I'm so impressed with you ladies...

[birdmom]

I would have been bored staying home. I was in L&D on a Friday afternoon (39 weeks), they told me I had to start working half days because my blood pressure was high, and my water broke on Saturday night and I had DS on Sunday afternoon. I wanted to work right up until I was in labor...that was as close as I could get!

[mrshandy]

Most of us only have a limited amount of leave. There was no way I was using leave just to sit at home. I would much rather have it after the baby.

I left on the Friday (due date was previous Monday) knowing it was my last day before ML. I was worried about sitting at home the next week if the baby didn't come soon. But luckily I went into labor the next day and DS was born early Sunday morning.

[karinothing]

Yeah, I didn't raelly have a choice because I wanted the most time to be with the baby. That being said, I just sit down at work and have no stress, so it wasn't hard.

[galaxy8227]

I worked til my due date and DS was born a week later--I wasn't bored but I didn't want to waste my 12 weeks going out before that. If I had more time I might have gone out at 38 weeks cause we did have a few things that I would have loved to finish in our new house before he came

[h]

Honestly, I didn't find working up until the end of my pregnancies to be a big deal at all. A difficult pregnancy is obviously a different ballgame, but I don't see why people with easy pregnancies and office jobs shouldn't be able to work until the bitter end. I found it to be so much harder to deal with work once my babies were on the outside.

[oregonpachey]

I worked up to both births but I work a desk job with no commute so it wasn't a big deal.

Props to those that work on their feet!

[thedash]

I worked until 39 weeks 6 days and only stopped because I went into labor at home the next morning. I did half the day on my feet and the other half at my desk or in meetings. I had a very lucky pregnancy and felt fine for the most part. Actually, walking around was easier than sitting at that point.

Each afternoon for the last week I wrote a memo titled "If I go into labor tomorrow" and left it on top of my desk with my files for my boss to pick up. I was texting with him for the first 3-4 hours of my labor about my projects. And how to pay for the office water delivery!

[aspentosh]

I didn't plan to. But my water broke in the parking garage at work, so I didn't have an option I guess

[ejpint]

I'm not eligible for FMLA, and there is no maternity leave policy to speak of at my employer, so I'm kind of at their mercy. I'd much rather spend what time I can get with the baby after the birth than chilling at home waiting for labor to start. Also, I sit most of the day. My biggest hardship is that the closest bathroom is down a long hallway and up a flight of steep stairs (and I seem to be visiting it more and more often).

[Brie]

I wish I could be home.

I have a desk job, and honestly, the sitting all day is killing me. My back and hips are a mess, and by the end of the day my sciatic pain is awful. I wish I could WFH so I could stay busy but at least be in a reclined position. And I'm exhausted.

Buuut, my leave is all unpaid save for the vacation/sick time I've saved up, and I don't want to waste it now. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

[vanillacourage]

I felt fine up until the end. It was pure luck, not heroics.

But thank you just the same.

[niki]

I think if I would've had the option to take maternity leave at 29 weeks, I think I would've found myself completely unable to continue past 35 weeks, too!

But, since I didn't have the option, working until the day before was tolerable.

[justjen]

I took off 2 days before my due date. I'm now 3 days late, and am going a little BSC.

I wish I could've kept working, but my appointment situation (described here: pandce.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=mmmoms&thread=28595&page=1) was just making it near impossible to juggle doctors and work ...

[Deleted]

I wanted to save every last bit of leave I could, so my choices were rather limited. I sat and kept my feet up all day ( I gave birth on a Monday and had worked the previous Friday. I was almost a week late too.). With #2 I'd like to take a week off before I think if possible.

[LauraMoser]

I was doing newspaper delivery when I was PG with DD2. I had both an am and pm route. I remember the day I went into labor I was driving on the am route and hit a bump on a dirt road. Something shifted and I thought to myself "today is the day." I went home, went back to bed for a few hours, then woke up with mild cramping. I didn't trust doing the pm route myself, so I had my mom come along. Good thing too, as the cramps got stronger and stronger throughout the afternoon. They were still manageable, but definitely would've kicked in even stronger had my mom not been along to do more of the physical parts (ie, getting in and out of the car often). It was a looong two hours on the route that day! I went to L & D later that evening (I made sure to eat dinner!!) and had DD2 at 5:01 the next morning.

This time around, I'm babysitting my nephew and cousin's two kids. I plan to do so as long as possible, but at least I'll be at home if I go into labor while sitting them. No driving through contractions this time around, lol.

[Deleted]

I was due on a Wed, made my last day in the office the Friday before, but actually worked from home until my do date. I'm a wimp and was pretty miserable, but don't think it was particularly heroic. DD ended up being 2 weeks late, so as it was I ended up taking time before that I would have rather had after.

[ohgillian]

Mainly -- when it's not a choice, then it's not really that impressive of a feat. You do what you have to do. I haven't read the replies, but I'm sure this has been said: I don't want to waste my limited maternity leave sitting around without a baby.

[mrssandro]

I worked all the way up until I had the baby. Towards the end I worked from home because I was much more comfortable on the exercise ball thing. I had some crazy braxton hicks but no real contractions.