How much time before and after birth are you taking off?

[dairymomma]

We are self-employed and I'm due smack dab in the middle of our busiest season so I'll be working right up until the day I deliver. Maternity leave is dependant on baby. My rule is I get a minimum of 6 weeks off but our baby has to be sleeping at least 6 hours straight at night before I can go back to work because otherwise I cannot function. With DS, I was back at work at 6 weeks post partum. With DD, I had 8 weeks off. With LO, I had 11 weeks.

Good luck - I have a 7.5 month old at home and she's not even sleeping 6 hours straight yet!

(or rather, she is.. but they're not the same 6 hours that I like to sleep during )

I'm hoping I get lucky for a fourth time. My kids have all been sleeping thru the night by 8 weeks max, hence why I've been back at work so soon. With LO, I eked it out a few weeks longer because I had her in early July and that's how long I had before school started again and our summer workers had to cut back their hours.

I will say that having babies sttn so soon isn't always fun though because it does have the expectation that I'm able to go back to work that much sooner. And it seems the more kids we have, the longer it takes for me to establish a routine for us all. So it's a fine line I walk. On the one hand, it's nice to get solid sleep so soon but on the other hand, it's nice to not have to go to work for that much longer too.

 

[catty]

With my first i went off at 36 weeks pregnant and the same with my 3rd. I really really struggled with my 3rd so used holidays here and there beforehand it was a tough time! Because my babies are 11 months apart i basically had a 9 month maternity followed by holidays and then went onto my next maternity pay! We are very lucky here in the UK i actually felt really mortified telling my boss as felt i was taking the piss staying off all that time. I went back to work (at another job) when my 2nd was 4 months as i was feeling like a hermit but only 15 hours per week. With my 3rd im going back in august so will have had 9.5 months off