Said It Here

Working through early labor contractions

Pregnant workers often try to power through mild, irregular contractions while finishing daily tasks and sub plans before heading to the hospital. This leaves them second-guessing when to officially start leave or notify HR while dealing with increasing physical discomfort.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    Working through mild contractions and making sub plans while at work
  2. 2
    Taking early leave, sick days, or FMLA before the due date
  3. 3
    Relying on colleagues and administrators to cover classes or step in if labor progresses

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

“I had disorganized contractions most of that Thursday that increased in frequency throughout the day, and I stayed late making sub plans for the next day”source ↗

cabbagesandkings1291 · r/Teachers · 4 upvotes

“My first I worked up until my induction with no labor signs, and this one I worked through what I thought was early labor yesterday”source ↗

akricketson · r/Teachers · 2 upvotes

“I had pd on the day I went into labor with my 2nd and was having pretty mild contractions all day; I just told the presenter, if I need to leave I’m going to.”source ↗

Jealous_Back_7665 · r/Teachers · 1 upvotes

“First baby my back just kept hurting and I was just so uncomfortable. I was almost 40 weeks and was like do I call HR and start leave on my due date or do I go on maternity leave.”source ↗

broccolirabe71 · r/Teachers · 1 upvotes

“Yes. I had contractions all day. We had an all-school assembly that day and my principal allowed me to stay back and make sub plans after I told him I was regularly contracting.”source ↗

Cheez_n_OldFashioned · r/Teachers · 1 upvotes

Where this came up

r/Teacherspregnancyworkplace

People with this problem also raised