the first one again IYSWIM. I can imagine if you had toddlers as well it would be very tiring.

I worked until 39+5 with DC3. But I knew I was going to be pregnant forever, because that's what I do. Sure enough, he didn't arrive until
42+3.

I was fine, but I didn't have any pregnancy problems at all.

Morning everyone, thanks for all your answers :)

For what it's worth, I don't live in London (I live in Derby) and commute to work by car so am not worried about packed trains in the heat etc. I drive 30 mins each way and actually in late July/August its less than that because the schools are on holiday. My car has good air conditioning and my office has too-much-air conditioning so I'm not worried about the heat, it'll be far cooler at work than home. Usually I find the air conditioning in the office unpleasantly cold but I'm sure I'll appreciate it this summer :o
Thanks all for making my first mumsnet post a success...