MSE Pregnancy Club 25

nessie216

Very close to joining this thread now, trying to sort out my maternity leave & wanted to ask for your advice

I work in an office (20min drive), so lots of sitting down, although i have the opportunity to move around alot if i want. Work are extremely flexible so if i get up late nothing gets said etc.

I'm the type of person that gets bored on holidays - used to hate school holidays! Don't get me wrong i can amuse myself but i know that i will get bored if i have too much time off work

I also still have 16 days holiday to take before maternity leave starts so...

I am thinking of starting my maternity leave on the day before my due date(03.10.13) and taking maybe a week or two as holiday before

My Question is - bearing in mind this is my first pregnancy - will i regret being so optimistic about working up to my due date?

I have to make a decision by next thurs so any advice or experiences will be appreciated

Second 20 week scan today as bean was a b*gga last time :-)

23+4

snozberry

nessie216 wrote: »

Very close to joining this thread now, trying to sort out my maternity leave & wanted to ask for your advice

I work in an office (20min drive), so lots of sitting down, although i have the opportunity to move around alot if i want. Work are extremely flexible so if i get up late nothing gets said etc.

I'm the type of person that gets bored on holidays - used to hate school holidays! Don't get me wrong i can amuse myself but i know that i will get bored if i have too much time off work

I also still have 16 days holiday to take before maternity leave starts so...

I am thinking of starting my maternity leave on the day before my due date(03.10.13) and taking maybe a week or two as holiday before

My Question is - bearing in mind this is my first pregnancy - will i regret being so optimistic about working up to my due date?

I have to make a decision by next thurs so any advice or experiences will be appreciated

Second 20 week scan today as bean was a b*gga last time :-)

23+4

It's up to you really. I began my maternity leave when I was 37+4 and I work in a very busy, hands-on environment. I would have worked longer if I could because I get bored as well but didn't because the half term holiday was in the way!

Good luck with your scan. I had to have a second one as well because my little un had had enough and stopped posing.

40+7

ps, you might want to rethink tracking your weight gain. It gets quite horrific towards the end lol

Claree__x

I'm finishing up at 35 weeks which is really quite early, I was considering 38 but my mum's offered me 2 weeks foster care which is too well paid to turn down, and a damn sight more comfortable than the office!

The only thing I'd say about office work is that it gets pretty uncomfortable. I'm 29 weeks now (give or take) and my bum goes numb on this chair, my back hurts and I have a box under my desk to put my feet up on...I can only imagine it's going to get worse too!

baleb

Hi Nessie, this is my first too so I obv have no experience of working at 40 weeks, but my office sounds much the same as yours, very flexible. Also I am being given the opportunity to work from home some days if I wish, and bearing this in mind I am going to try and work to my due date.

ATM I'm 32 weeks, and apart from broken sleep due to getting up for the loo, and generally being uncomfortable I am fine at work.

I have holiday I can take too, so if I get closer to the time and want to stop work earlier I can, but I really just want to spend my time off with my baby rather than pregnant at home

Hope that helps x

IHateDida

nessie216 wrote: »

My Question is - bearing in mind this is my first pregnancy - will i regret being so optimistic about working up to my due date?

Hello Nessie!

I am glad I started my maternity leave today (due date and its my first!!!) - I am already going bonkers through boredom (I did take a weeks unpaid leave prior to this and a weeks holiday). My job is very "full on" at times and I somehow managed - I worked until I was 37+4.

My friend took maternity leave about 6 weeks before baby was due and she was nearly 2 weeks late - think how you will feel if this is the case.....she was very prepared....but towards the end was extremely bored! If you go into labour early or feel unwell - you will automatically go on maternity leave - but its harder to change the other way around as you have to give notice.

Thanks for your responses guys on the sweep - I will see what mw has to say tomorrow - the home birth is my motivation and I know being induced will prevent this. I might see if I can have one Friday.....would rather go into labour at the weekend - and it would be lovely to go into labour on Fathers day!

I have been very productive this afternoon - went into Tescos on my own (I was terrified though!), cooked 3 veggie shepherds pies for the freezer (been meaning on doing some freezer stuff for ages!) and made a casserole for dinner tonight!

What have others been doing to fill their time?

40+0

bride2be2012

I've just been signed off work for two weeks as my back is killing me, I then have a weeks holiday then I'm starting maternity leave at 28 weeks - not entirely happy starting that early but my boss has been making life unbearable at work, and my contract ends when I'm on mat leave so I'm not going back anyway. Had my boss been more accommodating, and had renewed my contract so I had a job to go back to, then I would have tried to stick it out longer, prob until about 37 weeks ( though my job isn't office based, and involves a lot of manual work, so who knows?!)

As long as my back doesn't get any worse, I'm planning on spending the next 15 weeks getting our house in order, stocking up the freezer with meals, I'm looking at doing a short course at our local college, catching up with friends and making the most of being able to do things like going to the library! I'm also signing up for some pregnancy yoga classes, and generally making the most of having some me time before baby bean arrives! (Currently sitting with my feet up watching the tennis, roll on Wimbledon!)

lilymay1

Ladies after Maxi Cosi Cabriofix car seats - I posted about 2 weeks ago when Amazon reduced a black one to £79.99, plus if you join Amazon Family (free) you get an extra £10 off, so £69.99 delivered with Prime.

The price has since gone back up but if I see it that low again (or anywhere near) I will be sure to post on here again.

They currently have a black pebble for £100 (£90 with Amazon Family) which is cheap for that model, but I personally think the Cabriofix is a much better car seat.

I'll keep you updated!

Good luck to all the full-termers!

mrsj28

Hi ladies :wave:

Congratulations convent girl! You are definitely allowed to queue jump with twins

Happy due date Dida!! Re: the sweep - personally I don't want to have to have a sweep but that's much more preferable for me than induction, so I think I'd go with the sweep in the hope that it might get things going. I'm not planning a home birth, but hoping to go to a birth centre, and if I have to be induced I won't be able to go there, and the labour ward I'll have to go there doesn't have birthing pools so I really want to avoid induction if I can!

Snozberry and Lolamancity - sending lots of labour vibes to you. BigBird too, hope things get moving for you soon.

It's interesting hearing different views on when to start maternity leave - I have had quite a difficult time at work with my boss over the past year or so, so for me it was a no-brainer to start earlier rather than later (I finished at 34 weeks), also I had lots of holiday to use up so I actually had five weeks paid holiday first, and then mat. leave started. Usually I'm the kind of person that gets bored easily, but I have LOVED the extra time - did lots of nesting to start with and got the house in order, and lots of sleeping and catching up with friends, and now I'm taking things a bit slower although still got a few things planned so I don't go mad. I do get bored if I'm just at home doing nothing, but that hasn't really happened much!

bride2be - sorry to hear you've been signed off, but having been in a similar situation with an awful boss, I am sure you will enjoy the time - like you say, lots of tennis to watch, Queen's started today, hooray!

Went for a pedicure today, my feet look presentable for the first time in weeks (even DH had commented that I should probably repaint my toenails... unheard of for him to even notice I have toenails). Haircut tomorrow so kind of hoping I don't go into labour tonight so I can get that done!

What is everybody cooking for the freezer...? I'm feeling a bit uninspired as all the usual batch cooking I do is more wintry stuff. So far have got a chilli and a bolognese in the freezer, planning to do a macaroni cheese, and make some fishcakes, and stick a shop bought pizza in there too. The freezer isn't massive so I can't do a month's worth of food but thought it'd be good to have a few bits in there.

Mrsj x 39 +0

bride2be2012

I'm doing pretty much the same sort of thing for the freezer, though as I'm not due until the end of September, wintery type meals will probably be required lol! I'll prob have some soup in there by the time comes too, and also some home baking as well (hidden in unmarked containers so DH doesn't get to them!).

Metranil_Vavin

Evening chaps.

Not that I'm complaining (well maybe a bit), but this baby seems to be a complete ninja and is pretty much constantly kicking me about. It was just in the evenings after I'd eaten, but she seems to now be taking every opportunity to beat me up inside!

It's actually quite uncomfortable at times (now being one of them), as my bladder is being squished so I am constantly running to the loo, but also i can feel some quite sickening movements in my lower groin area.

With my last pregnancy I had an anterior placenta so didn't feel as much (which caused it's own stresses!) so I'm not used to this much activity!

Is there anything I can do to lull baby to sleep a bit? I guess walking about might help rock her a bit.

Also should the crazy acrobatics begin to ease up as I near the end? When do they start to settle as they are too big to move about so much?

I really don't want to moan as feeling so much movement obviously means I have an active baby, but it's driving me a bit nuts too.

Thanks for any advice!

29+4