freelancer - working up to and immediately after birth??

[redundant]

Hi, just wondering whether anyone here has experience of this. I have just found out I'm pregnant, due in August. I have already committed to a freelance project next year which will run from May to Nov. Nov and July will be the busiest times.

It's part time, fully working from home.

Am I completely mad to think I can take a week off around the birth (which is likely to be a c-section) and then go straight back to work? I have an excellent childminder in our village (who already looks after my 2yr old) who I would trust to have newborn for 3-4 hours a day, which would be enough for me to get my work done in. I can also check emails on blackberry etc whilst feeding etc.

This will be my second, so you think I would remember what things are like, but I honestly can't! I took 6 mths off last time, but I was employed then, so was easy. As a freelancer I could really do with not giving this project up if at all possible.

Anyone done anything similar??
thanks!

I think it completely depends on your pregnancy and how much support you're likely to have from other people. I'm currently 37 weeks and I work part time as a teacher. I have one week left at work and I'm dreading it, even though it's only 5 days. I am so incredibly tired and I don't have any other kids to look after, so I imagine the tiredness will be even worse for you. If your partner or some other family member will be willing to help out quite a lot in the last few weeks you should be able to work till quite close to your due date, provided you're not ill or anything, but it will be tough going.

The part I'd worry about is directly after the birth. If you do have a c section I doubt you'll be up and about and working a week after it. Did you have a c section with your daughter? Can you remember at all what you felt like afterwards? I would imagine you'll need at least three weeks of rest or you might become ill or exhausted. You'll also be craving time to get to know your newborn and to get your daughter used to having a new sibling. Taking only a week off seems far too strenuous to me and I would worry that you might wear yourself out completely.

Could you talk to the contractor and tell them your situation? If the baby is due in August you should be able to put the work in in July, take a lot of August off and then go work up to your normal hours in November, maybe?

You can do it - if you don't experience unexpected problems. I'm a freelance writer, work from home (what freelance work do you do?) and, in my experience, working when my children were tiny was far more manageable than when they got older.

Remember, newborns/very small babies usually sleep a lot although I'm aware there are exceptions. I'm expecting my 4th and have LOADS of work and I'm plannning on carrying working as much as I can. Hope that helps!

PS The Blackberry makes a HUGE difference....

I became freelance between my first and second child, and can empathise with your predicament.

I guess it depends on how your pregnancy goes, what the temperament of your older child and baby are, how much help you get and how the early weeks go.

In terms of the practicalities, I haven't had c-sections, but planning to be back at work within a week of major surgery seems very optimistic. Are you thinking of working 3-4 hours EVERY day - newborns generally feed quite chaotically, and it's difficult to manage pumping with an older child in the equation. Yes, newborns do sleep a lot but some of them (my dd for eg) only did when they were on the move in buggy or sling. Yes, Blackberrys are helpful on occasion, but it's not realistic to plan to work half a day, five days a week for 3-4 months walking around with a baby in the sling.

Would you be able to negotiate length of contact with contractor (could you start it earlier for example) or sub-contract some of it?

I do understand your reluctance to reconsider a solid contract in this current economic climate. you don't have to make up your mind yet - you've a while to think it through.

I worked right up to dc2 being born and, even though he was an incredibly calm and sleepy newborn, I don't honestly think I could have managed 3-4 hours work a day even with childcare, but maybe you're more organised than me!

Legally you can't do it - the law is that you take 2 weeks ML after the birth (4 if you work in a factory).

doesn't that only apply if you're employed? And i think it's only one week but i maybe wrong..

Legally you can do any amount of work you like and whevever you like when you are freelance, Lougle. In fact there is little or no maternity leave for freelancers (unless you count the meagre maternity allowance), so in practice many freelancers stop work late and start again very early.

I nominally stopped work 4 weeks before her due date, chiefly because I had no work coming in and the summer holidays were starting for the older children). If I had had work I would have carried on until the moment I gave birth. Was turning down work by email from my iPhone in the labour suite.

My daughter was 21 days old when I started work again after a crash c section and week long stay in hospital (she in nicu for 1 week) Was still on 2 types of painkiller. Had to though. Could not afford not to. Have an au pair at home with me to look baby when I am working. Au pair gets decent amounts of time off to pursue own interests when I am not working. Everyone happy.

I must say I don't regret for a moment going back so quickly.

thanks everyone for your thoughts. Work is not physical - its writing and event organisation, so is do-able lying down in bed with laptop/blackberry!

I did have a c-section last time but can't for the life of me remember how long it took me to be up and about again. Am prob more worried about having space in my brain afterwards to think coherently!

Really don't want to give up the project, but also don't want to end up letting client down or doing crap work. My gut feeling at mo is to speak to client, try to work things so I can take 2-3 weeks off (will mean client moving a deadline so may not be do-able) and then get lots of support, even if that means throwing a bit of money at the situation (which I don't have but working on the basis you have to speculate to accumulate or whatever it is!)

thanks for all your input.

Hi redundant, I'm a freelancer too. Is it be possible to work 4 days per week during your 2nd trimester to get ahead on the project? (while you've got the energy). I'm doing this with one of my projects. As long as I don't go over the agreed budget and the work gets done, they're flexible.

Dutchesse from what I've found out SMP isn't much better than MA? We miss out on the first 6wks at 90% pay but I'd much rather be freelance. Mind you I might not be saying that if I lose all my clients while I'm on maternity leave!

Depends who you work for! DH's place has 6 months on full pay afaik, and then a further 6 months on smp.

I am working until less than 2 weeks before EDD. I am 35 weeks now. I have been fine working as I get to sit down all day and the work is not hard or very long hours (9-4). I am just starting to feel tired now, and sometimes find it difficult to get out of bed in the mornings (who doesn't?) and feel a bit shattered in the evenings (who doesn't?) but I'd imagine if you work from home and can set your own hours it will be fine? I wish I had been less precious about my pg tbh as I have taken a year out of uni because of it which I regret now and wish I had just carried on as it's been far easier than I expected, but that's just me and maybe I've been lucky. I have had no real problems with this pg but I guess you can't predict these things. No reason to just assume your pg will be difficult though. Also, I can't speak for what it will be like after the birth - it's my first. x

Can anyone summarise the rules on MA for self employed freelancers? I am already shuffling savings around to keep myself going through period of no work thanks to horrible ms, but its not going to last forever. Do you know what level of savings you can have whilst claiming MA?

jasmine I don't think Mat Allowance relates to your income or savings at all?? It's not means tested. So I would have thought save away! You can always ring the Dept for Work and Pensions - there is a number online and they will tell you for sure.

I posted elsewehere that I got a shock yesterday when realising that I won't be eligible to claim any Mat Allowance (I wanted to claim once my contract had finished in Nov, to take pressure of finding new work straight away) - can't claim once baby is 3mths. But I could not take the contract/work and then could claim all 39 weeks of Mat Allowance! Seems crazy but there you go. I will be very slightly better off by working.

Hope your ms is better - its truly horrid I know.

jasmine, MA is capped at something like £128/week. You get a proportion of what you earn normally unless your income is routinely over £128/week (using their averaging criteria over X number of qualifying weeks) and it is capped at that for any earnings over £128/week. Just a tad under £500 a month.

Summary of rules:

Who is eligible?
You might get Maternity Allowance if:

you're employed, but not eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay
you're registered self-employed and paying Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs), or hold a Small Earnings Exception certificate
you have very recently been employed or self-employed
You may be eligible if:

you've been employed and/or self-employed for at least 26 weeks in your 'test period' (66 weeks up to and including the week before the week your baby is due). Part weeks count as full weeks; and
you earned £30 a week averaged over any 13 weeks in your test period

From www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018869

Which has better formatting.