early maternity leave? pros and cons please

[MamaLaMoo]

Baby due in August and being heavily pregnant in height of summer I was thinking of taking maternity leave much earlier, like 2 months earlier, than I did with DD1. She popped out 2 weeks after I started maternity leave.

Good reasons as far as I can see - assuming toddler continues to go to childminder I get more rest before birth (toddler doesn't nap and doesn't sleep through the night), have some time for myself which has been in short supply for 2 years! Don't have to go driving round the county lugging heavy apparatus in hot sticky weather. Going early gives maternity replacement person more time to settle in before summer break (see below).

Potential problems - leave work and hand over to maternity cover at a tricky time of year (see below), not giving much notice to my employer (obviously more than the 4 week minimum but not much) bothers me as they are very good to work for and I am overly conscientious about work.

If you can be bothered to read this bit - my job is with a learned society travelling to local schools to train teachers how to teach my specialism (a science) more effectively, I was a teacher for several years. I get a lot of bookings at schools during the summer term as the older students have left and freed up time for staff training. It would be hard for the new person taking my role to get acquainted with all my school contacts and start doing my job late in the term and then have the long summer break.

The alternative is to work through to the end of term, again leaving me only a short time before EWC. Getting MATB certificate this week and need to inform HR soon.

Argh! Just not sure what to do been mulling for some weeks, hormone addled brain not helping.

Go early. Whilst it is all very commendable thinking of the impact on your employers, that's just a bit tough really. Maternity leave full stop has an impact, your best interests should come first.

My baby is due 3rd August (although I will be having an ELCS about a week before that) and I am going on 2 weeks annual leave starting 6th June and then straight on maternity leave. I did same thing with DS - 30 weeks and I was out of there. The only down side is less leave at the other end but it's only a few weeks. I see so many pregnant women in the office at 36+ weeks and knackered and it's too late to do anything about it. Not for me.

I think I agree with Georgimama. I'm due in August too. My situation is a bit different as I'm both employed as a lecturer (so my leave is going to start from work when semester ends at beg June) and self-employed, and the chances of getting a short term contract in at the right time is pretty much non-existant. So I'm sort of going on enforced maternity leave from June onwards. It will work out fine though as it'll give me a few weeks to get the house prepared and shopping for baby done before I'm too huge and tired to be bothered.

I think with work, they will know you are conscientious anyway and in the grand scheme of things, probably won't make as much diff as you think going a couple weeks earlier. I'm sure you could tell your replacement that you can take the odd phone call if she's stuck?

Good luck!

Will you be upset when you have to go back to work earlier than you did with your first baby?

Thanks for your considered responses.

I went back to work when DD1 was 9 1/2 months at start of school year. Would do the same for baby 2 which would be after the 39 weeks paid leave but just before the 52 weeks max. We managed financially last time by being frugal and DH and I have fairly unextravagant lifestyles.

I had always assumed women worked up until the last minute, they do in teaching in my experience, so it is interesting to read of other people going that bit earlier.

I have have left ASAP this time round, I am 27 weeks and currently using my annual leave then my maternity leave begins officially on the 15th May. It's great for me, I am a bar manager so the late nights on my feet all the time just didn't work whilst pregnant. TBH wouldn't have been too bad if I didn't have 3DC at home meaning no lie in either.

This way I have more time for myself, more patients with the other children and generally I much nicer to DH as I am not knackered. As for going back i'm also taking the 52 weeks and hopefully the baby will be going to bed at night by the time I go to work .

I would take the leave now if your ready for it and enjoy a couple of nice months before DC puts in an appearance and shatters the peace

I agree with you guys - I'm 30 weeks tomorrow and I'm stopping at 32+3. My job involves a 60-mile commute on a train, only for 2 days of the week (the other days are at home or in a closer office) but that's enough. I'm planning to then use accrued leave when I go back next year to compensate for going off early.

As this is my first, I figured I'd never get this time again to put my feet up and see friends and family. And if you have wee ones already, you'll need some rest!

Good luck with your decision.

do it! why not..?! If you can and want to then do it.

I suffered x2 mc's prior to dd and once pregnant with dd at around 24 ish weeks I left work, took mat leave & hols and then had my job left open for the full year.

I had no intention of returning to work but wanted the above just incase.

I haven't worked since, choosing instead to be a sahm.

My reasons for finishing so early... I found it more stress travelling to/from work and sitting in an office owrrying if all was ok etc.

I relaxed more once home.

I really am glad I did it.

Is the notice 4 weeks - I thought it was longer? Also bear in mind baby could be late so could be even longer? Also do you have holiday to use up - with my DS2 I worked a few short weeks - then took a load of holiday - and didn't start ML until my due date - that worked well

Leave early if you'd rather and don't worry about work, they will cope. I am going on annual leave for three weeks at 30 weeks and maternity from 33 weeks. Cannot wait! (24 weeks now)

Pros: I felt instantly so much better and healthier to enjoy my pregnancy and get ready for the baby to arrive. I am 38 weeks now, finished work at 30 with holidays and maternity leave and not regreted it for a moment.

Cons: I will have less time at home with the baby but I will be going into labour prepared both physically and mentally rather than the emotional wreck I think I would have been by now.

Well with dd 1 I was off from about 35 weeks and couldn't stand it. The time dragged ( I don't really do relaxing) and just felt awful!

This time I'm taking annual leave from 38 weeks and it will be fine- but my commute is 10 min drive, next to dd's nursery and I only work 2 days a week! If I was full time I'd probably go earlier as I'd miss dd and want to cram in quality time before baby arrives!

I worked until 38 weeks (teaching!) but it was a first baby and he was a bit late anyway. I'd have gone insane at home any earlier and it was similar temperatures to a British summer here at the time but with no nice breeze and hideous humidity.

For a second DC not bloody likely in the same position I'd have probably gone earlier

I'm glad to find this thread. I am due at the end of October. I am a lecturer too, and after speaking to my mum who said I'll feel tired by 7 months - have decided to start leave on 1st September - I want to be 'outta there' before the new semester and all associated stresses kick off. I think this makes sense in a way as they can get cover for the academic year. Could stay September and cover all the hard stuff, but they haven't treated me well this year at all, so I'm protecting myself and can't wait! Did people tell their boss in person or by letter?

Honestly with a first baby I wouldn't go off too early - baby can be over due and you could get really bored -I went at 36 week with DC1 - with a 2nd one its a different thing altogether -re notice have a look at your HR procedures but I would say you do need to write a letter

I'd say go early (although 2 months is very early), mat leave law allows you to do this, so there's no reason why you can't if you want to. I'm due end of July with first baby, and although I am starting my mat leave only 2 weeks before, I'm tagging 15 days of annual leave to it to make it a longer period. The travelling (3hrs a day altogether) and the potential heat at that time of year being the main reason for me.

Go early, years ago no one worked after 28 weeks.
I went at 33 weeks this time and had baby at 34!!

With a long commute and a stressful job, I finished work at 34 weeks and I'm now at 38. I could happily have stopped any time after 30 as everything became much harder and more tiring as I tripped into trimester 3. I've had no shortage of things to do, including taking a bit of time for me to read, swim and generally take things easy. With one LO already sounds like you'll appreciate this.

One thing I do kick myself for is for giving my employers "too much": whilst they were flexible and made allowances, until I was literally walking out the door, proper cover did not materialise and nothing really vanished from my plate. I was (or they were) lucky there were no health concerns meaning I needed to finish earlier. If/when I do it again, I'd set an earlier leave date and hang my conscientiousness: if it doesn't fit with the project dates they'll have to work with it. They find a way if they have to.

ooh, just put my letter in the internal post. Funny how nervous that made me. Have to protect myself though and would rather spend the last two months preparing my mind, body and house for a new life, rather than being put upon by colleauges and feeling stressed!

I'm really glad to have seen this thread too. I'm leaving 6.5 weeks before my due date and I'm glad I'm not the only one to leave early. I have a fairly long drive to work, it's a contract anyway so no job to go back to, (although I still get SMP luckily enough) and tbh I totally hate it. I've had really bad back pain for several weeks and I find sitting all day at a desk makes it worse.

While it's only my first, I am really looking forward to the last few weeks just DH and I - where I can catch up on sleep, prepare for the baby and visit friends. Saying that, even with a job I loved I doubt very much I could ever work to 38 weeks + - while I admire the women that do, I think I'd go mental! I'm quite bored of work anyway and if I can be a sahm for a while I definitely will!

NewMummy I feel much the same. Loathe my job, planning to not go back so figured starting ML early wasn't a bad decision. I too have back and hip pain when at a desk all day (and breathless as my chest slowly scrunches), and a long drive so I'm really looking forward to the end of all that. I am so much more physically comfortable when I'm at home!

Im 39 weeks pregnant and finished work in FEB at 28 weeks. Im having the baby Tuesday via CS and had originally only planned to have 28 weeks off in total with a return date of 12th Sept. i chose to do this as i am also studying for a degree and wanted to take time to study without stresses of work which has helped alot.
I now know that im only losing £40 a month on MA compared to normal pay and am considering taking the full 36 weeks MA which means i could delay going back to work till november atleast!

I have found that the first few weeks of leave were manic, i gutted the house, spent lots of money, decorated etc and studied but the last few weeks have been boring! my house is spotless and my studying is all finished bar one assignment! BUT i would not change it at all.

With DC1 I went on a/l for a week at 39wks and in the event she was 2 weeks late. I felt fabulous, loads of energy etc and that was in the middle of the hot summer of 2006. With DC2 I was determined to go for as long as possible as I've always wanted the maximum time off afterwards. It nearly killed me! DC2 was due NYE so with my remaining a/l, I was able to take a/l from 37wks - DC2 arrived at 38wks. TBH if I wasn't so bloody stubborn, I'd have gone off earlier with DC2 as I was utterly exhausted for the entire pregnancy. I'm happy with the decisions I made but in all honesty I was of no use to man or beast for about the last 10 weeks! If I could have still had the year off after DC2 arrived I'd have given up work at about 20 weeks!