Taking 26 weeks maternity leave instead of 52
Hi all, I'm FTM currently 27 weeks pregnant. Before I found out I was pregnant my husband and I were in the middle of buying a house. Once we found out the lovely news I started saving money because I knew I will need something to keep me going during maternity leave. My plan originally was to take the full 52 weeks (ordinary and additional mat leave) but now I'm not so sure. Based on my maths if I take 52 weeks off I will definitely run out of money and struggle to cope in the last 3 months. My husband's salary won't be enough to cover all expenses. So I was thinking to just take off 6 months instead of the full year that way I will have enough money to cover expenses during my mat leave and will have extra left over for my baby. I'm the eldest daughter and I came from a low income household I saw the stresses of having little money in the house and I took on a lot of it at a young age to make sure I wasn't a financial burden on anyone. I don't want my daughter to ever feel that she's the greatest gift I could ever ask for. So if it means I have to cut my leave in half for her to be comfortable then I will.
But I'm a little worried about one thing. Is 6 months enough time to recover from giving birth and going back to work? My intention will be to go in the office once a week when I go back. I was hoping to share this in case anyone else has taken the 6 months off and went back to work. How was it for you? What helped you get back into the swing of things?