When are you / did you plan to stop work?

[TailFeathers]

Hi,

I'm 20 weeks pregnant with my first baby and I've just started talking to work about when I'm planning to start maternity leave. When I said I was going to stop 2 weeks before my due date, and come back after six months, there were lots of comments from colleagues about "well you'll definitely have to stop sooner than that, at least a month, you just won't be able to work that late".

I wondered if anyone else has any thoughts on when they are stopping work before their due date? Am I being naive thinking I can work til two weeks before?

Any advice much appreciated.

TailFeathers

DD1 I worked up until a week before. Felt great and full of energy and was quite organised at home so didn't have much to prep for.

DD2 I'm stopping at 38 weeks and working from home from weeks 36-38. I'm just so utterly exhausted this time (no evening naps when I get home from work or Sunday morning lounging in bed!) that I am just not as productive as I was first time round. Initially I'd asked to take weeks 36-38 as annual leave but due to staff shortages it's not really practical. And while I am tired the commute isn't difficult and my job is winding down (my boss has pretty much accepted that when I work from home I'll be answering emails and not much else!!)

I just think that by giving yourself a few weeks off before anything is likely to happen helps you change gear & get yourself in the right mental zone. I'd not done any buying of baby bits, like sudocrem before I started mat leave last time & hadn't sorted my hospital bag either. I'm a bit more prepared this time, but not much!

Last time I had problems with swelling feet (ds born in Aug) and I went 2 weeks over. It enabled me to rest & sit with my feet in a bucket of water & be generally more comfy. Also my labour took a while & it took about a month for me to recover (emcs), which if I'd not taken time to slow down & relax would've been more of a shock than it already was.

I took 9 months off, plus a bit of holiday and I don't regret the 6 weeks I had to myself.

I just think maternity leave is there for baby, but also for you - you and your wellbeing are important in all this and we tend to lose sight of it sometimes.

I worked until the Friday before my due date (3 days until it) I was fine, my job required allot of running around and on my last day I did have to duck and cover from a very angry customer but it was fine!

Although dd was born late august so my feet were very swollen!