[nalusj]

So, I have counted on working as long as I can but it is becoming sooooo hard. I am a special ed teacher and constantly moving kids, pushing wheelchairs, avoiding dangerous behaviors (throwing things, kicking, hitting, etc). None of this is as rough as handling their emotions and needs. Plus, my feet HURT. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!.

Just a little Monday morning complaint. Anyone else having trouble working and keeping up? Winter break is 9 days away... then 2 weeks off. WHEW.

 

[G&B'sMama]

I don't have a physically demanding job, but it is mentally and often, emotionally demanding (dealing with politics). I do a lot of work with the public too, which means I have meetings that go beyond the regular work day and happen in the evenings. My job is unionized, so I am not able to flex my schedule around evening meetings- meaning every time I have an after hours meeting it is overtime. My regular workweek is getting pretty taxing, and I am often very tired at the end of the day. Add 4-10 hours of overtime a week (which I have been working weekly since August and bi-weekly prior to that) and I am really exhausted. Plus, when I get home DH works PT evenings and weekends, so I'm going, going, going with the kids while he is at work.

I talked to my boss about limiting night meetings so I don't have as much overtime. After this week there is a break due to holidays, and I have two meetings already scheduled for January- but that is it. No more. He said fine. We also talked about new assignments that I will get for 2009, and I will get some lighter stuff so I don't have to come back in June to working mandatory overtime.

I worked up to my due date with DS (he was born 4 days later), and it was fine, but DH wasn't working PT also. This time I am so, very tired. I am spending at least an hour each day when I get home just sitting on the couch with my feet up. This week is going to be tough, but I am hoping that if I can just get past it, things will begin to slow down.

 

[Malva]

I'm working full time and since the summer, have been teleworking from home pretty much full-time. It doesn't stop me from having a two hour nap every afternoon after I'm done working. I'd hate to see how tired I'd be if I had to go to the office everyday.

I was initially planning on working up to a week before my due date (I'm expecting to have the baby at least a week late if not two) so that would give me two or three weeks to relax but now I'm reconsidering.

I'm now thinking I'll start my mat leave the third week of Feb. It will give me a month and half before the baby is born and my dh being a sahd, it will be so nice to hang out with him and ds all day instead of working. It just means the baby will be 10.5 mo when I return to work, which is actually a bit older than DS was when I returned to work after having him and it was no problem then.

 

[Conchobhar]

nalusj - My sister is a Special Ed teacher and I've helped her a few times in her classroom. I can't imagine going through your daily routine pregnant. That's a lot of hard work! How many paras do you have? Are they able to pick up any slack with lifting kids, etc? :

s::

I'm planning on working up until I go into labor (although I have this fear of my water breaking at work and everyone laughing at me). I figure I'll just make myself more miserable if I sit home all day...that whole "watched pot" theory.

Thankfully, my job isn't too labor-heavy. The couple of things I do do, I've had a problem with and my work hasn't really understood why it's difficult (ah, the fun of a male-dominated facility...even if we have had 6 ladies here pregnant while I'm pregnant). My big issue is stress. I have a lot of deadlines and panicking all around me (it's TV...you're either panicking or out of a job), so my stress levels are through the roof. I can't wait for March, just to get some time off. Even if it is unpaid.

 

[marieangela]

I am very lucky to have the same very flexible job that I've had through all of my pregnancies. I worked full time up until I had my first son, then took extra time off and came back part-time. I again worked right up until I had my second son, took extra time off and came back even more part-time. My schedule now revolves around drop off and pick up times for school. I plan to work right up until this baby is due, but I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to come back after this baby is born. My dad usually watches my younger son while I'm at work and certainly can't watch all three during the summer. It's actually quite relaxing for me to come to work. I work in a museum library that isn't open to the public. Lots of quiet and low stress, unlike being home with the boys!

 

[pumpkin]

I'm working full-time. My job is not physically difficult, but it requires extreme focus and mental dexterity. Its very tiring.
By the end of the day I'm sometimes in tears because its just so hard to keep up. Thankfully they are letting me work from home sometimes. Even those days I feel like I'm going to collapse, but I get more done than on days I go to the office so its helping keep my productivity at an acceptable level.

Every day I'm so tempted to turn in my notice. The problem is that we are trying to sell our house. If the house doesn't sell, then I have to keep this job after the baby is born. So even though we could afford for me to quit working right now, we can't afford for me to not be working a year from now if the house doesn't sell. I'd be crazy to give up this job if I can't be a SAHM like we plan. Its the most family friendly professional job I will ever have in my entire life. It pays well even though its a non-profit with good benefits and plenty of vacation time. I have huge amounts of autonomy in my work. I have discretion to work from home. And most importantly, they are ok with me working part-time for awhile after the baby is born. So I can't quit because I'd be crazy to give up this job in exchange for some random replacement job if our house doesn't sell.

 

[nalusj]

Conchobhar-
thanks for kind words. I have 3 paras. With 11 students, 7 use wheelchairs... so there is a lot of lifting. My paras do help out a ton but I am still lifting. I'm thinking this is going to stop in the coming weeks. The daily routine is tough and I try to stay centered as my energy definately effects the kids. One day at a time.

 

[liberal_chick]

I work part time, but it sure feels like more! I am the 3 year old teacher at a local mother's day out program. I really feel like I have the best of both worlds: a paycheck and my ds is in my classroom, so I am still with him all day. It is getting a bit taxing, but I'm still planning on working until the baby gets here. I hope I can make it that long!

 

[justbishop]

All of you sound like superwomen to me. I couldn't have worked even if I'd wanted to from 5 on!

 

[m2b03]

Yep! I work very short hours though - only 8:30am to 2:30pm.

 

[ClumsySugarPlum]

I teach middle school. I know what you mean about being protective about your belly. Lately I have been skipping out of hall duty. The school is in an old elementary, so our hallway is always really crowded. Right now I'm pretty much just putting in my required hours (8:15-4:15 M-F), plus four hours every weekend at school to get things somewhat under control. I teach four different courses and this is really no where near the amount of time I need to be putting in to teach the course well. But, I'm whooped at the end of the day. And, I would rather fall behind a little than sacrifice my health or my sanity. I too can't wait for winter break, although I know I'll have the pressure of getting ready to take my maternity leave looming over me. Hmmm. I should probably talk with my principal about what I'm supposed to prepare before break so I know what to work on during those two weeks.

 

[Altair]

I teach in a special education/inclusion classroom as well (kindergarten for kids on the spectrum), and it is damn hard. I come home crying most days because I'm so wiped out and hurting so much.

Can't say enough about the chiro trained in the webster technique though! She's a lifesaver.

 

[She2dancer]

I'm working too....though very part-time right now that I am not performing any longer...In addition to performing, I teach Pilates, so it is not too taxing on my body, but I do get mentally exhausted (and very breathless lately :?) talking non-stop for a couple hours at a time...especially now that I can't physically demonstrate as many exercises as I used to....but I enjoy it, and it is only 5-8 hours each week, so enough to get me out of the house

My plan is to keep teaching for as long as I can before this little one makes his/her appearance!

I have talked to one of the studios I teach at already, and I will most likely go back to teaching when the babe is around six weeks, but the LO will come with me and be worn in a sling while I teach...I love having a flexible job

 

[galincognito]

i also work in a very physical job; i'm a physiotherapist working in the neurological rehabilitation setting so i'm lifting grown adults all day, and pushing, wheelchairs, etc. so i totally get how you feel! i worked this job while pregnant with dd and made it to 10 days before she was born (which is when i planned to leave.) this time, i'm leaving four weeks early. the days are long (and feel even longer); very tiring both physically and emotionally. it doesn't help that our assistants are being total babies right now so i'm not getting any help with my patients, but that's a whole other rant

. anyway, not to make this about me... just posting to say that i totally understand where you are coming from! 8 more weeks of work and then maternity leave! i can't wait!

 

[texanatheart]

I work 4, 8-hour days. Desk job. Usually, it is V.E.R.Y. busy this time of year, with taking phone orders and packing/shipping phone and online orders. But the economy has people not buying the products we sell. It has definitely picked up since late summer (which is normally slow), but not near what it was last year.

I've been at this job for 6 years, and was full time until ds was born. I worked until the day before he was born. I left work just after 5, got home a little before 6, my water broke at 7, went to hospital at 11, and he was born at 3:30!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conchobhar I figure I'll just make myself more miserable if I sit home all day...that whole "watched pot" theory.

^ This is exactly why I kept going to work last time. And I'll likely work until this one's birthday as well! Especially now that I earn an hourly wage.

 

[GoddessJ]

I am lucky that I own my own company, so I pretty much can work when I want too, unless there is something really pressing happening. I was really sick in the begining so I just told everyone that I would be out of commission for awhile. Luckily my business died down and people left me alone for the most part. Now things are really picking up again.

While my job is flexible it is really stressful at times. My company is a production company that makes Sensual Education videos and media. I have two shoots coming up in a week...and one is on Perineal Massage, which I am also going to be in. So I think right now is the height of my work.

I shoot again in January and there is a documentary being made about the birth, so maybe I will be working even through my birth. Although I know I have to let go of being the writer, director, producer as I am giving birth...that may be a challenge and i will have to kick the camera guys out!!!! I hope I get a couple of days of relaxation in Feb.

I have to say that I have been a baby about having to work. I started the company so that when I got pregnant I would have enough residual income to take two years off of working and just focus on being a mom. But alas, I got pregnant a year earlier than we were planning. It has taught be that I am never really in control and sometimes you just have to let go and surrender to what is.

 

[filiadeluna]

I work in customer service @ a call center 40+ hours a week. I am at a desk all day, but it is EXTREMELY stressful. People are always yelling at me about charges on their bill, how I should give them all these credits, why I should send them a brand new phone even though they don't qualify for it, etc. On top of that, I have a weekly "coaching" with my supervisor where he grades my calls and goes over all my performance statistics.

Emotionally, it has been taking a toll. I've been pregnant almost the entire time I've been at this job (started in April). The only physically demanding part of it has been the long hours, and having to go to the bathroom a million times a day (which has taken a toll on my performance at work). Plus, I had horrible morning sickness for the first 15 weeks or so, and was vomiting at my desk in between calls.

However, I'm going to keep working as long as I possibly (physically) can, because I make about 52% of our household income. Once I go on Short Term Disability, I'll only bring in 60% of my normal paycheck, until I run out and use my vacation/personal/sick leave which will pay me at 100% again. After that, I'm going to try to go to part-time (either at this job or another) so I can be home with Isobel most of the time. We won't have to pay for daycare that way, or worry about her safety as much.