When to take maternity leave?

[PigeonDuckGoose]

My manager has asked me to start to think about when I will take maternity leave.

I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and I haven't even thought about it so far because after multiple losses then anomalies at our 12 week scan we didn't think we would even get this far. (We've now been cleared for any chromesone abnormalities, baby is looking normal at the last 3 scans, we just need to pass an echocardio this week).

With my son I went off quite close to my due date, but money forced my hand a little there and I wished I was off a bit earlier. I don't want to waste mat leave being fat and grumpy with no baby yet though.

I work a hybrid office role, so not on my feet or any manual labour. It is quite a stressful role though.

When did you take maternity?

I took some annual leave to swap
to part time for last bit of pregnancy and then went on Mat Leave the Friday before due date.

Felt like a good compromise on cutting the stress and hours whilst not wasting Mat Leave on being bored and massive.

Keep in mind it’s easy to pull the start forward.

(Top tip, aim to wrap things up by 37 weeks so pulling forward is easy).

I went off at 37 weeks but then I was overdue by 2 weeks and scratching at the walls 🤣 I think it depends on the level
of physical effort your job takes too - could you switch to working from home for a couple of weeks Towards the end maybe? Next time I hope to work until 38 weeks but with doing wfh for a bit

Also interested to know what’s ideal!

I'm 21 weeks tomorrow and I'm hoping to go up to 38 weeks, I remember having a nice couple of weeks before DS came at 40+5 x

I wfh and was still 'working' the day my LO was born last time at 39+2!

Not really learning my lesson this time! Due August 12th and first official day of mat leave is August 11th! But on the understanding I'll be winding down/ doing admin bits from end of July.

I worked until 39 weeks, my job is office based and I was able to WFH most days so that helped a lot. Baby was a week late and two weeks of sitting around waiting for him were quite enough!

I went on mat leave at 39 weeks but last day was 38+4 due to the weekend. I had a lovely week of baking and relaxing as first babies don't come early....baby arrived at 38+6 and I had to edit my online shop to remove all the baking ingredients at 3 am whilst in labour!

This time the decision has been taken out of my hands as I've been off work since 7 weeks when I was made redundant. I've been enjoying the slower pace of life.

For me with my first pregnancy it wasn't the physical side of the pregnancy that was the issue -my waters went a few hours after I helped manoeuvre my desk into the loft! I did feel I missed out on the mental processing time and taking a few days to take some deep breaths and savour the moments of calm.

My daughter was 10 weeks old before I got my much wanted home made scones with clotted cream.

Personal opinion is week 37. You are fed up by then. But also all my babies came during week 38.

i suppose if you didn’t give birth til 42 that’s a different story but it’s not that likely?

I went off at 37 weeks and took two weeks annual leave to bring me to 39 weeks. DS was born at 39 +1 so the first day of my actual MAT leave he arrived 🤣

I’m another one who gave birth twice while technically still working at 38 then 37 weeks. I’d do as PP says - arrange to go late then pull it back if you want or need. Very few workplaces would be stroppy about that, and if they are, you’ll be signed off very easily.

I'm currently 37+1 and my last day of work is set for when I'll be 39+3. Might be optimistic, but I honestly still feel well and my ability to do my job isn't hugely impaired (I just need to sit down more!). I believe you have until 25 weeks before you need to inform your work of your plans though, so reiterate that to them if you feel under pressure to make a decision now. It's also easier to set a later mat leave date and bring it forward if needed (you could get signed off work if you suddenly took a turn in later pregnancy, and if baby arrives early it would just trigger an earlier mat leave), than the other way around (i.e. if you said you wanted to start leave at 37 weeks, but then when you got to 37 weeks you felt like you wanted to continue, that wouldn't be an option).

hey,

I’m high risk and due in August when it’ll be hot and miserable. So I’m going on leave as soon as I can.

I am taking my holiday for 2 weeks and then my mat leave kicks in on the 4th of August
So I’m taking around 3 weeks off before I am due depending on my c section date x

Went at 38 weeks with my first and I was SO bored, so I went till the day after my due date with my second as I wanted to finish on a Friday ha

I was due 23 Jan and went on leave at Christmas, as I wasn't willing to commute 5x a week after 36 weeks. I took a bit of annual leave, and I think my mat leave started at 37 weeks maybe? This was 2010 though, so WFH wasn't even a consideration.

Baby was 9 days over, so I spent the whooooole of January feeling huge. I enjoyed some of it, but also got very bored.

DD came before my due date so I ended up having two weeks maternity before. I was finding it hard with terrible PGP and WFH didn’t help being sat down all day making it worse. I had planned to start a week later but brought it forward a week. As it was I’m so glad I did and got those two weeks for life admin, getting out of “work” mode and getting mentally prepared for DD. Plus I was huge.
This time I will be having a c-section so I know baby will arrive a week early at least, so I’m giving myself 3 weeks before due date (2 weeks ish with the c-section) and having a toddler this time around and never getting a second to myself I’m going to take full advantage of the time she’s at nursery. Time like that is a luxury when you are already a mum.

I stopped at 27 weeks- the earliest you can legally start maternity leave, but that was because I hated my job and had no intention of going back afterwards.
There was an occasion where my boss lost his temper and slammed a door so hard that my son jumped inside me. I knew at that point that I needed to get out of there asap.

I went on mat leave at 39weeks with my first which was fine, I was a bit bored in the interim as she was 5days over. This time I am now nearly 38weeks and stupidly thought I could go to 39weeks again. I feel so so much more tired this time and wish I’d have gone around 37weeks but that might be because I have a 15m old to keep up with too!

Yeah I don't think I will be allowed to be much overdue due to risks. My son came pretty much on time but he's now 12 so I am older this time round 😂

Oh my gosh that is horrible. I am so glad you managed to get out.

I am lucky I have a great manager and team so whilst it is stressful they make it easier.

Go as early as you can afford to, whilst balancing how long afterwards you'd want to stay off. Life is too short to work yourself to the ground. Get some good box sets, meet some girlfriends for lunch and enjoy your final weeks of pregnancy.

I'm hoping to go off one month before. I have a sedentary office job but it is stressful, and I don't want to have to combine that stress with baby planning. I'm also worried about my commute in peak summer, so that was a factor!

I was meant to start 2 weeks before due date but ended up with EMCS so finished work Friday afternoon and gave birth on Tuesday 3 weeks early. I could have really done with those 2 weeks off beforehand so if I was to be pregnant again I would start 3 weeks before just in case something comes up before due date.

With my first child I worked till 38w, with my 2nd due shortly u went off at 36w and so so glad I went off earlier

With my first i went at 37+5 (Fri) and she was born at 38+0 (Sun) and had zero time to wind down / relax. That was pretty grim.

So with my second, I went at 36w and used AL for 3 weeks before starting ML officially at 39w. I was glad I did as DD2 was breech, I had preeclampsia, ended up having monitoring every other day until she was born at 39+3. I was very thankful I was able to just rest up in between appointments whilst my eldest was at nursery.

I found the post partum period to be difficult with two DC to look after (even though DH was a superstar looking after us all) so I'd say if you can, try and go earlier rather than later.

Mine was born at 42 weeks, and I stopped work at 40 weeks. I was going stir crazy by the end.

If you can WFH, and can are age to do that for the last couple of weeks, I think that helps with the mobility / discomfort elements.