when to take leave?

[Jr23861]

How far were you when you took leave?
I work 11 hour days in transportation so I don't wanna work till my last day....

[GeekMom1213]

If that wasn't as clear as I meant it to be - that's 12 weeks TOTAL maternity leave. For before AND after giving birth. And since it's unpaid, many working women don't actually get to take nearly that much time off. I personally returned to work six weeks after my son was born because I didn't quite reach the requirements for FMLA protected leave and was at risk of losing my job if I didn't go back so soon.

To the OP - 11 hour days are tough. But it sounds like you've got a pretty good goal in mind. I hope your employer is understanding and allows you to have rest breaks when you need to put your swollen feet up.

[GeekMom1213]

That depends pretty heavily on where you live, kjluby. Here in the US the federal mandate is for an employer to allow 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees who have worked at least 12 months and a minimum number of hours (I believe it's at least 600 hours) for the same company, which must have more than 50 employees to be subject to these rules or else they don't have to offer anything. Paid leave is not mandatory and only offered by a select few employers. Leaving work 15 weeks early is unheard of in this country except by people who are on mandatory bed rest or are independently financially stable enough to make ends meet with zero income from the pregnant woman.

[kjluby]

You can take it 15 weeks before your due date

[Jr23861]

Ok that's about what I was thinking.
I'll be 35 weeks the end of march.  I was thinking about taking it mid to end of march.  
Just didn't want to take it too early

[mollyrobyn1994]

I worked until I was 36 and I worked 12 hour days

[mollyrobyn1994]

I worked until I was 36 weeks and that was 12 hour days