Maternity leave?

[ExhaustedMamasita]

Wondering if someone had any advice on when?s best to start maternity leave ? 1/2/3 weeks or a month before baby?s due date?? This is my first baby and hoping I can go on all the way up until end of August with baby due very beginning of September. I work in an office job, 9-6pm, 5 days a week and travel an hour each way via London?s tube network. I?ve told my boss I plan for my last day to be the same week as baby due date but some friends have said I?m crazy to leave it so long. Maybe I should start mat leave earlier? Maybe I will be too big/ too tired to work? The commute daunts me the most to be honest!

What did you do or are planning to do? Your advice/ suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I have a 2.5-3 hour commute each way (Somerset-London) but WFH 2 days a week. I'm 30 weeks today and finish in 2.5 weeks time at 32+4 - AL til 34 weeks then ML.
I want to be as well rested and relaxed as possible when DD emerges so decided it was worth the pay off of returning to work slightly before her birthday.
Good luck!

I have a 2.5-3 hour commute each way (Somerset-London) but WFH 2 days a week. I'm 30 weeks today and finish in 2.5 weeks time at 32+4 - AL til 34 weeks then ML.
I want to be as well rested and relaxed as possible when DD emerges so decided it was worth the pay off of returning to work slightly before her birthday.
Good luck!

I can't imagine ever being bored at home waiting for baby. I'm a real home bird and can spend hours pottering.

I'm planning to finish at 35 weeks, I'll be big, hot and bothered. 5 - 6 weeks of resting, reading and nesting before baby arrives sounds like bliss to me. I want baby to have a well rested, relaxed mummy, ready to take on their newborn demands. I plan to have a clean home and well stocked freezer - if I can face it.

Don't wear yourself out, not good for you or baby. Your boss may appreciate the extra week or two but in the grand scheme of things what's a week when you're talking months off. Every penny counts of course but don't stress yourself out.

I'm due 30 August and starting ML at 35 weeks, with one week annual leave before that, so I have 6 weeks off before my due date. I work in a gastropub though so am rushing around on my feet most of the time and am starting to struggle already (25 weeks) with leg/back ache and also the heat - and I live in the North!

I know there's a good possibility I'll be bored out of my mind as we are crazy organised and already have everything ready bar my hospital bag, but I just think I'll never have that time to relax on my own again. I can't wait :)

Wow! Thanks for all your advice and suggestions. Still have a few weeks holiday to take so will use those at the end, as some of you have suggested. My plan is to go on mat leave at 35 or 36 weeks ? will speak to my boss to see what?s most suitable for the team. While the full month?s income would be great, I have to think about preparing myself mentally and physically for the biggest day of my life, spending some quality time with DH before the baby becomes our focal point of attention, resting and nesting, stocking up on freezer food etc etc ? soooo many things I hadn?t considered!

BTW Islingtongirl ? your comment about women going weeks overdue and having various complications during labour being down to not relaxing enough at the end is very interesting. I shall take that on board and hope everyone reading this does too. It certainly makes sense.

Hey exhausted, yes I found it really interesting too, and just though, hey that kind of makes sense. Hormones are funny things - It's like have you ever been really busy/stressed at work before a holiday, go on holiday, relax and then you get sick? Like the adrenaline kept you going...although saying that I don't want us all to go on mat leave, relax and get sick!! So maybe that's not a good analogy, forget that, haha!