when do you stop working?

[littleElif]

hiya,

just wondered when you will leave work.

With DD1 I worked till 37 weeks. Now DC2 on the way and wanted to stop working again at 37 weeks and then take holiday before starting my maternity leave... but will have to use the use the holiday for something else (some kind of emergency came up) and I will therefore have to work until 38.5 weeks. feeling fine at the moment (33 weeks) but wondered if working until 38.5 weeks + having a toddler is a but too much. has anybody else done it?

Cheers!

Hey, Im planning on going off from 36 weeks, but work in a busy bar and after tonights shift thinking about going even earlier (Was left to lock up and ask a drunk to leave the premises for fighting...practically splitting up the fight) but want to spend as much time off with the baby as possible so Im unsure as to what to do too!

I am not planning to have another, I just have the one DD. I stopped work at (argh, can't remember exactly) around 36 or 37 weeks. My take on it was (and still is, and if you have a toddler as well is even more so) that the more time you have to yourself before the birth, the better...just to try to relax!

Unless of course it would mean that you are at home on your own with a toddler. I guess what I'm saying is that you do whatever is easier on you. If your work doesn't stress you and being at home would, then stay at work longer.

Be good to yourself - all the best

Hi, with when I was pg with ds2 I finished at 29 wks so I could spend some quality time with ds1 before the baby came. Even though I had all that time off and a brilliant pg (up to 39 wks!) I was completely exhausted by 35 wks and remember thinking how I would have really struggled with working then. Ds1 was 15months when ds2 was due.

worked until 36+3 with ds2 - he decided to come early! Ds1 was 3.4.

I've got a toddler and am going at 37 weeks because I've got annual leave to use up. If I didn't, I might carry on a bit longer. TBH even though I'm knackered I don't feel any work than I did at about 32 weeks, so I'm sure what you're proposing is doable, as long as your working environment is suitable.

any worse than at 34 weeks

I'm finishing a couple of days before 38 weeks but I have a fairly sedentary job and most women there have worked right up to their due dates, i decided a couple of weeks break before the birth would be a good thing especialy as DD due xmas week!

I worked up to 37 with DC2 which was hard at the end but then I was looking forward to a few weeks off. She arrived at 38 weeks!

Thing to bear in mind I guess, you being ready for the baby and if it does arrive early what impact would it have if you have to leave work suddenly?

With dc3 I worked until a week before he was born (elcs) Then had two younger dc to look after, all new baby stuff to sort out, and ended up ill when I went in to have ds.

This time, I'm stopping 6 weeks before, so I have plenty of time to sort everything and relax.

I'm currently expecting DC2 and am finishing at 36 and a bit weeks using annual leave and finishing 'officially' at 38.5 weeks. I have a toddler and am exhausted. As most of my colleagues seem to think I'm incompetent and have started missing me out of meetings I need to attend, I may as well go. Line manager thinks 38.5 weeks is "so very far away from my due date"