Maternity leave

Hi everyone,

I need a bit of advice in regards as to when to take maternity leave

I'll be 28 weeks from Saturday so potentially I can leave from the following weekend.

My company has a really good care package for expectant mums.... however my team aren't so great.

I'm a zoo keeper so my job is quite demanding, I'm also still really tiny so they think that I'm still good to be doing pretty much everything as normal. Disregarding the fact that I was off for over 2 months with morning sickness and in and out of hospital during that time.

I also commute an hour each way, sometimes I leave my house before 7am and get home nearly 13 hours later.

My team has been so awful over the last few months that I'm considering completely leaving the career I've worked so hard for and retraining in a different direction as the stress is too much and I naturally want to be focused on my baby girl rather than bitchy comments and difficulties.

Currently I'm down to leave at about 34 weeks, the thought of another 6 weeks is torture but I know that the longer I stay the longer I will have once she's here.

Sorry for the long post, I'm really stressed about it.

My OH is great and says whatever I decided he will help me.... but he isn't really giving me any help in making the decision.

Any help or advice would be massively appreciated.

Here's a photo of me just a few days ago so you can see what I mean about having a tiny bump!!

Xx