going sick before maternity

Hi girls, Just looking for some opinions/advice really. I am 30 weeks pregnant. I am a primary school teacher,teaching in Year 6 (sixth class) in England. This is exam year (SATs) for us and terms 3 (now) and 4 are are busiest terms. At the moment I live an hour from work and get up at six and am never home before six. I am just absolutely exhausted. My class are quite challenging and I often have to deal with explosive behaviour (chair throwing etc). I work in a deprived area and the class have a lot of emotional problems. I love my job but I feel I am struggling to cope. We have an impending OFSTED inspection (dept. of education) and there is pressure to perform. I am also supposed to be teaching extra classes starting next week to get ready for SATs which means won't finish teaching until 4:30 before start my after-school work. My friend recently in work lost her baby 3 weeks before her due date and this has really hit me hard and made me review my priorities. I am due to leave on maternity leave in 4 more weeks but have a doc app. on Monday and am really hoping I can't get signed off sick. Has anyone else been through this or am I just going through a slump period?

I think that your own health and the health of your little baby is the most important thing in question here.. If you are avoiding flying chairs and tables it is not the place for you.. Teachers suffer alot from guilt.. I know all about it..We think that the whole place will crash down if we're not in.. But at the end of the day the kids will survive and do well anyway.. By the sounds of things you have done more than enough for them.. Look after yourself and your baby.. You need a good rest before the night time feeds begin

I agree with jelly tots, I'm a teacher too , I'll be taking sick leave I'd say (for different reasons though, I teach Junior infants so it's not the stress, I injured my back in a car accident and it's not holding up so well) but it's the same principle- your priority now is you and your baby, the children in school will survivie just fine with their sub, so definitely take whatever time you need, you need to be ready for babs when s/he arrives!!

thanks girls for the replies. The more I think about finishing up the better I feel so I think that is the final sign for me really. Hopefully doc will agree on Monday but I don't think they will argue over 20 days?

Your doctor will sign you off for whatever you need, his or her priority will be yours and the baby's health, so tell the doc when you want to finish and I'd be very surprised if s/he didn't sign you off.

thanks tras, my hubby said the same thing, their priority is our health Sometimes I feel like we should be able to work and maintain the energies levels to provide for babs but I realise now it's ok not to be superwoman and there is plenty to do in the house - could enjoy a few weeks and finish nursery and have some quality time for myself - it will be the last time for a while anyways