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I would like to wish a colleague who is going on maternity leave. I have known about the pregnancy for a while now so saying "Congratulations on your pregnancy" doesn't sound right. All suggestions are welcome.

Raghav
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    You're not using the word wish correctly. You don't wish a person. – curiousdannii May 15 '15 at 05:19
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    Apparently one does, in Indian English, though not in BrE, AmE, or any other variety of English I know of.) There was discussion of this at another question recently. – Brian Hitchcock Jun 14 '15 at 07:55
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    My favorite maternity-leave-related message at work involved a message that our company's HR department released when a new mom was getting ready to come back to work: "Kathy had been out on maternity leave the last 3 months. She is now back and rearing to go." – Sven Yargs Jun 14 '15 at 09:26
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    I often wished my colleagues. Would leave me alone. – deadrat Jul 22 '15 at 04:22
  • Whenever someone who reported to me asked about maternity leave, I always said, "Congratulations! To apply for maternity leave, you must submit form 2692A for approval nine months prior to your leave date." – deadrat Jul 22 '15 at 04:24

3 Answers3

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You could simply write:

Wishing you all the best on your maternity leave.
Take care and enjoy this precious time.

[Name]

If you are good friends with this colleague then you can write something a little more personal

Hope you enjoy your maternity leave (lucky you, no more rush hour traffic!) I wish you a very happy delivery, and we can't wait to wait to see your sweet "bundle of joy".
Take very good care of yourself.

[Name]

The “we” is an added touch, it suggests that everyone at work is looking forward to seeing the newborn.

Mari-Lou A
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If you are on relatively good terms with the mother-to-be, so that a certain informality can be used, you could try something like:

Best of luck. We'll expect pictures when you get back.

In this case, "Best of luck" is a very nebulous phrase, but the second sentence suggests that no catastrophe is anticipated.

WhatRoughBeast
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This is actually easier than you think.

The office will not be the same while you are gone. Nonetheless, I'm wishing you all the best with giving birth and taking care of your precious angel! We'll be seeing each other in the next couple of months! Until then!

[your name]

Community
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DUS
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    in a few months is a better construct – mplungjan May 15 '15 at 06:06
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    That said, this fails to address the question at hand, and is basically ghostwriting, and bad writing at that. Precious angel? Please... The "nonetheless" makes no sense there. And what's the deal with the exclamation marks all over the place?!!!!!!!!! Why are you shouting?!!!!!!! −1. – RegDwigнt May 15 '15 at 09:37
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    Is this being written on a greeting card? If so, it's common to use flowery prose and exclamations like this. – Barmar May 17 '15 at 05:53
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    Way too many exclamation points!!!! One is plenty!!!! – Brian Hitchcock Jun 14 '15 at 07:56
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    Though one could pick nits, this is actually a very good example to work from. Only personalize it a bit according to your tastes and the situation. – Hot Licks Jul 14 '15 at 12:27