How long can I work until?

Hi, obviously everyone is different and every pregnancy is different, but I was wondering how close up to my due date I can expect to be able to work. I am 24 weeks now, feel fine, had a dream pregnancy to date (touch wood) and am in an office job. I am planning to work up to a week prior to my due date, taking Wednesday's off in the last four weeks to give myself a day in the middle of the week to rest. Is this a realistic goal? I only get 14 weeks maternity leave so save as much of it as I can for after the day. Any ideas? Cheers,

I had a great first pregnancy and worked in an office job. I stopped 3 weeks prior and by the last week I was literally falling asleep at my desk.

You do get very tired at the end.

Plus I ended up having Rowan delivered at 37.5 weeks so I actually only had half a week off.

Bondgirl wrote: Hi, obviously everyone is different and every pregnancy is different, but I was wondering how close up to my due date I can expect to be able to work. I am 24 weeks now, feel fine, had a dream pregnancy to date (touch wood) and am in an office job. I am planning to work up to a week prior to my due date, taking Wednesday's off in the last four weeks to give myself a day in the middle of the week to rest. Is this a realistic goal? I only get 14 weeks maternity leave so save as much of it as I can for after the day. Any ideas? Cheers,

I was in exactly the same situation, perfect pregnancy, office job and from around 32 weeks I started taking every Friday off work which was fantastic. I had planned on working right up until the week before my birth, but DD decided to come early so I never made it to my last day of work!

It worked out really well for me, I figured I was better off sitting on my butt at work earning money than sitting on my butt at home spending it! My workload was really light towards the end though (and I think everyone was so surprised that I was still working that no one minded when I left early most days!) - if I had been in a really stressful or busy job I probably would have finished earlier.

Oh, and talk to your work and see if they will let you take the one day off a week as sick leave rather than annual leave - my work were really good about this.

Edited by Febgirl

My first pregnancy was a breeze, I felt fantastic so I planned to finish at 4:30pm the friday before DD was due (which put me at 39+2).  I ended up finishing at midday because I was in labour and had my daughter at 8:04pm on my last day of work.

It was perfect for me.  I work in a sedentary job with no physical demands.  I was able to nap when I got home from work until dinner time so the last trimester fatigue didn't get to me and it kept me busy and distracted until D-day (and in the early stages of labour).  It also meant that my minimal maternity leave was all spent with my DD rather than being spent waiting around for her to arrive.  I would have regretted having a couple of weeks off prior, it was bad enough leaving her at 5mo.

With Issy I finished five weeks before she was due (and she was late, so I was off seven weeks in total before she arrived).

It happened to co-incide with Christmas though .. so wasnt much point going in .. and when she dropped into position I could hardly move little own walk

This time Im finishing four weeks before dd as my DH is doing his practicum for his ECE and I need to look after Isabelle (and there didnt seem much point coming back for such a short time after his practicum finished).

Hi

I worked up to 36 weeks - I was originally going to work until 38 weeks but I have pregnancy diabetes so I am being induced at 38 weeks.

I work as a lawyer (property and commercial stuff so no court work) - office work) and I thought i would easily manage until 36 weeks but I was so over it when I finished this Friday been. Admittingly due to the economy, my secretary had her hours reduced about a month ago and I rely quite a lot on my secretary support and so what she no longer could do came back to me which added stress and increased the workload for me (it would have made more sense to reduce my hours). I ended up working from about 7 in the morning until 5.30 at night as well as getting 5-6 hours done in the weekend.

Seeing clients became very tiring and intense/stroppy phone calls become too much. I ended up in tears at home at the end of the day a few days - a couple of times the tears would start on the way home.
Most days I would literally come home, have tea, a shower and crawl into bed at 8.00pm.

What did help in the last 2 weeks is I took a full hour for lunch by leaving the office and eating at a cafe - it meant I completely destressed and re-energised.

Sorry for the novel but I guess the moral of the story is even doing office work can be too much if you are dealing with customers/clients and secondly you never know what is going to happen at work which may place more pressure on you ie other staff needing sickleave etc

I was planning to stop my office job at 37 weeks but I couldn't make it. In the last month of work I took pre-arranged sick leave each Wednesday afternoon and left a week early as well - ie worked until 36 weeks. Your idea to not work Wednesdays is great but I wouldn't plan to work beyond 38 weeks.

I worked until 38.5 weeks with Gabrielle and then went almost 2 weeks over so went out of my mind at home. Now I work 3 days per week (10-4 Mon, Wed & Fri) and I plan to work right up to the day - I find it is less strenous to sit at my desk than to be at home doing 101 things with a nearly 3 year old :) There is no such thing as relaxing or sleeping with a toddler around!

With my first I planned 2 weeks off & in reality I finished work the day before I went into labour so didn't have any time off.
This time around being due mid Jan I finished at Xmas & was bored silly. Just as well I went a week early again.

well i planned to work until d-day lol but at 20wks ended up in hospital with severe pain. I finished work at 20wks. But took up volunteer work as it was more flexible and i needed something to fill in my days. My ds was born a month early and i was 'working' when i went into labour. THis time il be working up until i go to hospital lol - i have an 8month old - no rest for me