When did you start maternity leave?

[charlie84]

Hi i dont know whether i have posted in the right place, but i am interested in knowing when people started maternity leave.

I am putting it in writing for my employers as to when i want to start mine, but to be honest i have no idea when to start it.

Did you find you should have left earlier or later than what you has planned?

I am due 3rd April 08 and my job is full time, mainly a sit at a desk job but can be fast paced at time with strict deadlines.

Sorry if i am being nosey i wanted to have an idea of what other people did.

Thanks xxxx

 

[Gem & Leland]

your only know giving ur notice ? blimey i had to give 15 weeks notice which is what most companies or even the gvmt ask for ! even dh had to give 15 weeks notice for his paternity !

but i left at 29 weeks , but i did a manual job which also inc many hours drinvg round london, not good !

 

[charlie84]

your only know giving ur notice ? blimey i had to give 15 weeks notice which is what most companies or even the gvmt ask for ! even dh had to give 15 weeks notice for his paternity !

but i left at 29 weeks , but i did a manual job which also inc many hours drinvg round london, not good !

Yep the other week when i mentioned to HR about my maternity leave and mat b1 she seemed disinterested about the whole thing to be honest, so i am writing a letter which hopefully will sort things.

 

[muppetmummy]

With James I left at 29 weeks but that was just because I was moving from Cambridge to Devon and didn't want to leave the move till too late in my pregnancy.

This time I've put down to leave at 34 weeks but that's a lot to do with the fact I hate my job anyway and work in a supermarket so do a lot of standing up or sitting down constantly for hours at a time which makes my spd play up. If I were still in an easy office job I'd leave it until 36 weeks or so I think.

I think if you can it's better to leave later than sooner so you have more time at home with the baby afterwards. You'll probably get bored whilst on maternity leave waiting for baby to arrive anyway.

It depends largely on the type of job you do, your health and whether you've got things to do at home before the baby arrives (ie, finishing the nursery etc)

 

[Tangerinedream]

I went on maternity leave officially at 37 weeks but had 2 weeks holiday before that so stopped working at 35 weeks. I am a housing officer which involves a lot of walking about so was definately ready to leave.

Im going back in 3 weeks

 

[trixipaws]

i started maternity leave 4 weeks before my due date, and also took 3 weeks annual holiday entitlement before that- so 7 weeks off before i had melissa.

FABULOUS decision! as i had no children previously, those 7 weeks were my last 7 weeks of "freedom", no responsibilities all the time to myself to do as i pleased. and im so so glad i did it, coz being a mummy is a full-time job! glad i got all that free time to relax while i still could.

 

[kalia]

I'm due on 26th April. I'll be on holiday from Friday 20th March then start maternity leave on Monday the 2nd April. So I'll be um...... 34 weeks pregnant? 35? But I'm on my feet all day and although work have been lovely and given me chairs I just don't feel I can teach properly sitting at the front of the class. OH's sister is having a baby 2 weeks after me and she is only taking a week off before as she can sit down all day and she wants to have as much time as possible with LO at the other end of her maternity leave. Completely off topic but my breast is leaking! (Please excuse my bizarre excitement, it just happened when typing this.)

 

[eightball]

I have a desk job too that can sometimes be stressful. I stopped working at 35 weeks and it was a good job because my brain was mush!
Loved those free weeks before the birth preparing, mooching about and getting all the sleep I could!

 

[Rubys mummy]

I worked until 38 weeks-have a stressfull office desk job which I love and I had a promotion at 20 weeks PG so had a lot to sort before I handed over to my stand in....

As it was, I went 12 days overdue and I was so bored waiting for her to arrive, but with hind sight it was wonderful relaxing and sleeping as much as I wanted to

My best advice is to enjoy and relax as much as you can, coz once bubba is here you wont get the chance

 

[nathanmum]

i was 32 weeks with nathan i think?? i was working full time as a nurse on a busy ward with no staff so physically couldnt work any longer.
this time im finishing at 36 weeks. i work 3 days a week now but im finding it difficult now.

 

[Kylie1007]

As a teacher with baby due on 24th November, October half term fell in a great place for me - I finished on 22nd Oct which was h/t so I was only missing 3 weeks of school...however...the baby came 3 weeks early so it was lucky I'd had my h/t week off!

 

[mummykay]

34 weeks finishing and had 4 weeks and 2 days to myself before he was born lol

 

[leckershell]

Because my maternity leave fell over 2 "years", I had a years worth of holiday leave to take too.. so I left at 30 weeks. 4 weeks of that was holiday pay, and I started my maternity leave 6 weeks before I was due just in case he was early. I had a lot of commuting to do so by 30 weeks I was getting far too knackered to have carried on much longer anyway.

 

[kazlin]

I'm due 5th April and starting mine 11th January, the earliest I can go. To be honest it's been a pain over xmas, we have been short staffed and by the time I've been getting home I'm knackered.

 

[NIE]

I work in a hospital as an OT Assistant and gave up working at 29 weeks because I wanted to take it easy and relax. It was a godsend as I ended up having real mobility problems soon after I finished up.

 

[Sherlock]

I went for the full paid allowance of entitlement before birth. Some companies have their own policy and you can take paid leave sooner, but most seem to stick to the Gov policy.

It meant waiting for my MatB1 form after my 20 week scan was all, so as to have an exact date to file for the leave to start. You are obliged to notify your employer a certain amount of time before you intend your leave to start. I forget the exact timing now. You can read all the blurb on the employment/Gov sites.

As it ended up, I resigned from my job and left before Christmas anyways. I'd have started my leave from mid-end of Feb had I stayed.

 

[laetitia85]

I left at 27 weeks (as soon as i was "allowed")



only because my workplace is far from where i live, the journey is a nightmare (2 buses, then tube, then walk) and physically i couldn't take it anymore.

 

[rachie29]

I dont actually officially start mine until 2nd Jan. 2 weeks before due date.

I have finished work though at exactly 36 weeks, I had holidaysleft to use. I work in recruitment and it is also quite a stressful job, lots of targets etc so I was definitely ready to go. I would have finished earlier if my mat pay was better, but as I also earn commission the longer I was there the more chance I had of earning bonus to be paid whilst on maternity leave.

 

[Full of hope!]

I start my maternity leave tomorrow I'll be almost 35 weeks. I actually stopped work the Friday before christmas as I had a few days holiday to take.

I've got quite a few jobs to do in the house and for baby's arrival, getting things done takes a hundred times longer than normal because i'm getting so big and tired so i'm going to need the time before the little man arrives

 

[Babylicious]

I'm going at 36 weeks, already told them