Hi, hope I'm posting in the right place.
I started a new job in August 2012 and found out the same week I started that I was pregnant. It was very awkward and I was super stressed about the whole thing. Worried about money as I didn't qualify for SMP worried about letting them down etc (realise that was silly now!) and I said that I would just take 6 months maternity leave. My beautiful baby was born at the end of March and I now realise that it was a huge mistake to only take 6 months and should have taken the whole year. Can you ask to take additional maternity leave whilst on ordinary maternity leave? I can't find anything in my contract, the only info about returning to work is if I want to return early. Also worried as work will be really upset and it'll be a massive hassle for me to extend my leave if I can. Any help/advice appreciated. Apologies for the long post with multiple issues.