So a little background. 3rd time mom here obviously, both of my boys came early. Our oldest came at 38 weeks and I went into labor early in the morning and ended up having him the day after in the afternoon but everyone told me I wasn’t in labor (jokes on them lol.) With our second I took a whole month off before baby was due but he was born a week early because I was walking around 5cm dilated with no contractions (and doctor could see baby’s head) so she had me induced 2 days later and I had him 3/4 hours after that.Now here’s my current dilemma.

I finally got a job I really like. It’s data entry but it’s not a desk job. It’s a on your feet all day job, moving metal (sometimes heavy metal), just generally a physical job (which is one of the reasons I wanted it in the first place.) My immediate higher up wants me to stay and work as long as possible, she says it’s because it will help us with money (our company does not offer paid maternity leave) but I think it’s because we both know our supervisor probably won’t have given us the extra help we need to get a back up trained for my position and she doesn’t want to do the job of two people by herself for 3 months which I completely understand because it can get hectic! With that being said, I had a feeling with both of my boys they would be early. I have the same feeling about this baby and that makes me nervous to continue working well into my 9th month. My fiancé has already voiced he’d really like me to take it easy near the end because he also knows our babies like to come early and we have a real fear of me going into labor at work where it would be very difficult to leave in the middle of a shift/I wouldn’t want to abandon my crew because like I said before, I really like my job AND the hospital I’ll be delivering at is 30-45 away depending on traffic and once my water breaks things go very quickly. Plus during the summer the temperatures easily get up in the high 90’s and we only have the big chicken fans to help cool us off while we’re out on the plant floor.

So my question to you mommas is would you just be selfish and take some extra time before baby gets here or would you work up until labor begins? Money isn’t an issue, but I don’t want to leave my work crew feeling like they are stranded. I understand this is a time to be selfish but I also know what my body can handle work wise and my immediate higher up has started discussing with our supervisor getting extra help after I hit 36 weeks so I can keep working mainly just doing the data entry on the computer and they can do all the lifting and moving that I probably won’t feel like doing. I’m just worried if baby decides to come early and no one is prepared for me not to be there leaving them in a bind. What would you mommas do?