Driving when to stop the long distances

[looblee]

Hi quick question to you all.

My job takes me around the country, often 3hrs+ I was wondering when or if you thought I should be stopping such long distances when pregnant. I am due in 18th March 2011.

I am planning to give a date to my employer and say this is when I intend to stop.

Thanks.

personally driving never bothered me when pregnant, so i guess i would say maybe 37 weeks which is when you are considered "term" and could go into labour

but presumably you'll be on mat leave by then anyway?

i made a 3hr round trip on my due date with my last pg lol, but it was a one-off not a regular thing

I think I would have been about 35 weeks when I did a long trip for work, including an overnight stay. However, I would have probably done it up until 37 weeks if asked. If there are health reasons (i.e your back is bad sitting in the car, or midwife has advised you not to) then maybe stop earlier, otherwise business as usual I think.

IME really difficult to predict! I intended to be driving up until near the end and have had to stop the long distances now (28 wks) due to spd which started about 3 weeks ago! Just can't sit for that long without being in agony, can't brake suddenly etc. and suddenly got terrified driving back one dark wet night that if something happened, there was noone there to help.... ridiculous hormones, i know!

Just let your employer know it might not be a guaranteed thing and good luck!

Hi,

My job is quite similar and involves me driving to fairly remote places.
I will be going on Maternity Leave at 36 weeks (in two weeks time :) ).

However for about the last month I have reduced the number of meetings that I attend - or at least tried to spread them over a longer period of time. One thing that has helped me has been the ability to work from home on days that I have to travel to meetings - meaning that I don't have to travel into the work place and then travel to another location.

Also when you get to the third trimester you'll need a lot of toilet stops - so make sure that you have counted for this when working out your travel time!

Ha ha yeah I think its the remote locations and the lack of toilet stops that is worrying me most!

I guess you are right it does depend on back pain etc, luckily my boss has said I can work from home on the non travelling days which i'll probably do from about 36 weeks. I go on Mat leave at 38 weeks, I am just hoping that they say I can avoid the long drives and over night stays from around 36weeks (especially if we get the same weather conditions we did last Feb!)

We'll see.

Darn, was hoping for an excuse not to go to PILs for Christmas (3+hr journey). I will only be 30 weeks by then, though, so will probably have to go anyway. They are very nice, I just want to stay home in my own bed and slob!

I drove about 300 miles at 30 weeks and ended up in hospital with terrible pains

There's an excuse!

The general advice would be to take frequent breaks so you can walk around and have a rest.

Perhaps your employer can find alternative jobs for you to do if the driving gets difficult?

Give your boss a conservative date, i'd say 5 or 6 weeks before because you're likely to get really uncomfortable as LO gets bigger sitting in 1 place. also I found in a manual my ankles get really really achey and i'm sure my reactions are slower so avoiding long journeys. (am 36 weeks) but that could just be me :)

It depends how you go. With DD1 I went on mat leave at 36 weeks and had an hour and a quarter drive there and back every day and it was fine. This time I have SPD from about 28weeks and my 25 minute drive is causing me problem now at 30 weeks. I've brought my maternity leave forward and linked in to my Christmas holidays so I'll be finishing work at 33 weeks and can't wait as driving and sitting in an office chair are crippling me.

You are legally intitled to go on maternity leave from 29 weeks and although it's great to have the time with your baby, I would give yourself a get out clause - I plan to work until....but will monitor this on a weekly basis. You may be surprised at just how tired you are from 30 weeks anyway.

Everyone is different you may well be one of the lucky ones who is spritely all they way through and gets bored in the 2 week wait when you go on mataternity leave.

It depends on how you do and also on the car and how you grow - you need to have as much space as possible between the steering wheel and the bump.