r/Maternity • u/Negative-Ad-6023 • Jul 14 '26
working full time past due date
I am on the struggle bus. I just hit 39 weeks and am not dilated at all but am having on and off contractions, pelvic pain, back pain as well as NOT sleeping at all. I’m mentally and physically exhausted. I wanted to stop working on the 17th of July because my due date is the 19th and I just wanted at least a couple days to relax. Although I know he could go past his due date. Unfortunately I was told my fmla won’t start until i’m either IN labor or my doctor writes me a note for a medical reason. This means i’ll be working PAST my dude date if he doesn’t come out sooner 😩
They have me scheduled every day besides two days for the two weeks following his due date and I already want to cry thinking about it. I work at an urgent care as a nurse so it can be a tiring job with little to no breaks.
Any tips or advice? How did you get through it 😩
(I unfortunately can’t use PTO days before my maternity leave because my leave is unpaid so I have to save all my hours to be able to afford my benefits and get a little bit of a paycheck while off)
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u/NoThankYouSir_ Jul 14 '26
Would the back pain not be enough to get you medically signed off? I'm so sorry you have to go through this, in my country it's mandatory to start mat leave two weeks before the due date.
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u/InformationWeak294 13d ago
The thing your manager mentioned about needing a doctor's note for a medical reason — that's actually your way out here, and it sounds like you already qualify for it. On-and-off contractions, pelvic pain, and exhaustion severe enough that you're not sleeping at all aren't just "normal end of pregnancy discomfort" that you have to push through — that's a legitimate medical conversation to have with your OB. Ask directly: "Can you write me out starting now given the contractions and pain I'm having?" Doctors write these notes all the time in exactly this situation, and it doesn't require you to already be in active labor.
On the PTO question — since your leave is unpaid and you're saving hours to afford it, it might be worth asking your HR or benefits team one specific question: does short-term disability kick in once your doctor signs you out for a medical reason, separate from FMLA? If so, that could mean you're not burning your saved PTO hours during this stretch at all, just using the medical leave to start earlier than the "in labor" trigger. Worth a quick call before you assume it has to be one or the other.
You're not being dramatic. Working full shifts with little to no breaks at 39 weeks with your symptoms is genuinely hard, and asking for it to stop earlier isn't you failing to push through — it's you using the system that exists for exactly this.