Questions & Answers

@mum212, I know... I'm from Europe myself, I lived in a few different countries there, and moms-to-be get maternity leave for up to a year and half, as well as stop working when they are 30 weeks pregnant AND still get paid. I'm in the US right now, and I have no idea what I will do when the time comes. My husband can't work, so I'll be providing the major income, and definitely don't wanna go back to work so soon after the baby comes. I'll have to find a job from home, because I will want to be with my baby, breastfeed it, etc...

6 weeks why do you guys only have 6 weeks. in the uk we have 9 months paid maternity leave and we get the choice to have 12 months off just without pay for 3 months, even so i planned with my son to start maternity leave 1 week before he was due. which was fine as i had all this time with my baby x

I plan to work as late as possible myself. Like you, I want as much time with my baby as possible! I know it wont be comfortable but Im going to try. That said, if I just cant do it (like the last two weeksor week) then I will go ahead and take it. I have to use Short Term Disability for mine anyways so I can get paid for up to 13 weeks. You honestly have to use your own judgement. Tell your boss that you want to work as long as you can, atleast till your 38th or 39th week, depending on how you feel.

If you can work until the end...I would highly recommend it. I was exhausted, grumpy, had horrible braxton hicks the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy, but I still pushed myself to work until the day before I delivered (I worked friday and delivered Saturday). I could have taken time off earlier just to rest at home, but I really wanted to use my days off with my baby instead. If you can handle it and have no objections from your OB, I'd highly recommend saving the time with the baby. Six weeks after having baby really does go by really fast. Good luck.

Does this mean your boss isn't comfortable with "working until labor"? If that is the case, I would tell him you want to work as late as possible, and say maybe you would leave the weekend before baby is due? I'm due on a Sunday, so I'm considering having that weekend off. If I go into labor early, my manager will cover any shifts remaining. I would explain that since you only have a short time, you want to work as long as you are capable. Hopefully they will understand if you are honest with them.

I'm 34 weeks and plan to work until the day I go into labor.
You have to keep in mind all pregnancies are different, some women can work until their water breaks - some women literally have to stop work around 32 weeks even if they're not high risk. I'm so sick of women thinking because they worked until the day they gave birth, all women who have normal pregnancies should and if they don't they're being lazy. Just because you're not high risk doesn't mean you need to work until the day you give birth. All women and babies are different as well as jobs and what the job requires you to do. Some women retain more water than others, some women have a bigger baby that is pushing down on their cervix making it more painful than normal, some women have horrible nausea in the last few weeks- and in that case they should consider maternity leave earlier than other women- thats not being "lazy". So it's up to you! You could always take an extra 2 weeks off just non-paid.. depending o

My tentative plan is to work up until either I go into labor or the doctor tells me not to work. That way I get my full 6 weeks with baby or short term disability pays for the time off and I still get my 6 weeks of PTO FMLA leave.

I wondering the same thing..good question...