I don't want to hand off my project at the finish line!

There is a new machine being installed at my job. It grew into a huge project that kept getting delayed due to contractors and Covid and all these little things. I have been working my butt off to make it happen.

I have been coordinating everything from the purchase negotiation to the mess with the decommission of the old machine, and installation of the new one. I'm 32 weeks and we are getting down to the wire. If work doesn't start in the next 2 weeks there is a very real possibility I won't be at work to see the project through completion and get trained on the new machine.

My backup is a childfree guy and I really don't want to hand this over to him at the finish line and miss the vendor training. Doing that would mean I'm no longer the subject matter expert and it would be a major hit to my career. When I return from leave he would essentially need to train me on the upgraded version on what I trained him on!

Personally, I like him well enough but if the timing works out wrong this is the moment that seals it and he is going to lap me in my career.

Please please I need work to start next week. I'm able to take up to 3 weeks off ahead of my due date, for my first I took 2 weeks ahead of my due she came 10 days early so I only got 2 days off work to prepare. I really hope this one isn't early too... I would love to actually take advantage of this benefit rather than working up to the last minute.

If I have to hand it over I think I can get a service tech to give me the high level training during a scheduled maintenance when I get back from leave so I don't have to ding my pride by getting trained by my own trainee...