[MamaDiane]

For those of you that work outside the home, how soon before giving birth did you stop working? I'm 36 weeks pregnant, and plan on working right up until I go into labor. I have 3 months of maternity leave, and want to make sure I spend as much of that time as possible with our baby after he's born. But now that I'm starting to get physically uncomfortable, and the BH contractions are making me think he may come earlier than expected, I'm very tempted to stop working earlier than I'd planned.<br><br>
What did you do, or are you planning on doing?

 

[Beppie]

I stopped work on July 1, and the baby was due the 16th, but didn't come until the 29th. So I essentially had a month off. It was great. I don't think I could work up until I go into labor. Except, it's tricky if you only have 3 months of leave. I ended up not going back to work, just working part-time from home, never leaving the baby. But if I had only 3 months of leave, I might have done things differently.

 

[lyttlewon]

With DD I was over my due date and my doc put me on "bed rest" a week before my induction. You will want to check out your company leave policy. My maternity leave didn't start until the actual birth so going out sooner I had to initiate short term disability. I had to be out 10 consecutive days in order for the disability to pay and I was only out 7. So I had to fund the 7 days with sick pay. Knowing differently now I always recommend my staff get sign off from their doc at least two weeks before their due date.<br><br>
With this one I will be laid off 6/22 so I will have several weeks before the baby is born.

 

[techno_dara]

I worked until the day before baby was born with the last one. Baby 1 I had during summer break of college, so I had about 3 weeks off before. Baby 2 was born during the Christmas break, so I had a week off before.

 

[SeekingJoy]

With DS I worked up until my due date (a Friday). Each day after that I got slower and slower, and slept more and more. He wasn't born until 8 days later. Like you, I only got 12 weeks off, which meant I had less time with him. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"><br><br>
26 wks PG with DC#2 and am planning to work as long as I can -- whatever that means. Good luck.

 

[pinksprklybarefoot]

I stopped at about 36 weeks - I was put on sorta bedrest (as in spend as much time lying on your side as possible).<br><br>
I had a job where I was on my feet in a hot kitchen, so that made it more difficult to work up until the end. I kept burning my chef's coat on the stove because my belly got in the way. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"><br><br>
I was really bored, though. If the midwife wouldn't have made me stop working, I probably would have kept going.

 

[savithny]

My EDD was a Monday with #1, and I worked up to the Friday before. Called in "laboring" on Monday morning ,telling them I had a funny backache.<br><br>
My EDD with #2 was also a Monday! I woke up with that funny backache - but it went away, so I went to work. It kinda came back. It was contractions, about 20 minutes apart. I worked my usual 4.5 hours, I proofed a huge grant for a coworker, went home, had dinner, called the midwife, went to the hospital, and had baby at 2am.<br><br>
In both cases, my goal was to totally maximze my post-birth maternity leave, and spend as close to 100% of it as I could with baby, establishing breastfeeding, etc. Especially prior to #1, I figured I coudl spend that time pacing the floor and watchign bad daytime TV, or with my baby....<br><br>
That said, I felt *great* in late pregnancy both times. I don't get very big, I dont' have any mobility trouble, my job doesn't require much time on my feet or lifting. I didn't see any reason to stop work early.

 

[Cheshire]

I woke up one morning and knew that it was the day (40 wks 4 days). I went to work and after lunch decided I was really in labor (I couldn't ignore the contrax much anymore after lunch). So, I left work and went to the midwives office. They sent me to the hospital. Checked in about 4pm and had ds about 1:30 am.<br><br>
I, too, wanted as much maternity leave with my baby as possible. I could have started my leave earlier but I knew I would have been bored at home. I was uncomfortable but I work behind a desk so I wasn't standing all the time.<br><br>
Coming back to work was (and still is) one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

 

[GooeyRN]

I worked right up until I went into labor. I don't know if I will do that again, though. I delivered early. I do a lot of heavy lifting at work, so I don't know if that caused me to deliver early or not.

 

[cornpicker]

I'm planning to work up to my EDD. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Severine]

With DD, I worked up until the Friday before my induction. I was 38 weeks exactly when I left work, and my induction was Tuesday night (38w4d), so I didn't have long in between. I wanted to save as much of my time off as possible for after she came.<br><br>
This time around, I will no longer be doing parties after this Friday (I'm now self-employed), so that will be at 37 weeks. My old job was mostly sitting and secretarial, but now I'm an independent consultant for a home party plan and it gets very tiring lugging my stuff in and out, plus doing the parties themselves. It's nice that I'm my own boss now, though, so I can take as much time off as I want.

 

[MomInFlux]

With Baby #1, I planned to work up to one week before my due date. Unfortunately, baby came 3 weeks early (I think because of work stress), and so I hadn't transitioned out of my work responsibilities, and I ended up working for free through part of my maternity leave <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/nut.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="nut"><br><br>
With Baby #2, I planned to work up to delivery, since I was a full-time teleworker. I actually sent my last work e-mail at 2:25 pm and baby was born just before 3:00 pm <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="/img/vbsmilies/smilies/dizzy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Dizzy">:<br><br>
With this baby, I just realized that I can take up to 4 weeks of disability before my EDD, and I'm seriously considering taking at least a couple of weeks. I'm still teleworking, but my job stress is high and I'm feeling really worn out. At a minimum, if I set a definite date when I'm *done*, then I'll have transitioned out of my responsibilities by then and with 2 children already, I certainly won't be bored hanging out around the house <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol">

 

[ani'smommy]

Last time I worked up until the day that I was induced. This time I'll work until I go into labor. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> I only get 8 weeks off and I'm spending every second of that with the baby.

 

[AugustLia23]

I work as a postpartum doula and plan on working until I go into labor. It's a very flexible job and I can stop whenever I want. I wasn't working last pregnancy, but I would've been able to do my current job very easily at term. My plan is to take off 5-6 months, then go back very part time slowly increasing in hours.

 

[wombatclay]

My job only offers leave starting with the birth of the babe, unless your doctor puts you on short term disability for another reason. So I'm "stuck" working till I enter labor.<br><br>
Last pregnancy I developed hbp and pregnancy related carpal tunnel syndrome so I was put on disability about 2 weeks before my due date. I then went to 42+ weeks so I essentially had a month "off".<br><br>
Of course, this time round, with a 2yo at home, the office is sometimes a lot less stressful! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol">

 

[PatchChild]

I'm a teacher and due June 1st. I'm stopping at the Friday before Labor Day, a week before this baby is due. It (hopefully) will give me some time with my DH. Also, a specific date makes it easier on the sub who will be covering for me. Right now though, I'm starting to wish that date was a little closer.

 

[BetsyS]

I was scheduled to work until my due date. But...at 36 weeks, I was miserable. My blood pressure was a little high, I was swelling inconceivably (the worst I've ever seen, honestly), and I was tired. I waddled where I went. And, I didn't get there very fast. When I was in surgery, under all that sterile stuff, I had to stuff ice packs down the small of my back and on my neck so that I wouldn't overheat and feel faint. I was working 24 hour shifts, and I couldn't get comfortable to nap in the hospital's beds. Did I mention that I was miserable?<br><br>
We had a strict policy at work about maternity leave, too, so I called my midwife that night crying and begged her to put me on bedrest. Bless her heart, she had pity on me. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/lol.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="lol"><br><br>
I had the 12 week thing going, too, so going out early meant I was planning on returning when the baby was 7 weeks old (he was born at 41 weeks). I ended up not going back to work, though, so it all worked out.

 

[AwakenedMama]

I worked the day I went into labor, too. I only had 6 weeks to take off, and wanted every minute of that with my daughter.<br><br>
I did slow down some at the end of my pregnancy, taking breaks to get off my feet more often than I normally would. And I worked more than 50 hours a week, including the last week.<br><br>
Not that I recommend it, but it can be done.

 

[2Sweeties1Angel]

With the twins, I was put on bedrest sometime in my 5th month so that's when I stopped working. I didn't work at all with DD1. The restaurant I was working at went out of business in my 5th month with DD2 so I decided to sit on my butt at home and collect unemployment. I would've continued working until about 35 weeks (when I developed PIH) if I'd had a job to work at.

 

[PPK]

I had to stop working my normal job once I became pregnant and after that struggled with various low-paying jobs to help contribute. At about the fifth month I stopped working except for a few 12 hr. weeks coming up and one full week at the end of this month babysitting. Not many people are willing to hire a pg girl.<br><br>
Anyways, at first I was bored, but I settled into a routine and now I'm really thankful it worked out the way it did. Dh is able to pick up until I get back to work about 3 months after baby arrives. Things are very tight, but I feel much better this way.<br><br>
I only want to be pg once and am glad I get to enjoy it and take my walks and do everything I want/need (like sleep) to do in order to keep myself feeling healthy.<br><br>
I give alot of credit to all you women who work until the end of your pg...I found I was having a really hard time coping with stress and lack of sleep, I was turning into a real nut.