When did you finish work?

[JRTfan]

I'm 25 weeks pregnant and need to give work my finish date for maternity next week (they know I'm pregnant told them at 16 weeks)
I work as a sales manager part office and part home based, the office is 5 minute drive from home and my employer is pretty flexible.
I have 3 weeks holiday left to take so was thinking of finishing at either 36 or 37 weeks and taking the holiday before starting official maternity leave either the day or a week before my due date. I've had an uncomplicated pregnancy so far. Just wondering what others have done? Should I risk working longer? I can carry holiday over if I need to.

I held on for 39 weeks as had a toddler at home and figured being at work was more relaxing. She was born the night I finished- never did get that pedi and pregnancy massage 🤣

I was a self-employed hotelier. I worked until 2 hours before baby number 2 arrived . The birth was very easy though . Husband went home and had a head wetting with the staff and guests who were waiting up for news.

Hi @excitedmama2be

So, yes, not allowed to carry leave over on maternity leave but do accrue it whilst on ML (legally this is the case!) so I was off for more than 14 months in the end as I had 4 weeks leave, then 52 weeks ML then used up six weeks of annual leave.

awww that sucks

Finished at 36 both times with no regrets. That was long enough for me.

I used some annual leave to wind down my days, did a couple of 4 day weeks, then some 3 day weeks, then 2 weeks before the due date I finish, I thought I would get bored having too long off before baby was due so shorter weeks were lovely

@GB91 that's a good idea I hadn't thought of using some holiday to do shorter weeks. It's another thing to consider!
Thanks all for the replies I'm due 22nd June currently thinking I'll either finish on 24th May and take 2 weeks annual leave officially starting Mat leave on 7th June or I'll finish 30th May and officially start on 14th June.
I'll probably do this as my last week will only be 3 days anyway with it being a bank holiday and I have a wedding on the Friday.

@excitedmama2be
Why do you think it sucks? Genuine question! I thought it worked really well - I got plenty of time to relax before the birth (stressful job) so 4 weeks AL and 2 weeks ML before I had my baby was amazing.

And I found maternity leave really difficult once my baby was here and had severe PND so was really glad I'd had that six weeks in advance. I still had 50 weeks of ML and then 6 weeks AL after the birth which felt like a lot!

no it was just purely the fact some places don’t allow you to carry over AL that’s all so potentially if your ML starts at the beginning of financial year , some potentially lose out on AL if it can’t be carried over if the maternity leave lasts for the whole financial year

I worked to 38 weeks with first child and was fine.
Was a SAHM for second who was born at 37 weeks which gave me food for thought although tbh I would have been fine to work up to last minute- just would have had to get home or to hospital sharpish!!
What you suggest doing is absolutely fine.

So you just make sure you take the AL before starting ML? I can see it would be a problem for an unexpected premature birth but otherwise you just work backwards. I knew I was likely to have the baby at early term as was expecting induction at 38 weeks, so started ML at 36 weeks, then added on the AL before that.

I've never had an annual leave year that was the financial year in any job! Usually it's Jan-Dec or Sept-Aug.

38 weeks with my first, technically 39 with my second but I’m a teacher and it was just after the summer holidays. I would have gone to 38 though to maximise time off with them.

Also I went overdue with both (by 10 days with my first) so had ages when I finished at 38w.