Worried my maternity leave start date is too early

[newmum0720]

I'm due to start my maternity leave on June 25th when I'm 36 weeks. My baby is due July 20th but now I'm worried that she'll be late and so I've chosen the wrong date meaning I'll have less time with my baby when my maternity leave ends on March 25th when she'll be 8/9 months.

I have asked my boss to move the date but I've left it a bit too late.

Anyone gone back to work when baby is 8 months and not really regretted it?

I'm going back to work when mine will be 5months old but maybe see what holidays you have and book an extra week or two at the end. As long you give enough notice for holidays this shouldn't be a problem x

I went back when DD was 3 months and haven't regretted it at all. That said, i worked up to my due date, first babies are often late and mine was too.

I finished work at 36+1 and had my baby at 36+5! So it’s something you can’t really control. Use those couple of weeks to rest and relax before all the fun starts! Don’t think ahead to going back to work yet, you’ll end up thinking about it all the time and counting down the months till you go back. Just enjoy your time with baby and I’m sure it will be fine when you have to return - some people really enjoy going back and having some baby free time x

If this is your first, I cannot tell you what a gift those last weeks alone are. My hypnobirthing teacher said "take what you can afford this side because you will never ever get this time again"

She was so right. I had 4 weeks of rested bliss and I still look back on it fondly many moons later... esp when i was pregnant with dc2 and had another child with me constantly.

I took holiday accrued at the other end and a month unpaid. So worth it.

It depends on how you'd feel if you had little/no time before the baby came. My first turned up on the first day of my maternity leave, and I was quite grumpy about that! I had planned to be more organised in terms of batch cooking etc. On the other hand I looked on it later as maximising the time I had with her. You can't really control exactly when they will turn up, so you just have to make your best guess.

It probably also depends on your job. I was able to basically do paperwork most of my last 2 weeks at work, and used the lift instead of the stairs etc. If I'd had to be on my feet all day, I would have wanted to go on leave earlier.

This time round, I'm hoping to get a bit more time before the birth because it'll be harder to get things organised because I've got a 3 year old to look after. So DTwins will have to put up with me going back to work earlier than DD did, but I doubt it'll make much difference in the long run.

One thing you don't (and won't know) is the personality of your baby. My DD probably wouldn't have done too well starting childcare early, she was quite shy when little. But most children are Ok with it.

It's more bothering me because I've been furloughed since March and will be furloughed until my leave as my work is only wanting some people to come back (I'm not one of them due to being pregnant) so I feel those weeks of being on mat leave are now being wasted because I won't be at work anyway.

Have you been furloughed?
Or could they furlough you?

I've been furloughed since April and I'm on furlough until the day baby is born..

I'm aware this isn't an option for some (and I didn't ask for it, it's just how it's happened), but it is ideal as for as exposure goes.

@Babyshine2020 as above, I have been furloughed since March.

Depends on how you feel about your employer I suppose. Are they a big company that can take this kind of hit? Do you feel any kind of loyalty to them? I do to mine, because I’ve been with them a long time and they’ve been wonderful to me in difficult times (my DD needed some fairly minor surgery, but we couldn’t get a date for exactly when it would be and we had no idea how long we’d be in for, and they were astonishingly flexible and gave me full pay, currently being amazing about me not being able to do my job very well). It would seem kind to them to keep your original date, but I don’t know if that’s generosity they deserve or not. There’s not really any issue about you not having time to get stuff done if you’re furloughed until leave anyway. Basically down to your relationship with your employer and your conscience.

If that sounds like I’m being really judgemental, it’s not intended that way. These are just things to think about - I haven’t given my employer a date for the start of my leave yet, but I will be at work before I go on leave (I assume, depends on government guidance, but I’m not due for quite a while). My employer has been wonderful to me and has earned my loyalty by their treatment of me. If they’d been crap to me, I wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever was in my interest with no regard to them!

I work in a school and finished at 36 weeks just because it coincided with the Easter holidays, otherwise I would have probably carried on for two more weeks. So glad I didn’t - DS arrived bang on 38 weeks! When I have my second I’ll definitely finish at 36 weeks again just in case. Having those two weeks off before he arrived was actually quite important, I’m glad I didn’t have to go without.

I went back at 3 months and haven’t regretted it. Doing the same with this one too.

I’ve been on maternity leave since 29 weeks pregnant, I’m now 36 weeks. I’ve really enjoyed having this time to relax and prepare. I’ll. e going back when my baby is 7 months but hopefully only for 3 days a week. It still seems like a long time off to me so hopefully it will be fine x

I planned to work until end of 36 weeks. Baby came at exactly 36 so ended up texting my boss from the hospital that I wouldn’t be doing my last week! I did feel like I missed out on saying goodbye to my colleagues and due to hiring issues I never got to properly hand over to my cover but sometimes that’s just how things go.
I was due to take a full year off using holiday, allowance and taking some unpaid but in the end decided to not go back and be a stay at home mum instead. I never thought I’d make that decision when I was pregnant so my advice is to try not to over think the future too much. Things do just tend to work out and you really don’t know how you will feel in 8/9 months time!