I was in a job that I really disliked for the last few years, it was long hours and totally stressed me out. I applied for other jobs but didn't get anything, so ended up taking a career break and doing unpaid voluntary work. It's really interesting and enjoyable but will end in mid 2012.
The complexity is that we're also TTC and still haven't agreed what I'd do if we were successful (apart from being over the moon, of course!) I really OUGHT to end my career break early and return to my job from hell for the qualifying weeks as they have good maternity leave/pay, but the hours were rubbish, they didn't treat other pregnant ladies well, and I'd really hate it :(
My alternative is to try to find another job PDQ and just accept it's going to annoy them if I arrive pregnant/become pregnant in the first few months. I'm also not sure whether I'd get Maternity Allowance or not if I turned up pregnant. And there aren't many jobs out there anyway... I'd love a job change to something I'd actually enjoy but it's just terrible timing, between the recession and my body clock! Don't want to postpone TTC as it's all ticking...
Sorry for the download, just feeling guilty about not being strong enough to cope with my last job and potentially losing all that maternity pay. All thoughts welcome...