Considering that I wont be paid for my maternity leave, I would like to work all the way up til I have the baby. Did any of you do this? How did you handle questions from your boss about when would be your last day?
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I had originally planned on leaving a week before my due date. Since I wasn't feeling too hot towards the end of my pregnancy, my bosses told me to stop working 2 weeks before my planned date. (3 weeks before my due date) They said to consider the paid 2 weeks my baby shower gift! Best shower gift ever
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It is my plan to work right up until I have the baby, like you. My co-worker did the same thing – worked up until the day her water broke and she went into labor.
My boss asked what my plans were, and I just said that barring some medical issue, I would be working until my water breaks/I go into labor. My boss was understanding - and I'm sure we'll just try to have daily meetings within the last few weeks before I'm due to check in on project progress/etc.
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@chopsuey119: Wow thats generous of them
@yoursilverlining: Oh ok thats good to know I'm not the only one. Since I wont get much time off I dont want to use up any of is before the baby comes
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I'm 39 weeks pregnant and still working. I'm lucky that I've had a relatively easy pregnancy and am counting my blessings. I feel just as good as I did a month ago (still tossing and turning at night!) and plan to work until I go into labor.
Still trying to decide if I want to work PAST my due date if the baby still isn't here. I have to use all the sick/vacation time I have and whatever I'm off past that, is unpaid. Not sure I want to waste the time?
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Our company has you go out 2 weeks prior to your due date and then you get 6 weeks following delivery. Pretty much sticking to that!
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I am lucky because my company give us 4 weeks prior to our due date (they actually want you to leave) and in some capacity 6-12 weeks after baby, the rest of our leave is unpaid but they hold our positions for 26 total weeks (like 6 months). I think I am very lucky for someone in the US.
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My due date was a Friday, and I'd planned to have my last day in the office be the Friday before that, and to work as needed from home until having the baby. But then I went into labor 10 days before my due date, so I ended up working right up through the end. If my water had broken about 4 hours earlier, I'd have been at the office!
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My last day I just picked my due date, but I have some vacation I'm going to use up prior to that, so I'll be off 2.5 weeks before LO is due. I'm in Canada though, so I'll have 1 year off from the time LO is born.
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I don't exactly have a choice of when my job will end, which will be in a week and a half. At 29 weeks, I am physically ready for it to come to an end though since it is getting difficult getting on the floor, bending over constantly to pick the baby up, and generally trying my best to keep up my energy I normally had as a caretaker before pregnancy. I think if I had a desk job, I would be okay to work a while longer.
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I'm working till I pop and that's what I told my boss. He just laughed.
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I wanted to work til a week before, but I stopped 2wks before because I was so huge I could barely make it. My water ended up breaking on the day I planned to be my last day of work!LOL
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I had planned on working until the day before my due date, but my OB had inquired about when I was planning on going off work, and when I told her, she advised me to go off at least 2 weeks prior to my due date.
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I'm working up until my due date, but I'm going to switch to working from home 3 weeks before my due date. I have an hour-long commute over a mountain, so I really *really* don't want to start going into labor while I'm at work.
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If I have a vaginal delivery I only get 6 wks paid at 66% of what I made the last 3 months. If I get a c-section it will be 8 wks of pay at the same rate. So we decided that my last day of work would be the day before my due date. And I am only taking 8 weeks (10 if I do the c-section) and also using some of my vacation.
My hospital is 5 minuets from home or 15 minuets from work, so I kind of hope I go a little early.
My company is really good about working with everyone's scheduling needs, though. -
DS was late and based on his size, they scheduled me for induction at 10 days past my due date. I was hoping to go into labor earlier, but I didn't. My last day was the Friday before my induction (scheduled for a Monday). They wanted me to work as long as I could safely. I just gave a quick update at the end of each day in case I went into labor that night.
I had no trouble working that far. I stopped meeting individually with certain kids who can get aggressive, and wasn't responsible for supervising any of the kids just in case. I was more worried about going into labor than one of the kids hurting me, and wanted to have another adult nearby just in case.
All I would have done at home.is eat and worry about when labor would start, so it was better to get my work done and keep my mind off things as much as possible.
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My doctor actually picked it for me. I got put on bedrest about 7 weeks before my due date.
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With my first, I was planning to go out 2 weeks before my EDD but my water broke at 34 weeks so I worked till the end.
With my twins, given my history, I was asked by my Doc to stop work at 28 weeks but I dragged it out until 31 weeks. I stopped work on Friday and guess what? I was put on hospital bed rest the following Tuesday
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My boss was happy that I was willing to work as long as I was physically able. She has had kids, so she understood that I could go at any time. About a month before my due date I worked on non-essential projects that could be postponed if needed, then I didn't have to stress over letting anyone down.
I worked until the day before I went into labor (and was working on freelance projects when my water broke). Timing was on my side- I taught up until Christmas break, then worked mostly from home until the baby came Jan. 7th (a week early).
My last month I had a lot of swelling in my hands and legs- the last couple weeks of working from home I saw a big reduction in my swelling.
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My plan was to work until I went into labor. And that I did.
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i wanted to quit in november, but my boss pretty much said i'd set him back. so i said i'd stay til february, since my "due date" is mid-march. busy season is until mid-april.... and lots of work is done by february.
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I stopped a month before my due date. My commute is 2+ hours and my dr wanted me to relax as much as possible beforehand.
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My plan is to work right up until I have the baby. My due date is a Sunday so I have told work that my tentative last day of work is the immediate Friday before. However, I have told my work that if I am feeling good and haven't delivered by my due date I will continue to keep working. They seem happy with that. I know people who started their leave a week before their due date but then delivered a week late and I personally wanted to avoid that scenario so as to maximize my time with the baby during maternity leave. Of course, if my doc instructs me to stop working earlier, I will.
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@Mrsbells: I am trying to figure this out, too. My job wants an official last day. I have no clue what to do because I will be SO BORED when baby is late and I'm staying at home.
(Pretty much exactly what @winniebee: said)
@autumnlove: I will only stop earlier if my doc says to. -
@Green Thumb: LOL. My mom worked until delivery. She used to love answering "when are you due" with "three days ago" etc.
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My due date was the Saturday after thanksgiving, so i made my last day the wednesday of that week. I was hoping to go into labor before that but was induced the friday of the following week instead. It was a little tempting to keep working past my due date but i had wrapped up all my work and there wasnt much left to do. I think it depends on your field of work.
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I told my boss that I planned on working all the way until my water broke or labor started and they were ok with that. Beginning one month prior to my due date I updated a daily project status report and checked in with my PM weekly. Once I hit two weeks prior to EDD o checked on with my PM every few days on how I felt and project status. Using this process I ended up working 5 days past EDD when I started early labor contractions. It wirked out great since, like many of you, I wanted to maximize my time home with LO and not waste it sitting home waiting to pop.
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Like a few others, I just told my boss, I'm working until I go into labor. I can't leave early, I don't get any paid time for maternity leave. Should be fun driving to work 10 months pregnant!
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I'll work up until the day I go into labor unless my midwives advise otherwise. I may work from home the last few weeks though, depending on how uncomfortable I am, especially since I work over an hour from my hospital.
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Ideally, I will work up until my due date. The COO of my company who I work pretty closely with thinks that I should plan to work half days for a few weeks before hand. I don't think that I'll do that though since all of my leave is unpaid and we will need for me to work as much as I can before she gets here.
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HR suggested that maternity leave begin the 2 months before your due date, so that meant I would have left the end of September for a December due date. I had to get a special exception to stay another month, I seriously was climbing the walls but I couldn't move around as easily and the commute would have been a bit tiring.
If I had known then what I know now, I would have worked through November as well.
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unless my dr tells me that I need to be off, I'm working til baby comes so that I can maximize my time off with him or her. my company doesn't offer maternity leave, just short term disability {6 weeks for uncomplicated vaginal delivery} & that doesn't kick in until baby is actually here, so I don't want to waste vacation time waiting for baby to be here when I could be using it after. I'm 39 weeks as of yesterday
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I was paid for 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after (then padded it out with vacation time). Earlier in my pregnancy it seemed silly, but I was so tired and hormonal I wanted to kill everyone by the time week 34 rolled around! So it was a blessing.
I have read about research showing better outcomes for women who have some time off to rest before delivery. Lord knows there's no time to rest after!
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