Yesterday was my last day of work before my maternity leave which is a year long.
I’m having a little trouble imagining exactly what I’m going to do with myself if I’m not working for that long (and not job hunting). Obviously when Junior arrives I’ll be occupied with him but for about the next 7 weeks I’m doing nothing.
I haven’t been without a job since I was about 15. It’s…kinda weird.
Heh. As a full-time mother to a 10YO, a part-time mother to a 23YO and a 19YO, and a part-time property manager, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll be occupied with him for at least the next 20 years! 
Best of luck!
Yah - I know Junior’s arrival will mean a whole lot less free time. I’ll be spending hours a day just cleaning baby barf out of my clothes I’m sure! 
You’ve got 7 weeks? Okay, now is the time to stock the freezer with stuff you can both cook and eat one handed. There is really only a small chance you’ll end up with a colicky or clingy baby and be unable to put them down ever but it never hurts to be prepared.
You’re lucky. They make the ladies who work here stay until they practically pop unless their doctor puts them on bedrest or something. I live in fear that some poor kid is going to be born on the factory floor someday.
And one year maternity leave? Around here, that’s called quitting. Then you can have as much leave as you want. Otherwise, FMLA gets you 12 weeks.
My advice? Sleep now or forever hold your peace. I like the “stock the freezer” idea too. If it were me, I’d crochet a baby blanket…or maybe two!
Yah - the year is standard in Canada. I get my full salary for the first 4.5 months too and then I switch on to EI.
Currently I’m knitting a nursing shawl and I have an absurd striped baby romper up next (what’s the point in having a child if you can’t dress them in an absurd striped baby romper?)
my advice is to find a really long engrossing book and read read read. You might only be able to find 5 minutes with the newspaper for a while after Jr. arrives.
Also go through the house and untie everything that’s knotted, that’s supposed to bring a safe easy birth! (YMMV )
Also, for the OP, get a piece of paper and write this (by hand-no fair doing a copy n’ paste! ): “I will sleep when the baby sleeps!”
I was given this advice time and again with my first one. Unfortunately, around that time, someone gave me a copy of It by Stephen King. When my first baby slept, I was reading about nightmare clowns. I ended up totally exhausted! Believe me, with the next two, I had learned my lesson!
AND. . .if friends say to you “Is there anything I can do to help?” By all means, take them up on it! They can make you a casserole that can go in your freezer, run the vacuum cleaner, run a load of laundry, wash a load of dishes, or even hold and coo over the baby for an hour while Mama gets a nap!
I only had 2.5 weeks leave before Baby From Mars arrived, but I cleaned and stocked the pantry, baked and cooked lots of things to eat one handed (if you’re anything like most of the mums I know, your craving for sweet things goes through the roof once you start breastfeeding), went and saw lots of movies, prewashed all of the cloth nappies, walked lots, did the final few shops for baby things.
I also started to get really prepared for labour - read Birth Skills and Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way, finalised my birthplan, practiced my hypnobirthing relaxation, made fast and slow playlists for the iphone, downloaded the Labour Mate app to time contractions, got a wax and pedicure and packed my hospital bag - assume you have a list of what you’re going to take, but if you need suggestions just ask.
Here’s one tip that we wish someone had given us: get a 3 or 5 pound freeweight and start doing some curls every day, for each hand.
When the PiperCub arrived, Mrs Piper got really bad tendonitis in both wrists, from all the lifting that the cub required - eventually she had to go to physio, and wear wrist supports for about six months. And, we were surprised by the number of mums who said, “Yes, that happened to me - no-one warned me I should try to strengthen my wrists.”
Speaking of things lots of mums wished they did - pelvic floor exercises. Start now (10 min a day) and do not stop once that bubba comes out.