Maternity Leave - feel selfish

liuhut

Just another thought about cash....have you looked at all the stuff you will be entitled to...theres a maternity grant of £500 if your earning are below a certain amount and then of course tax credits and Child benifits...it all mounts up.

bloomin_freezing

I was different to you ladies, I went at 26 weeks. I wanted to have as much 'me time' as possible as once the baby arrives it'll be a very long time before you get to choose exactly what and when you do anything else! Its not that i'm slefish but I knew I wouldn't be returning to work once my maternity leave ended so really just wanted time to do whatever and whenever I felt like it. I'm glad I did it that way, and yes, maternity pay finished sooner than maybe it had to but it was def the right decision for me. Yes, some days I lay on my sofa watching 'chav tv', but others I met with friends or pampered myself, or did painting (I glossed the whole house! Must've been my way of nesting!) But time is the one thing you can never get back, so be sure to make the best decision for you. You will learn to cope on less money.

Don't forget maternity pay is now extended to 39 weeks? (don't quote me on 39 but i'm sure its like that).

All the best for a safe and speedy delivery!!

daveyjp

My wife had an e-mail from a colleague at her US head office who is due her first baby on Friday this week, she is still at work and will return after about 6 weeks off!

My wife finished about 6 weeks before - that's pre-eclampsia for you, but don't forget you are probably still entitled to paid leave before or after the birth so take the time off before as holiday if you can.

[Deleted User]

Have you got any holidays to use up?? I finished at 36 weeks but took 3 weeks hols before I started my maternity leave

Janepig

I was planning to work up until a little less than two weeks before I was due to go in for a C-section with my second - as it turned out he was five weeks early. I finished work for Christmas on the Friday and went into hospital in labour in the early hours of Christmas morning which was the Sunday. So I didn't go back to work after christmas as planned. :rolleyes:

Laura, I'm telling you this is because the main reason I think I went into labour five weeks early was because of Christmas and the stress related with that time of year (for me anyway), especially when you've got little ones. My midwife said they always get a glut of premature babies on Christmas because of stressed-out mums to be. My point being that if you are getting stressed and worried about your situation then you may also go into labour early, so whatever you do, take it easy!!!!!

Is it a large or small employer you work for? If it's a small business with just afew employees then I can understand that you might perhaps feel a little guilty at going off, but then it can't be helped. Either way, your employer is going to be without you for the same period of time whether you go off afew weeks before baby is due or work right up.

I know everyone tells you to get your sleep/relaxation in now before baby comes, but you really don't appreciate that advice until after baby arrives!!!!

Jxx

Carmina_Piranha_3

i couldn't manage after 32 weeks but i suppose it depends on your job. have you checked your benefits entitlements on entitledto? you might get the £500 surestart grant if your joint earnings for the year (up to this coming april i think?) were under the threshold, it's about 28k i think but i'm pretty clueless so don't take my word for it.

pregnancy, especially in the last few weeks is really hard on your body so if you need to leave work early you should definitely not feel guilty! don't forget any holiday you might have left, but even without that if you need to give notice now then do so. it's not 'wasted time' - i never thought i'd watch birth programmes on TV but i ended up watching lots of them while i was on maternity leave and it really calmed me down, seeing exactly what happens and all the things that might happen.

i'm sorry there's all the debt to worry about. are there any other ways of tackling it? maybe he could write to all the companies and ask them to freeze the interest and accept a lower payment?

ailuro2

I hope your partner has cut up all those cards! If I were you, I'd finish work as soon as it got too much for me, and spend the time going through all his old bills and finding out what the money went on to make sure it never happens again. That would be time well spent, and would help ease your worries.

Good Luck!

footballmanagerwidow

Please don't feel guilty or like you're letting anyone down, working until you're 36 or 38 weeks is still a massive achievment! I'm 32 weeks today and am working up until the 28th March...I was intially planning on going until the end of April (baby due 6th May) but changed my mind a couple of months ago and decided I needed a bit more time off before he arrives. However, I have 2 other children under 6 so I am utilising that extra time to spoil them a bit before the chaos begins! With my first I worked up until 39 weeks and with my second I went off at 29 weeks as I was just so exhausted - just goes to show every pregnancy is different and you need to do what's right for you and your baby xx

Ms_Piggy_2

bloomin_freezing wrote: »

Don't forget maternity pay is now extended to 39 weeks? (don't quote me on 39 but i'm sure its like that).

Yes - but it's only SMP which is pretty dire TBH!

Lip_Stick

I was expecting my own lil one in May last year, and the tiny lil thing is a right big handful now lol.

Anyway, I decided to work up until a month before my due date, 2 of those weeks being holiday, but it became increasingly hard, especially as the boss had me running up and down stairs. :mad: I sent them a letter and changed my leaving date, bringing it a week forward and they were perfectly understanding. I didn't like the thought of wasting my maternity leave, wanting it to spend with my new baby, but you get so exhausted in the end. It does you the world of good to be able to sit down in the final couple of weeks doing practically nothing lol. I used some of the time to give my place a thorough clean (with my mam doing most of the hard work) and go baby shopping. There's nothing much better than baby shopping, certainly not work lol!

Btw, when you have your baby and ring tax credits, give them an estimate of your earnings, you'll get working tax credits for that year, obviously depending on your joint income, and child tax credits.