Scottish Teachers - best time to have a baby?

[chocolatestar]

I have been ttc but was thinking that maybe I should take a break because if I get pregnant now then I would be off just before the summer and then loose my holidays to maternity leave. On the other hand I don't really want to have to wait until later in the year.

I just wondered how other people found this? Did you have a baby just before the summer holidays? Was it ok or did you feel that you missed out in a way?

Depending on how much maternity leave you want, you could aim to go back to work right at the end of the summer term so you'd get normal pay over the holiday but still not really be at work. I think you have to do something like 3 days work for this to be ok but the last three days of the summer term are usually pretty relaxed anyway. So if you had a February or March baby you could take maternity leave until the end of June and then you'd not really be back at school till September. (These are English terms though - I don't know whether they'er the same in Scotland?)

Our holidays are earlier, we are back in August. I would like at least six months so I could breast feed. My periods are all over the place right now - seem to be having really long cycles. I think if I was lucky enough to get pregnant on the next cycle then the baby wouldn't be born until April which would mean my third month would fall in the summer holidays.

I guess I need to figure out how much I care about that. It does make sense to work it so that I can get both my holiday and my maternity leave so that I can be at home for the maximum amount of time but the waiting puts me off. I want to get on with it!