Did You Work Up Until Your Due Date?

January 11, 2009

Nothing passes time faster than a nine-to-five! I didn't cut out of my job until I was overdue with my daughter because sitting around waiting for my firstborn was driving me nuts and I wanted to have ample time with her after. I did the same with my son, but some working mamas have told me they cut out early to enjoy downtime before delivering. What did you do?
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27 Comments

3 years 17 weeks

Wow your comments are so helpful! Thanks for sharing your stories so openly and honestly. I am due in July, and I teach afterschool. I hope to work until June 4th and give myself a month off before baby comes. It'll give me some time to nest and do prenatal yoga, since the school year doesn't afford me much "me" time.

Evalicious 4 years 18 weeks

It was all I could do to keep my sanity, she was a full week late!

Evalicious 4 years 18 weeks

I worked the day that I was due and three days after that, and if my water had not broken at 2 AM in the morning the day my daughter was born I would have worked that following day also. Right up until she was born.

runningesq 4 years 18 weeks

thanks nevadamtnbear! I'm a prosecutor, and I'm fortunate to work in an office where all the attorneys are willing to help each other out (one of my co workers was out for two weeks with a bad back, and we were able to cover all of his dockets). As far as being sick in court/ having to pee a lot, I'll just figure it out!

tiasmommy 4 years 18 weeks

They pulled me out 2 weeks early. I was very bloated and had sugar issues. They acutally induced me two days early.

nevadamtnbear 4 years 18 weeks

With my first, I worked until the Friday before my scheduled induction on Sunday (I was 39w, 6d on my last day of work). This time around, I'm working until she's here - even if I wanted to take time off ahead of time (which I don't) I've got WAY too much to do before she's here and I'd rather take the precious time with my LO when she's here. I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow and I'm still truck'n along. As for the morning sickness - it just depends. With my son, I had evening sickness. I'd be okay until about 4:30, and I spent my evenings on the couch miserable while DH cooked dinner. This time around I had ALL DAY sickness and you just suck it up and deal. Lots of saltine crackers, a nap under the desk occassionally, and I used (with my Dr.'s blessing) Unisom at night to help with the nausea and it worked pretty good (made it so I could cope). I think the harder part is if you're not spilling the beans to your employer and when you feel like pure carp. The flip side is there's some really good drugs on the market for severe morning sickness (which hindsight 20/20 I probably should have gotten, my Dr. offered). And some women don't have a lick of morning sickness. Runningesq - you'll find a way to cope. LOL. I'm the first pregnant lady in my current firm and they've been great. My old firm (which was all male attorneys in the office too) were very understanding. I will confess however, I'm grateful my month long trial that was scheduled last June (during the brunt of my first trimester misery) was postponed for a year (YAHH!) because I seriously don't know how I would have made it. The physical exhaustion was MUCH worse than even the nausea and trying to get all the work I had on my plate done took super human strength as I was in a 200+ hour month workload billing mode when I got pregnant. LOL.

Greggie 4 years 18 weeks

Good luck! How cool. :) My husband would love to do that one.

runningesq 4 years 18 weeks

haha, Greggie... sometimes my cats send people IMs that look like this: mmmmmmmm.,m,.kjkkkkkkkkkkk . ;) nope, I'm doing IM Cozumel in Nov!

Greggie 4 years 18 weeks

Sorry, my daughter hit post. Oops. Anyway, I was going to ask if you're doing the Arizona Ironman in November?

Greggie 4 years 18 weeks

Runninges

runningesq 4 years 18 weeks

We're not trying until after my Ironman (Nov 09), but I will work until the very end, unless, of course, I'm put on bedrest or have medical complications. I am concerned about the 'morning' sickness that I've heard can last all day. I'm in court 2-3 days a week for 3 hrs in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. Not sure how I'll handle that but I'm not the first attorney to be pregnant!

mstrauss 4 years 18 weeks

I decided to take off a week and 1/2 before my due date, and thank goodness I did since I gave birth a week early!

gab6784 4 years 18 weeks

With my daughter I was working up until the day of - she came a month early and took me by surprise, so I went in to work that Tuesday and the next morning my water broke and I was doing totally different work LOL

lawchick 4 years 18 weeks

This is one thing that really worries me about getting pregnant. I am the breadwinner and we couldn't pay the mortgage or loans without my salary. If I couldn't work for a month or so, we could use our savings, but any longer than that and I can't imagine what we would do :( Hopefully if I was on bed rest I could do some work from bed and be able to make part of my usual salary and work enough hours to keep our health insurance.

vmruby 4 years 18 weeks

No....I was on strict bedrest for the last 5 months of my pregnancy.

Aphrosette 4 years 18 weeks

Chrstne, I also worked with nausea and yes you just kind of deal with it, AND I also work with, "evil kids who love to kick you in the stomach," which is VERY few kids out there and none in my class. My class has become much more careful around me, and helpful around me in the classroom and they are only 5/6! I'm due June 3rd and plan on working through Memorial Day, provided all goes well, and if it does I'll be stopping back for their graduation. The only reason why I am leaving is because I really don't want to go into Labor in front of the kids, and I want to make sure my house is ready for the baby.

Greggie 4 years 18 weeks

Yeah, working in the beginning of pregnancy was WAY more difficult than working the least trimester for me. I would've taken leave then if it had been an option.

luckyme 4 years 18 weeks

I worked until a week before I had my daughter. I saved up vacation time and used that for that week. It was nice to relax a little before she came. Chrstne - I worked everyday with horrendous morning sickness. You just do it. You leave your desk to throw up and go back to work. The nausea was horrible, but you do it. I've got to say, it's worse this time with the nausea/vomiting. I'm home with my 18 month old daughter and it's been so hard to keep up with her. It's not like my job where I was sitting at my desk and able to rest, at least a little bit. 18 month old's don't sit, lol. It has certainly been interesting, to say the least.

RosaDilia 4 years 18 weeks

I worked until the very end of my pregnancy. I actually went to work with contractions until my OB said I should be resting at home before I go to the hospital. Before I actually went home I went shopping for last minute items and walked around the store for a while. I delivered the next day.

SnickersBar 4 years 18 weeks

I planned on working until as long as I could, but only made it to my 5th month. At the beginning I had the worst morning sickness and used to just drag myself to work looking and feeling like total poop. I didn't know what else to do, as we need my income. In my fourth month I started getting kidney stones on a regular basis and was in and out of the hospital and when I did manage to get to work I was quite literally useless. I was a hospitality manager at the time so you can imagine they needed a bit "more " from me. lol. I was at a loss, and I don't think they knew what to do either. They finally "eliminated" my position and laid me off. At first I was really mad and upset, but after a few days, I realized they had really done me a huge favor as I was finally able to just lay around and be sick without worrying about work. In the end I ended up having 5 months off with my baby, where as I only would have had 8 weeks if things had gone as planned, and I also ended up switching professions and getting a job with regular hours and a lot less stress. ( and maybe a bit less money, but it is worth it.) So, it all worked out in the end, but it made me realize you can plan a pregnancy, but you can't plan what it will be like!

MissSushi 4 years 18 weeks

I worked until I was almost 8 months pregnant.. I wanted to work up until then, becuase I liked the income, and it was my first baby, a girl, so i wanted to have absolutely free spending with everything. I wanted to get anything and everythign I needed/wanted, and good quality, since they will be handed down to all of my children and anything thats still good to my future neices and nephews. I ended up having to stop becuase I couldnt handle any stress or heat becuase I was passing out. I ended up passing out at work and falling into a counter, and called it quits. It was nice becuase I made enough money to go all out with cute girly stuff, I am completley set up for my next child (provided i may need to buy new carseat covers in boy colors, but otherwise everythign else looks brand new), and have the last several weeks to get everything perfectly ready and relax.

Chrstne 4 years 18 weeks

I knew people who as soon as they got pregnant, left their job...so they stayed home through the pregnancy. I don't know what I will do -- it depends on the job. If I was working with children and had to do lifting, carrying, etc -- I'd probably leave sooner than if I worked at a desk job, just because you're more likely to get injured dealing with the evil kids who love to kick you in the stomach than you are just sitting at a desk and typing. However, if I was truly, truly sick while pregnant, and life became a lot different and a lot harder, I'd quit a desk job, too. What do you do when you are sick early in pregnancy? You can't exactly go to work because you're puking all the time (like my mom did) and you can't exactly just stay home because "I'm barely pregnant, and I'm doomed for now..." Tough position.

schnappycat 4 years 18 weeks

I haven't worked since 2005 (long story involving an accident on company time so I quit after that), so I was really lucky to have had some great "me" time for the few years before I got pregnant. And now I SAH. If I had a great job I loved, I wouldn't mind working now. But I've never enjoyed my office jobs, so I'm lucky to be able to stay home with my son (1 tomorrow!).

Read2me 4 years 18 weeks

I worked past my due date! I teach and was due two days before Christmas break started but Eva didn't arrive until after Christmas. I figured the transition would be easier on my students if I worked up to the break and my sub took over after it. I felt awesome so it didn't bother me to be at work.

macgirl 4 years 18 weeks

I wanted to work up till I popped with the first. Unfortunately I worked in advertising back then and that kind of stress got me yanked about a week before my due date. With the second I was wore thin towards the end. I really, really didn't want to work any more but we own our business and I was needed. I cut way back but still had to chip in.

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