to want to start my maternity leave on my due date?

[HulaHunter]

Never had children before so have no idea how naive I'm being... is it completely nuts of me to want to start my maternity leave on my actual due date? I work in an office, have a very easy commute (4 minutes walk, 30 minute train, 4 minutes walk door to door). I can get a taxi for less that £2 if I need to.

I would obviously start my leave earlier if I absolutely needed to, but want as much time with baby as possible as I can't afford to take more than 6 months (my maternity package is rubbish).

Anyone have any advice on a new mum to be?

I did this - my mat leave didn't officially start until I was about 3 days overdue. I left work a week or so before that though and used A/L.

I also went to my work christmas do at 8 days overdue :)

I wouldn't particularly recommend this approach though. DD was 15 days late and would have been even later if not induced. It may be bobbins but I think me and my body were in denial a bit, and if I'd left work a bit earlier I might have "given in" to it a bit better, and not have gone so overdue.

You do not have to plan to go before your due date. I am planning to go on mine but am taking 2 weeks annual leave before hand so working until 38 weeks in practice. Appointments get frequent towards the end which can be a bit annoying but you should do what feels right for you.

I worked up to my due date with my first. I would have gone over but she arrived on time.

mountains I'm in the UK

i started mine on my due date but used annual leave for 10 days before the baby was due.

I worked until 38 weeks each time but I way really pushing out the boat. most people I know stop between 32 and 35 weeks - and there is a reason.

also, baby may not be late but early meaning you have zero leave at home before the baby arrives. Don't you want at least a week to sort some last bits and bobs (and to rest - I sleep very little but had a 3h nap in the fortnight before my children are born).

I understand why you feel this way - at 20 weeks I had no bump, sickness was going away. I really don't feel pregnant and baby is still tiny at that point. when you come to the later stages of your pregnancy, things will be very different. I wish really try to leave at least 1-2 weeks before the due date.

would, not wish

I did it twice! Don't forget your line manager can reduce your hours if you're struggling! Speak to your occ health 😉

also, if you plan to work until due date but baby arrives early, would you have done a proper handover at work? it was really important for me that things were properly handed over. if I wish have disappeared for a year a few weeks early, it would have caused havoc and and I wouldn't have been happy to leave colleagues to pick up the pieces of my misplanning.

I wanted to work up to the day I had DD as I could only afford ten weeks off and wanted them with the baby, but to be honest by 37 weeks I was struggling a lot and would've gone off if it wasn't for exP walking out on his job. By 38 weeks I got signed off with high BP, then DD arrived at 39 weeks.

I think some people can easily manage to work til their due date but I wouldn't put myself under pressure to do so if I had the choice

With dd1 I started ml at 39 weeks - had 2 weeks al before that. She arrived a week into al - a weeks before ml started. Dd2 arrived on the day my maty leave started

My mat leave starts on the Monday and I am due on the Sunday that same week. I commute into London so its getting harder but I can only have 6 months off so need to maximise it. I would call it closer to the day as my colleague is leaving 5 weeks before her due date (she hates the commute). Do whatever feels best for you and reevaluate closer to the time

whatwould I won't need to do an extensive handover. Everything I've done to the t is recorded on a spreadsheet. We all have to do this. It's the same for if someone goes off sick unexpectedly. We have a huge team and work on cases that require a few of us to be working on at a time.

I went at 38 weeks (currently 40+4) and it was perfect. I took two weeks holiday so my maternity leave itself only started on my due date. In the month run up there was two bank holidays and I used my holidays to do a 4 day week.
Even though my commute was pretty easy and I had an office job, I was just finding everything absolutely exhausting. The 7 minute walk was now 15, and i couldn't even manage the stairs. And my brain had pretty much gone on maternity leave at 37 weeks.
But you just don't know, so be open to playing by ear and try and keep open communication with your boss.

I went at 32 weeks with number one due to multiple bleeds throughout the first and second trimester leading reduced duties at work. I was exhausted by then anyway. He didn’t turn up until 41+6. I have just had baby number 2, I went on maternity leave at 35+2, had one day of maternity leave before my waters broke then she arrived at 35+6 after a few days in hospital.
You can’t really tell when baby will arrive or how your pregnancy will go. It depends how flexible your work is really. How would they be if you decided to bring your leave forward, if you weren’t feeling up to working all the way to your due date after all?

Civil service maternity package is not rubbish.

@MyDcAreMarvel it is when you move from one department to another and have less than 52 weeks service!

Ah right ok, that’s a pain.

Extremely frustrating as I will have done 3 years with CS but 46 weeks at my current work place. So close! Never mind eh...

I think it's a good idea if you think you can get ready at home while still working. As you say you can always change when you leave if it all gets too much or baby is early. Personally I enjoyed a couple of restful weeks before my babies getting the house ready and relaxing but if you are happy to potentially not have that then it's fine. You will appreciate it at the other end as the 6 months will fly by!

I started my maternity leave on my due date with both my children... Had two weeks annual leave (the Christmas hols as im.a teacher) but officially started at 40 weeks. Ds1 was 2 days late, ds2 was bang on time!

Hula don’t forget that you still accrue all of your holiday whilst you’re on maternity leave-including bank holidays. Most employers will be happy for you to front load your leave with holiday to save you having loads of holiday to come back to.

The last couple of weeks of pregnancy are quite tough in terms of being a lot bigger. but as I had one of mine 5 weeks early and was at work right up until I went to be induced my mat leave see started the day the baby arrived.

YANBU I had my mat leave start date as my due date (2nd baby). I wanted to maximise the time I have with my baby before going back to work. I could have taken some A/L beforehand if I really felt the need as I got closer to my due date. I felt fine and baby ended up coming a week early.

The only thing I worry about is going in to labour at work, as my trains are only every hour and DP works miles away from me! Hmm... I know labour is usually long, especially with your first however anything can happen and don't want to end up giving birth in a train toilet! Is that a ridiculous thought?

That's what I did with both of mine, but I had easy, trouble free pregnancies. First one was 6 days late so I had a few days at home, second one was planned CS and I worked till the day before.