Maternity Leave Q.

MrsIH

Hi Ladies,

Summer is such a busy time of year that it seems every single weekend we have "something" to do.  This leads me to August, the month the baby is born.  I stumbled onto the month while going through the calendar and thought, holy crap, I'll be taking my mat leave sometime in this month.  Anyway, my question is this, did you work right up until you were due (or close to?) or did you take a couple weeks off prior to your mat leave?  Just curious as to when I should let my employer know when I'll be going... we are off a full year here, that still seems so surreal to me.

Married2MrWright

First of all, you're SO lucky to get a fill year off to be home with baby...I'd kill for that!  And this is coming from a woman who managed to be home 3 months which seems like a luxury for working women in the US...but I digress.

Because I was scheduled for an induction, I stopped working the Saturday before the planned induction (the following Wednesday)...turns out the induction was rescheduled to the next Monday, which basically gave me a full week off before Libby was born.  I am so glad I had that week!  Next time?  I plan to try to get our of work by 37 weeks...I was so tired and uncomfortable by then, not sleeping well, etc. that it would have been perfect to not have had to go to work by then.

As for letting your employer know...I am not sure how it works at your company.  I am assuming they all know at work that you're expecting, right? You might ask HR for the process they require for requesting maternity leave or consult your Employee Handbook.  I submitted a proposal for my leave about 8 weeks before my due date.  But again, at my company there is no FMLA or "guaranteed" leave so I had to save up my time, etc. and then outline how I would use it for my paid maternity leave. 

HulaLove

Hi Tara

1 year off is wonderful - I`m so SO grateful for it. 

I saved my vacation and ended up using some sick time to have 6 weeks off prior to my due date.  If you can take time off (not cutting into your maternity leave) prior to the arrival of your lo I definately recommend it. 

I felt rested and ready when Elyse came.  I was ready for Christmas (she was born Dec 14), the nursery was well stocked, I had nested ALOT!! and had LOTS of dates with the hubs. 

I actually extended my mat leave so I`m not going back until Jan 3, I didn`t want to go back before Christmas. 

MrsIH

Thank you, great advice so far.  I wish I had more vacation time saved up, I get 3 weeks off/year and I've been here for 10 years :P  Anyway, I have nearly a week left and was considering tacking it on to my mat leave or taking a little vacation around my birthday in July and just staying home since hubby has a busy work month then.  I was going to give myself 2 weeks before my official due date at the end of August.

MauiWedding08

I planned to work up until LO's arrival.  My job is one that doesn't have a ton of day to day stuff - mostly big projects that had to be rescheduled or transferred way in advance so I knew that even if I physically went into the office I wouldn't be doing a whole lot.  However, 3 weeks before my EDD my BP went up, I had trace amts of protein in my urine, and slightly swollen extremities  = pre-eclampsia concerns.  So I had to quit going in to work and rest (preferably laying down on my side) at home.  SOOO boring.  But worth it b/c the symptoms never progressed so I didn't have be induced etc.

So I guess I can't really say one way or the other, I was bored (especially since I really wasn't suppose to be up and about getting ready for the baby) so I probably wouldn't plan for time off before arrival when/if I have another baby but would obviously do what is best for our health...  In retrospect it was nice to sleep in and take it easy but I don't think it really helped in the long run outside of the health concerns, if that makes sense....

HulaLove

Two weeks sounds good!  I`m a real homebody.  I like organizing cupboards (sick I know).  6 weeks might be to long for lots of people. 

One down side to that much time is near the end I was VERY impatiently waiting for her arrival.  Every night I`d psych myself up to wake up to labour pains... no such luck.  She was a week late... that was a VERY long week. 

mie

I worked until I went into labor.  I wanted to save my leave so I could be home as long as possible.  

lola808

I'm self-employed so I stopped seeing clients 4 weeks before my due date.  He was born 2 weeks late, so I had almost 6 weeks off.  I really enjoyed the time off to relax and prepare, plus I started getting pretty uncomfortable in the last few weeks.  I couldn't imagine having worked right up till the end, especially since I had a choice in the matter.  I go back to work PT when he's 5 months old.

supercoolnat

This has been on my mind a lot lately. As of now, I'm planning on working up until labor. I do have a lot of vacation time saved up, so I'm planning on doing shorter work weeks as I get towards the end. I think I'll also discuss working from home with my boss, I know someone else from my department did that for the last week or so before their EDD. If I did take time off prior, it would be unpaid, so I'm going to try not to do that. Unless my doctor says that I need to stay out of work because of complications, then I would get sick pay. I think some people at my company have asked their doctor to write them a note so they can take it as sick time, but I'm personally not comfortable with doing that.

MrsNicole&Brian808

I think the plan is to work for as long as I can!  Due to events beyond my control and due to the fact that we earn our paid time-off (sick & personal) throughout the year (we don't get a lump sum of days at the beginning of every year), I'm expecting to be leave without pay for the entire time I'm off.  If Brian gets laid off in the next couple of days, I may need to go back to work sooner than expected.

lelekay

I have a strange situation in that I am off for 7 weeks before my EDD, but only because the school year ends in three weeks, and I'm not due until July 25th.  If I had been due during the school year, however, I also would have probably taken off 2 weeks beforehand.  Mostly because as a music teacher of little ones, my job can be fairly physically demanding, and it's already getting hard.  If I was in a desk I would probably work as long as I could.

mrs.winter

I worked until my mom flew into town (which was 4 days before my due date).  I ended up going into labor 2 days before my due date which was 2 days after my last day at work.

redshoegirl

I only worked up to 29 weeks, but that was because I wasn't physically able to continue past that point. Under normal circumstances, I think I'd have liked to have 2 weeks off prior to my due date, assuming I didn't have any reason to think I'd deliver early - I know some women might get bored, but I enjoyed puttering around the house and doing the finishing touches on the nursery, etc!

SanHawaii08

still way too early for me to say, but the current plan is for me to work as long as possible - i want to be able to stay home as long as i can after the baby comes! 

on a slightly related note, i'm sad that b/c we're due right before thanksgiving,  i'm essentially losing 6 paid holidays due to disability - why can't i tack on those 6 days at the end of the disability!  ...we get an amazing number of holidays at the end of year - 2 for thanksgiving, 2 for christmas, and 2 for new years.  but b/c i'll be on disability the first 8 weeks, my salary is paid by the govt, not by the company, so i just lose those holidays.  that's an extra week of leave i could have had under other circumstances!  oh well, it is what it is, no use harping on it since i can't change it