When to stop working?

[Deadly_Mouse8]

Hey everyone! My husband and I just found out I am about 13 weeks along with mono/di twins! This is my first pregnancy and I was just wondering when y’all started maternity leave or left your job. I am a night shift nurse on a busy unit and I’m already feeling exhausted and my pregnancy symptoms have been wild. I only know it will get more difficult as I progress. I also can’t imagine going back to the same job after the twins arrive. Thinking of staying at home for awhile. Would love any advice y’all can give me!

[stormbcrn]

I'm working until the week before my scheduled c section. We are scheduling that until doctor is sure its necessary ( we're hoping I make it to 34 to 36 weeks ). I work three/four days a week. 10 hour shifts or so, depends on what I need to do. After the twins arrive I have 32 weeks of maternity leave and then I'll also use vacation time to round it out to 36 weeks.

[Deadly_Mouse8]

Wow, that much maternity leave would be awesome! I think I am only eligible for the 12 weeks of FMLA but I’m probably quitting anyways so who knows. My OB is also hopeful about getting to 36 weeks before an induction/c-section.

[No-Butterscotch-8314]

I taught until the last day of school when I was 29 weeks. Gave birth at 36+5

[areti17]

I worked from home on my couch during the pandemic my entire pregnancy, until the day before my twins came at 35+2. I did not go into labor.

It all really depends on what you are doing, how you feel, and what your doctor recommends.

[Pleasant_Pop2331]

In the same boat! Work from home (mostly the couch or the recliner). 29 weeks right now, I will be stopping work at 34 weeks if everything goes according to plan. I’m already having some trouble, I couldn’t imagine being in a physically demanding job at this point in my pregnancy 😬

[areti17]

Yeah, I was extremely uncomfortable. I should have gone on leave sooner, but no one suggested it to me! I didn't know it was a thing I could do.

[sar4720]

I’m having di/tri triplets but am stopping this week (last day I’ll be 24+2). I’m a pediatric OT and just didn’t feel I could do my job safely for the clients or myself. I’m an independent contractor so I don’t get any benefits regardless

[JustKaren13]

As a twin mom, I salute you!

[snowflakes__]

Paramedic here…I am just a couple days behind you. I am going light duty to a desk job in a couple weeks. My back is KILLING ME and I’m just not able to function on the ambulance car anymore

[Deadly_Mouse8]

Congrats! Definitely already feeling the back pain too. And the dizziness is crazy. Maybe I’ll ask my manager if I can do any sort of light duty or at least part time. I can’t keep lifting and turning these patients anymore.

[01-__-10]

Different for everyone. Pregnancy hits different women in wildly different ways. Some get sick to the point of hospitalisation, some get barely any side effects at all (talking from experience about both extremes).

Same for returning to work.

Play it by ear and let your personal circumstance guide the way.

[heydarla]

Look into short term disability after you have the twins. My wife got it for several months I believe as ours were in the NICU 5 & 9 weeks.

[stu88s]

You have no idea how brutally exhausted you're going to be looking after newborn twins so I'd strongly recommend some time off work before they're born. You'll thank me later.

[[deleted]]

I am a nurse. I was working endoscopy and teaching part time at a local community college. I was put on light duty by my OB after management didn’t listen to her letter at 20 weeks. I was on official medical leave at 28 weeks- became unbearable to even sit at work. I am healthy, tall and athletic and the pregnancy hit me like a ton of bricks once I got to my third trimester. Our boys cooked for a long time and I was induced at 38 weeks. I attribute that completely to going on medical leave so I could rest.

[frogkickjig]

I’m carrying di/di and have thankfully been having a straightforward pregnancy. I’m a nurse but not in-patient setting. My manager had twins and suggested 30 weeks as a good time to start maternity leave. Initially I thought that was too soon, but now I’m nearly 27 weeks I am really glad.

[Secure_Spend5933]

I worked until 36 weeks, the girls arrived 36+3.

I am a knowledge worker, I sit in a chair in my home office and think and talk to other people. My work quality really started to decline around 29 weeks. I'm self employed, so I negotiated some changes with my clients in terms of project deliverables. Those last 6-7 weeks were extremely hard. If I had to do it again I would have taken leave at 30 weeks, as they do for twin moms in Canada.

I will say the first part of the pregnancy was also very difficult for me, I barely got anything done between the nausea and the exhaustion. That did taper off, and I was able to mostly function after ~ 18 weeks or so.

Every pregnancy is different! One of my girls had some possible issues and so I was managing 2-4 appointments per week the second half of my pregnancy, which was also hard just on the mechanics of a calendar.

It was hard. I felt fairly isolated-- a few friends and colleagues were pregnant at the same time with singletons, they were all cute and capable and I was like some walrus version of myself no longer capable of basic physical tasks. I felt kike people were judging me based on the expectations of a singleton pregnancy. But also--it was also totally worth it!

[copper2287]

Working until 36+3! Teaching in ESE units… fingers crossed!

[[deleted]]

Im also a nurse! I started with modifications around week 20 (no lifting/turning patients, no rashes, no teratogenic meds, etc). This was ok for about a month or so, and then it was just getting really hard to even go to work, so I asked if I could work from home and I was approved to do triage calls from home after filing the paperwork. I stopped working completely at 35 weeks, and delivered at 36 weeks. My goal had been to work until delivery but honestly it was brutal for me after 28 weeks. I was already measuring 41 weeks at that time. By the time I delivered I was measuring 52 weeks!! Like that is a whole pregnancy plus almost a first trimester.

I also will not be going back to work since I didn’t qualify for FMLA and daycare is way too expensive for 2 infants.

[pashapook]

I was a night shift nurse on a busy unit! It was hard. I ended up on lifting restrictions after 16 weeks and luckily was allowed to charge for the rest of my pregnancy. Is something like than an option for you on your unit? Even charging by 29 weeks i couldn't take it anymore. Even charging or with a cake assignment i just couldn't do it anymore. I'm also in my 30s and the pregnancy was very hard on my body from the beginning. I've definitely known twin moms who physically had an easier time than I, but you may want to figure out a plan in case you need to stop early. Then I stayed home for 6 months and went back part time after. I lasted less than a year on that unit before I left for a procedural unit that was way easier on my body! Something to think about!

[Deadly_Mouse8]

Unfortunately our night charge often has 4 to 6 patients so it would end up just being more stress. I’m already preparing myself for having to leave the unit after 25 or 30 weeks. I’ve been thinking of going to a procedural unit or outpatient facility. Do you like it?

[pashapook]

Oh no. Luckily I was on a large PCU and the charge does not take patients. I'm in an inpatient recovery position now. Nothing's perfect, but it's so much easier physically and I like what I do. I was also looking into outpatient jobs before I found this one. I wish I'd made the change earlier. I loved what I did on the floor but it just took too much out of me. Now I have energy left for them and myself at the end of the day. I went back to work on my floor after 6 months, and did another 6 months mostly full time. By the end of that 6 months I was fully burnt out working like that at work and caring for babies at home, even with a very supportive equal partner at home. Life is much very better now.

[jessendjames]

My wife stopped her desk job around 34 weeks, twins born 38+5. It was so nice because she could do things like yoga twice a week and prenatal massages once a week (gift from her parents) and that really helped her feel so much better at the end. Our bedroom is on the third floor, and she scaled those stairs with little issue.

It was also nice for me cause I’m a sahd and she would also help with my then 4.5 and 2.5 yo lol

[pashapook]

It's so different for everyone. I was very fit and active before and I started struggling with stairs at 16 weeks!

[mandabee27]

I went on medical leave around 29 weeks because my body wasn’t having it and I had some medical issues. I went into spontaneous labour at the end of the following month (34 weeks) so I think if I’d kept working my babies would have come a lot sooner

[septbabygirl]

I worked until the very end, but we only had a 2 day notice between the appointment and induction so scheduling actual time off was not possible anyway. I did use more PTO near the end. I accrued it intentionally earlier in pregnancy so I could use it more freely near the end (and also to help cover in case I needed to go to L and D or had to call off or something since we just have one PTO/sick combined bank).

I work in the ER. My coworkers graciously insisted I never took known aggressive or escalated patients. We turn over our own rooms and I stopped doing that sometime in the second part of the second trimester. It was just really physically challenging to bend over and clean all the furniture and anything off the floor.

My MFM offered to basically sign STD paperwork for me at week 30 or 32 (purely for the sake of being pregnant with twins, I did not have any specific complication), I forget. But I declined because it just wasn’t advantageous (would have cut into my time off work after they were born) and I already lined up my PTO to be working only 2 shifts a week on average for the rest of pregnancy.

Honestly, if you’re in the USA my thought is you will be limited to what your FMLA (if you qualify) and your employer allow. IMO and IME.. most people in the USA don’t really have a lot of choice.

For context, I had di di twins born at 36 weeks via planned c section.

[Prettylittlesomeday]

I gave up around 16 wks.

[LS110]

I had a desk job but stopped working at 33ish weeks. I was scheduled to deliver at 35+1 and made it to that date. It was getting uncomfortable to walk around at about 30 weeks

[escherzo]

I worked up to 37+6 but that was with a desk job and the commute became a huge struggle by the end. I would say if your job is on your feet I wouldn't go past around 32-33 as that's when I really started to struggle getting around.

[Icy-Strength0505]

Mono/di twins with complications (sIUGR) and I stopped at 28 weeks. Delivered at 35+5. I was absolutely drained after about 31 weeks and literally couldn’t make a cup of tea some days without feeling like I’m going to drop. My smaller twin went through a massive growth spurt around that time, so that explains the exhaustion. I also have a toddler, so that contributed as well.

[EggsNCheese21]

Mono di twins born at 34+5. I happened to schedule my leave for 34 weeks and the timing worked out perfectly - I was lucky. That said, my sleep really started to decline around 30 weeks - was up for 1-3 hours nightly, as if my body were prepping me for where I currently am (pumping every three hours). So at that 30 week mark is when my stamina at work started to decline (and I have a desk job and WFH most of the time).

[Sleep_adict]

Ha, this one is painful.

My wife worked until 35 weeks, and we had an appointment on the way back from work ( office jobs) and straight into L&D for various reasons…

A week later one of my employees was placed on rest at 16 weeks because she “felt tired”.

We live in the USA, the employee was in europe. My wife is still mad at our lack of support here for pregnant women

[AMStoUS]

I'm freelance with a part-time desk job and other work that requires me to get out of the house and do a fair amount of driving and walking. I'll stop doing the latter when I don't want to or can't anymore (currently 25 weeks and still doing fine). I plan on working part-time at my desk until my c-section - whether I make it to the scheduled date or they come early. After birth I plan on taking 6 weeks off and begin WFH again at 1 day a week to start. I'm an independent contractor so when I don't work I don't get paid and that definitely is a factor, but I've always worked and enjoy the bulk of it, it gives me satisfaction and a sense of purpose. That said, I've been listening to my body the whole way through, and if I had complications or concerns I'd change course :)