I am officially done with work as of this past Friday. I had decided a while back that if at all possible, I wanted to stop working a week before my due date. I came to this conclusion due to many factors: I knew I’d be big and grouchy near the end (true), I knew that I wouldn’t want to be sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day or commuting 45 minutes each way on the train (very true), and I’d be incredibly fearful of going into labor at work (very, very, very true).
In looking at my paid time off plus short term disability, I determined that even if I go up to 42 weeks (meaning I’d be home for 3 weeks before baby) I would still be able to take 12 weeks off of work from the time the baby was born. Financially – and probably mentally – it’s better for me to not have 3 weeks sitting around my house waiting for baby, as the longer I’m covered under my paid time off during my actual leave, I make more money than I would under short term disability. However, whatever way it ends up happening, I’m so happy I made the decision to spend some time at home before baby.
My last day at work really snuck up on me. All of a sudden it went from weeks left to days to just a few hours. I scrambled to get everything wrapped up and in order for those who would be covering for me while I’m out. I never realized just how much work it is to prepare for 12+ weeks out of the office. It’s crazy! What was even crazier was the big send off I had at the very end of the day.
I was literally within 10 minutes of leaving when the street in front of our building was filled with 8 huge fire trucks and a couple of ambulances. Keep in mind that I work in a highrise in downtown Chicago, so any kind of fire scare or anything else generally is a huge deal. As everyone looked out the window, we realized that they were staring at our building. If there was an emergency in our building, they would evacuate us and it’s hard to say if/when they would let us back up. Is this really how my last day would be? Fortunately the fire alarm hadn’t gone off yet, but around 10 fire fighters all of a sudden came filing out of our stairwell and into our office.
I went into overdrive of recording my out of office voice mail, sending any final emails, packing any remaining personal items, etc. I moved faster than I have in weeks! Fortunately, it turned out to be a non-emergency: one of the elevators in the building wasn’t working properly and there was a smoky/burning smell coming from it.
At this point, I was all ready to go – I’d zipped through everything on my list and it was just time to leave. So, on the heels of a fire scare, I was officially done with work. Now I only have Baby H to think about! Which, is also crazy.
I am so excited for this baby to get here, but also completely terrified and I have no clue how to feel about not being pregnant anymore. Pregnancy is such a strange journey. I went from keeping the pregnancy a secret to finally sharing the news, but knowing that I just looked “chubby” to the rest of the world. I waited and waited for that awesome bump to arrive and once it did, it felt like it grew at warp speed. Finally I felt validated after months of not feeling like I looked pregnant – all of a sudden I was big and pregnant and awesome. And now… I’m also desperately uncomfortable. I love my big bump but the aches and pains that go with it are hard to handle some days. I’m tired. My back hurts. Really, everything aches. And very, very soon that bump will be gone and I’ll be rewarded with an adorable little baby – a completely new territory to tackle!
I just can’t believe after months of saying “After the baby gets here…” we are potentially just days away from the baby being here! I’m hoping to keep myself as busy and distracted as possible while waiting for baby – the nice thing about work, at least, is that it keeps you very distracted from worrying. No time to stress about what labor will be like when you have a deadline to meet!
Did you (or will you) work up until your baby’s arrival or take some time off?
guest
I just told my boss this morning that I’m planning to depart at 38 weeks. She was less than thrilled, but I really don’t care. I want some time at home for exactly the reasons you mentioned. This time is about me and my growing family, not about my work team. That sounds harsh, but it’s just the truth.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
I will be working right up till delivery. Unfortunately I only get 6 weeks of STD, 1 of which is unpaid. So I can’t afford to take any more time off and even if I could I would rather use it for when baby gets here since I get so little time off.
squash / 13199 posts
I’m at work today and my due date was yesterday! I plan to keep working til the baby arrives. I think staying occupied will make waiting easier for me, and hopefully stayng active will be good for me too
I get up to 12 weeks off but its all unpaid so I want to only use it when the baby is here
grapefruit / 4120 posts
In Mexico, we are given (and required to take) six weeks before the EDD and six weeks after, all paid. At first I was bummed because it seemed unnecessary to take so much time off beforehand, but now that I’ve gone through it, I seriously don’t know how other people work right up through labor. I was so OVER being at work by the time 34 weeks rolled around, and I enjoyed the chance to rest. I even felt cheated when the baby came at 38 weeks!
In short, I had no choice, and I’m sort of glad I didn’t.
On a related note, I have heard research shows better outcomes for women who take time off before delivery.
GOLD / wonderful apricot / 22646 posts
I plan on working up to my EDD, but I’m also only 9 weeks in and have no set plans yet! Enjoy your week and hope baby H doesn’t stay in there too long past your due date!!
nectarine / 2797 posts
I’m working until I go into labor, but I’m lucky enough that I’ll be able to work from home the last few weeks so I can take away the worry about going into labor at the office. I’d love to take some extra time off, but since I’m already taking a portion of my leave unpaid, I want to work as long as I still can. Plus if I can go a week overdue I’ll get an extra two weeks of pay, since we accrue half our time on July 1.
persimmon / 1099 posts
The way our maternity leave works they allow us to leave the office 2 weeks prior to the delivery of the baby with that first week being mandatory PTO. Then it is 6 weeks exactly from the delivery of the baby. This could mean I get potentially 8+ weeks paid leave if she’s late as disability covers anything until the baby is born or lose paid time if she’s early. I inquired about why take 2 weeks before and they explained that because the first week is my paid time and the second week is when leave kicks in it was in my best interest to go then because If I worked to my due date and she came early I’d be using my mandatory vacation time for it instead of the disability. I don’t have the option of tacking those 2 weeks on the end.
Regardless, next Friday April 27 is my last day and Im so excited. I’ve been done with work for 2 weeks now and so ready to just putter around the house/rest before the big event.
honeydew / 7504 posts
I always said I’d work up until delivery, but the more I think about it, the more I think I will take time off ahead of time. I work in the city, and it is a 30-minute train ride (plus 15 minute walk to the train station and then 5 minute drive to hospital) to get home. Or an hour-long drive. Either way, not a position I want to be in if my water breaks and/or I go into labor at work! I’d rather be home, just 5 minutes from the hospital (although I would have to wait 45 minutes for hubs to get home).
GOLD / wonderful grape / 20289 posts
I had stopped working before I got pregnant due to health reasons. I had lots of time to just sit and wait for LO to come!
pomegranate / 3414 posts
I plan to work right up to when I go into labor. I managed (sort-of) to do that with DD; however she shifted onto my sciatic nerve one week before her due date so I worked from home the 3 days before I was induced.
honeydew / 7968 posts
I quit a month before my csec. Loved that time off…
blogger / pomegranate / 3201 posts
Can’t wait to virtually meet baby H!
kiwi / 537 posts
Planned to work to the end and ended up working the morning I was induced. I didn’t know it was going to happen, I went to L&D after consulting my OB because I had thrown up the night before and just didn’t feel right. After a blood draw, it was determined that baby needed out sooner rather than later. In hindsight, I wish I had taken some time- but I was saving as much as I could for LO’s arrival.
olive / 55 posts
I plan to work until I deliver, but my job does allow us to telework from home occasionally, so I plan to start doing that a week or so before my due date.
apple seed / 3 posts
My due date is on Sunday (4/22) and I’m working from home today through this Friday. If I still haven’t had LO by Monday, I haven’t decided if I’m going to work from home some days or the whole week(s) until she’s born. I am pretty lucky because I have some flexibility, but I also don’t ask for permission, I just tell them what I’m going to do regardless of what they think. I’m taking a full 12 weeks after LO is born – 6 wks STD, 4 wks vacation, 2 unpaid. It would be nice to not be working right now, since I am pretty much just checking email at this point anyway, but I wanted to take as much time off after LO’s birth as possible.
blogger / apricot / 366 posts
It’s so interesting hearing what everyone is able to do pre-baby! I wish my job let me be more flexible – I’d have no probably working from home until baby arrives, but it’s not an option for me.
I give everyone props who will be working until the very end!! I know it’s definitely not the easiest.
@MommyGinger: Your due date is the day after mine! Hopefully neither of us will go too much past that point
@sloaneandpuffy: That’s crazy that you are required to take 6 weeks off beforehand! But I agree with you that you hit that point in the pregnancy where you can’t even think about work because you’re so focused on baby. Hard to get anything productive done after a certain point
@eiko2010: I have a similar commute on the train, and trust me, it does get harder and harder to motivate yourself to get to work. If I were driving, I think I’d feel more relaxed that I could get home if I needed to (maybe? Not sure about driving in labor!)…but being downtown you either have to take a cab or the train in an emergency, neither of which is very appealing!