To think there's nothing wrong with early mat leave?

[bluesign]

I'm starting mine at 34 weeks. Well technically I'll be using up annual leave before it officially starts at 37 weeks but have had a few raised eyebrows from colleagues saying it's early! It's not really though is it?

It seems the expectation amongst people at my company is to work as long as possible before the baby is due. I understand some people prefer to do this, but I can think of nothing worse than working up to 38-39 weeks. Why should I struggle through the last few weeks if I don't have to?

I can think of nothing better than doing absolutely as little as possible before baby comes.

34 weeks isn't early is it?

@meditrina I might have got a bit mixed up but it was 18 weeks stat mat pay and returning to work before 6 weeks wasn’t really accepted. I worked front line in a psychiatric hospital so wasn’t supposed to work beyond 28 weeks.

It went up from 14 to 18 weeks in 1999.

There must always have been some occupations where it's not safe to continue past a certain stage of pregnancy (or indeed during pregnancy at all eg risk of chemical exposure), and I can't remember what the rules were then if you found yourself in those circumstances. It may have been the norm in those sectors to start maternity leave early (I don't know if that was the employers' right then, or if they just coerced women into believing it so).