Early mat leave?

[Micaelap]

I'm 25 weeks with my first baby and having problems with pgp and stress at work that is making me very upset and sad. I was initially going to start maternity leave week 34, but now I'm seriously considering going week 29 (my work is quite flexible about when I can leave). I know that it's a terrible choice financially, and we will probably suffer for it, but I'm wondering if I will have a healthier and more enjoyable pregnancy if I leave earlier. Anyone who has done something similar? Any advice?

I will probably not return to my job after mat leave, but look for something else when baby is 5-6 months. Anyone with experience going back to work when baby is around that age?

[Hidden]

Are you able to use an annual leave up before starting your maternity leave? Or work from home a couple of days a week to help with the stress? I became quite abrupt whilst I was pregnant, possibly even outright rude to some people, if I didn't like what they were doing/ saying or how they were treating me I would just walk out the room, on the grounds that any stress isn't healthy.

Financially it will make things harder to leave work earlier, but health must come before money. In most companies you still accrue annual leave whilst on maternity leave, so unless you have already taken your entire years worth of leave, I would really look at taking it.

[enci]

The best thing is to use annual leave before maternity. I could manage to take all my annual leave in one go which was about 7 weeks for this year from week 29 and now I am on maternity leave.