How'd you decide your last day of work? « Back to Group Discussions

[Loogiejane]

This is my first pregnancy so I'm curious how I should know what day to make my last day at work, leading up to my labor.

I just work part-time, 2 afternoon/evenings a week, teaching religious school. I take the subway there. It's just a few stops away so the commute isn't terrible. It's not really *so* much $$ per week but it would be nice to make it for as long as I could with all the upcoming homebirth costs we're going to have. 

How many days/weeks before you EDD did you decide to make your last day of work? I know some people go til they go into labor and others take off earlier. 

Thoughts? Personal experiences? TIA! :)

[pastormama]

I work full-time, so a different situation, but with DD I worked right up until I went into labor.  For the last four or five weeks, I worked half-days on the advice of my midwife because my blood pressure was creeping up a little and I was very swollen.  I'd just play it by ear.  I'm planning on working right up until labor again this time, unless I feel the need to take some vacation before then.  

[Kate&Joey]

My situation was also different as I worked full-time.  And at my company, you must start your maternity leave 2 weeks before your due date.  That happened to fall over the week we were closed for Christmas/New Year's, so I ended up being off of work for 3 weeks before DS was born.

I was happy to have the time off to get organized, but medically or physically, I didn't need to. 

[Trisha Kalous]

I'll be playing it by ear too. I work part-time in a restaurant and I'm going to take off with DD for 2 weeks, probably in March to go visit my Mom, StepDad and Great Auntie. It's a 16 hour drive, one way. They just moved this past summer/fall so I'm missing them a lot and there's lots of family drama happening so it will be good to get my Mommy fix before the baby comes  I'm not sure if I'll just be done working then or not. It'll depend on what we get back for taxes and what we can figure out for a budget. I have a placenta encapsulation client due on Feb. 25 and my baby shower is on March 24, so I'll hopefully have time to go between the two. I would really like to stop working now, but we can sure use the money and work isn't too difficult yet so I'll keep on keeping on until at least March. I would really like to quit before baby comes so i can concentrate on the finishing touches at home and getting everything ready for when baby comes. It would be really nice if I could get some more encapsulation clients. That would surely take the financial pressure off a bit. Three clients per month and that would cover what I make working 15 hrs/wk at my restaurant job! I have two clients in Feb, and maybe another one in April so we'll see!

[eepeepee]

I also work full-time, so not quite the same, but at this point I'm planning on working basically as late as possible, so I can have as much time off with the baby as I can.  My husband is unemployed, so every little cent counts.  Here's hoping the end of my pregnancy isn't too hellish!

[Quinalla]

I am working the same FT job as with DD and for her I worked until I went into labor (worked on Friday, went into labor Saturday at exactly 38 weeks). That was my plan as long as I felt good and it's an office job with a decent amount of travel, so I stopped travel at 20 weeks (I could have gone longer, but I'm not complaining and we do go on roofs, so it was probably for the best) and towards the end I stopped getting new projects so there would be less to transfer and just was the always-in-office go to person for everyone and would help out on other's projects or whatever random stuff came up. This was great as I was able to get all that extra $$ to get us through my 16 weeks maternity leave where my boss graciously kept my benefits active, but I did not have any pay except a couple hundred every two weeks to keep me active. My boss doesn't have to do anything as we are a company small enough to not be covered even by FMLA.

This time around, I'm going to work as long as I can again, but if I need to work from home some to rest more or whatever, I will take that option as with twins I think I might need it. I'm done with travel already so that's great. I may take off early too if I have to, but I want to avoid that if at all possible as we can use every dollar!

[FarmerMomma]

Last pregnancy I worked at our family farm market. I worked up to day before birth. I was still climbing up on cabinets. I sware that market got the benefit of my nesting. My house really could have used it. He was born in the busiest part of the season. Oops. I took the little guy to work a few days.

[Paceman]

Last pregnancy I worked in a hospital (I am a nurse) and stopped work at 35 weeks (delivered at 37 weeks 5 days).  This time I work in public health but will probably still only plan on working until around 36 or 37 weeks depending on how I feel.  I also plan on taking 18 months leave from my job after baby comes, the same as last time. 
 

[adventuregirl]

Last time I planned to work until a week before my due date. I was working at a summer day camp for elementary school kids, so it was fairly active, but the job ended a week before I was due. I figured it was perfect. But by the time the end got there, I was so done. I was starting to get snippy with the kids, was exhausted and sore at the end of each day and realized that I should just call it quits, so I quit a week before the job was over. I didn't slow down all that much that week though, I walked a mile+ each day and nested like crazy. This worked out well, because I went into early labor on what would have been my last day of work, had DD 2 days later. I was happy I had that time.

This time, my job is in an office and I work from home 2 days a week, but the commute the other 3 days is an hour each way. My plan is to transition to working from home most days at the end, maybe go into the office one day a week in May. Or none, we'll see how I feel. But, I am planning to work until I go into labor. I made this decision due to my available time off. I have 12 weeks maternity leave, so I want ALL of that for after the baby is here. In addition, I will have only about 10 days of vacation saved up for the rest of the year after baby comes, so I want to have as much of that as possible too...

If I didn't have to worry about time off or $, I would plan to finish up a week or 2 before my due date.

[Loogiejane]

Everyone's situations are so different. How about we all move to Canada and get a year paid leave??? Our country is so flippin backwards

(HAAA ttly off topic, sort of, I am can hear my 39 week pregnant neighbor in the hallway of my building with her 3 yr old who just sprinted up the stairs past her screaming "MOMMY!!! I WON!!!!! And my neighbor saying very lazily "okayyyyy" lol just thinking that her 3 yr old is trying to race with her when she is ready to have a baby, so funny).

So I think I will probably tell my school I'm going to work until I can and then if it's too physically demanding I'll stop, instead of giving them a concrete date now. I have a coteacher in each of the two classes I teach so the class won't be left high and dry and it will be less pressure on me. I think I'm more concerned about riding the subway in rush hour when I'm so pregnant. The subway during rush hour is unpleasant *not* pregnant. 

[jessmn]

I work full time for a state university and have to balance all their rules about sick and vacation time. It's very confusing! Plus I have NO idea when I'll need to start bedrest/leave or if I'll work up until the babies are due. Right now I have a tentative "ideal" plan, and then if I have to take off early, I'll just do leave without pay, unless it's a significant amount of time, then I'll have to re-adjust how long I'm gone for after the babies arrive and take some of that time up front. It's so confusing and up in the air!
 

[aHikaru]

with DD I was just so tired and exhausted I just couldn't work any more, that was exactly 2 months before she was born. 

[Loogiejane]

Originally Posted by aHikaru 

with DD I was just so tired and exhausted I just couldn't work any more, that was exactly 2 months before she was born. 

2 months, wow! I guess we can't always plan for these things. 

[BabySmurf]

With DS I planned on working right up until my due date, but ended up leaving a week earlier.  I did it because I could (I wasn't going back, so it didn't eat into leave time), and I worked in a research lab, so I had to hand off most of my projects when I got pregnant because I couldn't be around many of the reagents we used.  I spent the last 3 weeks or so tying up loose ends, writing SOP's, and organizing/finalizing the parts of the projects I was working on.  I finished a bit early, commuting on the subway stunk, and I started having irregular contractions, so I took of about a week earlier than when I said I would. I wouldn't say that in retrospect that I NEEDED to do it, but it certainly helped me prepare a bit, and I liked having the mental break to relax a bit before having a newborn in the house. 

It's hard to plan for these things, so I would try to make *ideal* arrangements and also have a backup plan for if things change. 

[Loogiejane]

Originally Posted by BabySmurf 

It's hard to plan for these things, so I would try to make *ideal* arrangements and also have a backup plan for if things change. 

Yeah that's probably how I'll roll. My hours are so short for when I actually have to commute and be at the school and the pay is good so I'll probably try to do it til the very end. And the school I am sure will be flexible enough that if I say I'm going to work til the very end but then need to end earlier than planned they'll be fine with it.  I can also pass off more responsibilities to my coteachers like carrying snack/art supplies down to the room, etc etc and they'd be cool with it. We're all very friendly. I too am not returning to the job so there's no topic of leave or anything. 

[BabySmurf]

Originally Posted by Loogiejane 

Yeah that's probably how I'll roll. My hours are so short for when I actually have to commute and be at the school and the pay is good so I'll probably try to do it til the very end. And the school I am sure will be flexible enough that if I say I'm going to work til the very end but then need to end earlier than planned they'll be fine with it.  I can also pass off more responsibilities to my coteachers like carrying snack/art supplies down to the room, etc etc and they'd be cool with it. We're all very friendly. I too am not returning to the job so there's no topic of leave or anything. 

That's awesome that you have that flexibility! I can't imagine the pressure of having a hard date that I had to stand by. 

[aHikaru]

Originally Posted by Loogiejane 

2 months, wow! I guess we can't always plan for these things. 

yeah :) I'm not even working now and can't even fathom how I was able to work so long, I can't be on my feet for more than an hr with this one and after I eat I have to sit at an incline to relieve pressure off my ribs, def more exhausting this time around. 

[Trisha Kalous]

I got to put my notice in yesterday! Soo happy about that! I still am doing placentas and postpartum work though, but am really happy to be done doing fast food :-) My last day will probably be tomorrow night!

[FarmerMomma]

Trisha congrats.

[Quinalla]

Nice Trisha!