Last time I worked right up until I delivered. As in, I went to work on Wednesday, went into labor Wednesday night, and gave birth on Thursday morning - so I obviously was not in the office that day! We had already set it up for me to make a quick exit, so for my office it was fine. My job involved a LOT of work, and since my office was too small to have to follow FMLA, I did not have paid maternity leave. (I bought disability insurance, which paid for 6 weeks (8 weeks if you have a c-section), but then they forced me to use up my PTO first, so all in all I only got 3 weeks of disability insurance. I was pissed off at them, but honestly I got more out of the insurance than I paid in, so I couldn't complain.) Point being, I needed to work as much as possible in order to earn as much as possible. My going back was rather flexible, since I was not on paid leave, so if I had gone back, I think it would have been slightly more than 12 weeks (like 13-14 weeks). However, if I had gone back, and they had held me to 12 weeks, I'd rather have had the time off afterwards with the baby. It goes by really, really fast. Faster than you think it will.

This time my husband and I are self-employed (he was before; I joined him after baby #1), so I am getting as much done as possible pre-baby. There have been days when I'd have loved to stay home, and even my dad was surprised that I wasn't taking some time off, but there's really a lot that needs to be done around here.

I understand that you're starting to get tired and are finding it hard to concentrate - I think I hit that wall about the same time you did - but my guess is that you'll be happier having the extra time after you have your baby. At most I'd take a week off before your due date, but keep in mind that you might not make it that far! I guess it depends on your setup as far as whether or not your leave is paid, if you'll need the extra week of full pay prior to delivery, etc.

I'm 37 weeks and I'm taking the next week off to get stuff ready and go to doctor's appointments. With my son, they had already decided to induce me at this point, so we'll see what happens! I'm in the military, so it's paid maternity leave, but I get six weeks postpartum.

My maternity leave is not paid. My husband is totally on board and fine with the idea of me taking a week of before my due date (assuming, again, that I make it that far). My biggest concern is that I will take a week off before my due date then be a week or 2 late. I don't need that much time to myself. I guess I'll just see how things are going and decide once the time comes.

Ooh, good call on being late! That would be crappy. Maybe plan on 2 or 3 days off leading up? Me, I'd need the pay, but I can totally appreciate that time off, too. You can sleep in a little, get stuff done, and maybe get a little "me" time - matinee and a pedicure, anyone?

Then again, the more you plan, the less likely you'll be to be available... Last time we had two weekends before my EDD, so we planned to spend them going to the movies and the like. Nope, baby came at 38+5 (went into labor at 38+4). This time we've stayed home over the weekends because I'm mega-tired and freaked out that we won't be home when I go into labor, thus making the hand-off of my son to my sister difficult or impossible, and I'm 39+1 with a gut feeling that I'll be going in for an induction on 5/28 (40+2).

If your tired hun, take the time off! Dont over-do things and feel like you HAVE to keep going up until your due date.
We get mat leave paid here so I am planning on leaving at 36 weeks xx

with my first I wasn't working, and continued to stay home with him until he was 3. with my second I worked up until 2 weeks before my due date and regretted it, it was so hard. With this one I am starting my leave at 36 weeks, I'm being induced at 39 weeks, and I'm taking the max 12 weeks off. When I go back I"m only going back for two days a week for a few months so I won't just leave her all at once.

With my first I left work in the middle of the day and had my son about 8 hours later. I was teaching school and he was born the day before Christmas Break so I was able to get some extra "free" time off with him.

My daughter was born in the summer, so I was already on a break and only had to take a couple weeks off at the beginning of the school year.

I was glad that I didn't use any of my maternity leave before the baby was born, but I also had pretty easy pregnancies.

If you are feeling like you need to take off early, then do it. Good luck!

My maternity leave isn't paid either and I don't want to take off earlier as I'm scared I could end up being late too. The plan is to work until I have this little girl so I can spend as much time home with her as I can. I've been getting super tired, but I'd rather it this way than take off early. Good luck deciding whats best for you!! :flowerforyou:

I'm lucky to be a teacher and lucky to be in the UK. I will have July and August off, full pay, because it's the school holidays, DS2 is due on September 8th, so I'll start maternity leave on the first day back for teachers, August 31st. I then get 90% pay for 6 weeks, followed by statutory maternity pay. I hope to go back on the pay roll in July 2014, before starting back actually working in September 2014. So, total, I'll have 14 months without working, 4 months with full pay, 9 months with some kind of maternity pay and just one month unpaid. I feel very, very lucky when I see that the norm in the states is so little time off.

We really have a very long way to go in this area. In my opinion we are failing mothers and families by not having any real maternity leave policy. Here you are LUCKY to get 12 weeks, beyond that you have no job protection and you only get that if your company qualifies for FMLA. The worst part is that in this economy it can be difficult to live off of one income and a lot of employers are not willing to offer flexible working arrangements like part time hours or work from home options. I had to threaten to leave to get my hours reduced.

Basically, I would LOVE to be a pregnant woman in Europe or Canada!!