I am currently preg with baby #4, a little over 7 months along right now.
I told the parents fairly early on, probably only 8 weeks pregnant or so? I had to, because I was starting to show already, ugh. So I wanted to be upfront as soon as possible. The only thing I made sure of; was that I had already thought about what my "plan" was going to be. It would not have felt fair to break the news and say "not sure what's happening yet!".
I am due September 9, so I will be taking the entire month off. Re-opening the first weekday of October. I will have the same hours and rates, but have chosen not to transport kids on a regular basis anymore. I was fully prepared to lose some clientele, as a month is a long time to find alternate care. I will not be charging anyone to hold a spot, as it is my choice to close down. I have asked all my parents to be upfront with me, because I will need to advertise for those spaces over the summer if they are choosing not to come back!
Amazingly enough, it looks like ALL of my families will be back. I was very pleased. There is only one "maybe" that I will be finalizing this week with a definite answer. I have made sure that I have back-up plans in place should I go into labor sooner (or much, much later) than anticipated. But all the parents I have are incredible and I hope would be understanding if there was an emergency-type scenario.
I hope that a month will be long enough, but the beauty of this job is; if I answer the door in my pajamas, it's my prerogative!!!