maternity leave? suggestions?

solidstars

solidstars

Registered User
hi, just wondering if any of you have any suggestions/ advice on when to start taking my maternity leave?

i was thinking 3 weeks before due date but my boss has been heavily hinting it's normal to work until the date of delivery? I don't know if it's normal or not as this is my first and i don't really want to risk ending up giving birth at work (what are the chances of that)...

what do you guys think? He also says if i work up to the due date then i get more time with baby after, which sort of makes sense?
 
I agree with your boss about spending the time afterwards with your baby.

But I would leave a week prior if possible, just for wandering around - you will not get to wander around much soon! Get massages, treatments, lots of rest etc. and generally spoil yourself.

More time than that, you may actually get bored and over-focused on what's to come. You could also be late with your first, so three weeks could become four which is a whole month you could spend with your baby afterwards.

I worked up until the day before with my first and wish I hadn't. With this one I'll be taking a week off.

Hope that helps.
 
I finished work 10 days before my scheduled c-section and found myself rather bored after the first few days. It all depends what type of person you are, I hated just sitting around watching TV and found it difficult to relax.

3 weeks would of been way too long for me. If you are all prepared for the babies arrival a week would be fine and as LeahH mentions you may get a few more days if your late.
 
I worked up to 38 weeks, but wish I had left sooner. No sooner had I finished work then my baby arrived i.e. 2 days after finishing and 2 weeks early. I missed out on time to relax and get my energy levels up before the birth.

As soon as the baby arrives your life will be unbelievably hectic. My advice is enjoy a little quite time before the birth if you can.
 
I planned 3 weeks. Baby came early and only left with 1 week.
Personally, I felt it was too short, and would have preferred to have more time to wind down from work, prepare for baby, enjoy the peace, since you will never have the same time for yourself after baby arrives. But the plus side is, I had more time to be with my baby.
 
I finished work 4 weeks before my due date with my first. We were moving house and i also wanted to get basic things done before baby arrived - hair cut/colour, waxing, pedicure etc. plus a few long lunches with girlfriends.

baby had other ideas - i went into labour @ 36 and a half weeks - 3 days after I finished work. I never did get around to getting any of those things done for quite a while.

2nd time around baby was 2 weeks late. you never can tell unfortunately!
 
thanks everyone! i guess the general consensus is that you never know if he'll come early or later and that i could either be very bored or very relaxed!

i might just go with 2 weeks then, does that sound like a safe choice? we're not very prepared so far (i'm due end of march) so hopefully i'll be able to use those 2 weeks. plus job is quite stressful so agree with all on winding down!

oh well i've got some tests to run tomorrow (baby currently too big for his week size) so i'll find out if i SHOULD take off earlier i guess?
 
2 weeks is the maximum stipulated in the Employment Ordinance. For more, it's up to your company whether or not they allow.
Taking less is your choice.
Good luck!
 
I finished work at 36 weeks with my first, and planned to have a leisurely month off to get everything organized. Anyway, I ended up having to have a C-section at 36 1/2 weeks so only had 3 days off!! No way anything was organized!!! My poor husband was doing trips to B2B in his lunch break the week I was in hospital.

You never can tell how you'll feel towards the end of your pregnancy (sleepless nights, fluid retention, etc), so I would recommend a little down time before the delivery (unless baby has other ideas of course).
 
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