immature coworkers

so i’m currently on maternity leave and debating going back to work. i’m really close with one of my coworkers and have seen her a few times since being on maternity leave and she has kept me updated on what has been going on while i’ve been out. i only have a few weeks left of maternity leave and am getting anxious about going back. so the coworker im close with has told me that they are constantly asking if im going back to work and also saying that my husband probably isn’t being a good father, that we probably will not be together by the time our baby turns one, and many other things just basically bashing my husband and honestly sounding like they hope we are not doing well. anyways i have asked my hr person to have a meeting just to ask if i could extend my leave just by another 4 weeks (and i asked my coworker her opinion on it, like if my other coworkers would be mad, if it has been too busy for me to take more time off, if they want to replace me, etc) - if not that’s totally fine but we can afford another month of me not getting paid so why not while my baby is still little. but i am 100% willing to go back when i am scheduled to if they say no. something is telling me i cant even trust this one coworker and that she is going to go back to work and tell them im not coming back and just join in on the shit talk. ok so my question is is it even worth going back at all when apparently i only work with shit talking 45 year olds that hope my family falls apart? fyi i am 24 and have been working at this job for 6 years. i felt like i was close to all of the people i work with until i went on maternity leave and constantly heard about everything they were saying about me behind my back. keep in mind they are all texting me several times a week checking in on me, telling me they hope everything is going well, asking for pics of my baby, and seeming to care about me. basically i’m very anxious about seeing all of these people knowing what they’ve been saying about me all this time