CP: If you chose to SAH due to the birth of a child

[Saudade]

I quit more than 2 weeks prior, but not due to pregnancy. I can't remember exactly, somewhere between 20-28 weeks, I quit due to hating my job. I found a different one at 12 weeks pp because I hated staying at home.

[meltoine]

I won't answer your clicky because I'm a SS. I worked until 35 weeks because I had to leave the country I was living in to give birth, and that's the latest I could fly. I would have worked up until my due date/labor if I didn't have to fly back to the U.S. to give birth.

ETA: I didn't resign until 3 weeks after birth, when we found out that we weren't allowed to go back there because of the revolution. When we got orders to move to Texas instead I resigned. I was planning to go back until that point. I didn't look for a job in Texas because our town was in the middle of nowhere and the only job I could have gotten was Walmart greeter. There's nothing wrong with being a Walmart greeter, but we didn't need the money and that particular job wasn't worth being away from my baby to me. 

[Marmee]

I quit the end of August because I was in misery (not normal pregnancy misery). I was due mid-October but I had her Oct 4.

[Marmee]

Aug 6, 2015 21:31:35 GMT -5 @starry said:

Aug 6, 2015 21:30:24 GMT -5 Marmee said:

I quit the end of August because I was in misery (not normal pregnancy misery). I was due mid-October but I had her Oct 4.

misery like you hated your job or misery like you had pregnancy complications? since you have been through it four times, I'll take your word for it that it wasn't normal. 

I had an undiagnosed rare pregnancy complication that made me itch horribly non-stop, day & night. I had it with all 4 & it was diagnosed with DD2 & medicated (for her & subsequent). It also increased chance of stillbirth which is why I was induced with all my kids.

[brooklyn]

I quit mid April , and my due date was May 4. Kid decided to stay put until May 9.


My last day was prearranged with my boss 2-3 months in advance. I was barely making more than minimum wage, and my salary would not have covered the cost of daycare.

[namasteak]

Was a SAHW for the last 15 weeks do to not being able to work (group fitness instructor + bad SPD = no work)

[bcarp30]

DD was due (and born on) Jan 14. I stopped working December 31 because my company was changing their already shitty maternity leave plans so if I started before year end I received the better rate.

We had planned on my quitting for the most part but HUGE turnover forced some less than desirable changes and it wasn't worth it to me to go back. While I was on maternity leave DH took a new job and it was touch and go if I would need to go back if something fell through unexpectedly. Thankfully, it all worked out.

I loved my job though and it was something I did well and put a lot of effort and heart into.

[Deleted]

I quit 1 month prior to DS's birth. I knew I wanted to be a SAHM, I made my employer aware of that early on in my pregnancy. I told them I wasn't returning to work. I was supposed to work until 2 weeks before my due date, but I had pre-term labor at 36 weeks and decided to rest instead, so I quit 2 weeks early. I'm glad I did b/c I had contractions again at 38 weeks, it would have been unbelievably stressful to deal with quitting work at that time. DS stayed put until the day before my due date, thank goodness.

[jewel]

I worked up until 36 weeks, took 5 months maternity leave, went back to work for one month, and quit.

That wasn't really my plan, though.

[cleosprite]

Technically speaking, I quit 4 weeks before DS was born. But the school I worked at had a two week spring break that ended the day he was due, and I wasn't expected to work over the spring break. So I quit then, and then DS was almost two weeks late. And I guess, REALLY technically speaking, I quit while on maternity leave, because my contract went through the end of the school year, and it was easier for paperwork stuff to "complete" my contract with unpaid maternity leave.

I would have worked until at least his due date otherwise.

[scribellesam]

I gave notice that I would be quitting when DS1 was born at around 6mo pregnant and my last day was one week before my due date, mainly because I didn't want to work on my birthday.

[namasteak]

Aug 6, 2015 21:52:47 GMT -5 @stilljustash said:

wait, I did take 6 classes the semester she was born, but no income.

I am still so impressed you did that!

[madringal]

I quit in May and my due date is in November. I worked until my due date with my first two.

[redheadk]

I didn't vote because my situation was a little different. I was a teacher and knew I wouldn't be returning. I finished out my current contract (taught through the beginning of June) but did not sign a new contract for the next school year. I had DD in mid-July. I stopped working at 35 weeks but that was because work was over at 35 weeks.

[kaycee]

I worked for the first year. I was a teacher. I told them I wasn't returning the following year. So I am a SAHM and that was my intention, but I was a working mom for a year while we figured out finances.

[dcn]

We moved unexpectedly when I was 31 weeks pg with Ds so I quit a few weeks before that. I ended up getting a pt job when he was 15 months. And then we moved again last month so I'm home again.

[matildasun]

I never actually quit, so I didn't vote in the poll.

I left work 2 weeks before A was born.

In order to take an extended childcare leave, I had to take my fmla time. At the end of that time I could apply for extended childcare leave. I told my principal that I wouldn't be coming back a month or so before I left, but she had to hold my spot for twelve weeks.

[indifferentstars]

We moved out of state at 20 weeks, but I had been employed until that point. I half-heartedly job searched in our new city for a month or so but knew it would only be until the birth anyway (always planned to SAH) so I didn't search for long as that window kept getting smaller.

[teatimefor2]

SS...

Had DA1 overseas and moved back to the USA when he was seven months. Had plans to go back to work part-time after a year's maternity leave. When we moved back really struggled with the decision to go to work or stay home.

Have decided to stay home until our youngest is at least two or three and then would ideally like to work part-time.

[halfpint]

I actually went back for a few months and then quit with a long notice. I was miserable.

[lolo]

I resigned two weeks prior to my anticipated return date.

I had every intention of returning until the day before I gave notice. We had enrolled J in daycare and she had already begun transition days.

Perhaps we didn't give it enough time or perhaps in our sleep deprived states we didn't comprehend how much me returning to my job wouldn't work for us until we started living it. All I know is that the prospect of returning to work, especially one so travel intensive, was unfathomable to me.

I offered to assist with a transition period until they found someone more permanent.

I feel some guilt that my manager had to take on extra responsibility for longer than anticipated. But I also know that I made them millions of dollars, so, no, I didn't overall screw my company over.

FWIW, my former company is now my largest client as a freelancer.

[ryry]

I'm on my phone so can't see the poll, but I quit before ds' arrival. We knew financially that three in childcare was not feasible for us, and other things about my job (mainly a ridiculous hour+ commute each way) made it just not worth it for us right now. I told my boss I would not be returning around 6 weeks ago (DS is due next week) and my last day was a week ago because dd1's preschool is closed for the month of August.

[sh10]

I was a SAHW during pregnancy because I was laid off from my job 2 months prior to getting pregnant. I was job hunting while pregnant but was only planning to go back if I found the perfect job. I was (still am) teaching fitness classes part time through my pregnancy.

[timorousbeastie]

I told my boss I wouldn't be returning at ~20 weeks, maybe a little before. If I hadn't told him, I would have had to go through the hell of applying for grants that I knew I wasn't going to use. Grant applications are a special level of hell I wish on no one, so there is no way I wanted to go through that if I could avoid it.

I was scheduled to work up to my due date, but my boss let me stop working the week before (which sounds very generous of him, until you realize that I had >6 months of PTO banked that I wasn't able to cash out... Not that I'm bitter or anything)

[NandaB]

I was a teacher and my principal knew I was resigning at the end is the school year. I took 2 weeks oz before he was born of my sick days because I was due in the middle of state testing and I didn't want to make that any harder for my kids (I taught sp ed) so had 2 weeks before my due date and luckily he was born exactly 6 weeks before school was out, so I didn't have to go back at all.

[af1212]

Another SS. I was a teacher.

I Worked until 2 days before my due date. DD was born two days after due date. I stayed home with her for 12 weeks (all of the unpaid leave that I was allowed).

I then returned to teaching for 8 weeks until the school year was over and resigned. This had been my plan all along.

If I had resigned in December when she was born my pay and benefits would have stopped then. However because I went out on leave and then finished the year I received pay and benefits through my contract year which ended at the end of August.

[gibbinator]

I quit 2 months before my mat leave finished. So during leave but still lots of notice since it was a 12 month leave. I was 95% sure I'd quit before stopping work.

[GotWine]

I was a full time student and working up until a year before having ds. That last year I taking classes and commuting long distances 5 days a week, then student teaching do I stopped working then. I graduated 6 days before having ds. After he was born he started having health issues and we later found out about his stroke. The decision for me to stay home was mostly based on everything that is going on with ds. It's not what we were planning for in December when he was born.

[meij]

First kid: I was planning on coming back PT when my DD was six months old but my H got a new job out of state so we moved. So I had to give notice when I was on ML.

Second kid: The daycare I worked at did not offer discounts to babies and if I wanted to take more than a week off after birth (lol forever) I'd have to quit and be rehired, therefore losing my discount for my first kid and owing them about $350 a month to have both kids there. I was due in February but everyone was having to recertify in January. I didn't want to have to go through all that just to work another month so I just left at the end of the year, which was six weeks before my due date.

[humpforfree]

My last day was supposed to be just over 2 weeks from his due date, but he came 3 weeks early, luckily the day after I had wrapped up/passed off my projects.