taking maternity leave at 33 weeks ?

[kccadle]

I just confirmed with my job/benefits center that I am entitled to take my 6 weeks of ML but it cannot start until the baby is born. Ive recently been missing days from work due to being in tons of pain and exhaustion and I'm trying to make sure that I still have a job to go to after my baby makes his arrival. He is measuring large so far and will be my second cesarean . I know that a lot of women wait until they go into labor to take leave but I can't handle going in to work any more. The commute alone is unbearable and I have a very active 3 year old at home ( I know many strong and wonderful mothers deal with so much more than thus on a regular basis and it makes me ashamed to even think of this) . I was given the option to take leave early as long as my doc signs off on it and it won't effect my 6 weeks after birth but I feel horribly guilty about asking my doctor to do this since I do not have an excessively physically demanding job . My schedule is set to change next week and I will be working 10 hours shifts instead of my usual 8 and I just don't feel like I can handle it with the pain I've been in and trying to prepare at home. In desperate need of some advice :/

why only 6 weeks? You are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave. The earliest it can start is 29 weeks.

I haven't been with the company for a year yet.

Do you work.in the UK?

As ilovepowerhoop says, you're entitled to take 52 weeks in the UK (albeit not all as paid leave).

Length of service has no bearing on the length of maternity leave you're entitled to, only whether you get paid by the company or not. Assuming you're in the UK.

I'm assuming your not in the UK, as here we get 52 weeks leave whether we've been with a company 10yrs or 1 single day before birth (just affects pay) and we can start that leave quite early (in fact if your signed off sick in the last 4weeks before EDD , the ML starts straight away).

Anyway if your outside of UK and can only take 6weeks from the day baby is born, then yes get signed off sick and don't feel guilty for it, your health is more important at the moment.

*you're not your

www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/leave - you are entitled to maternity leave of 52 weeks. It depends on your length of service as to whether you get maternity pay