Anyone arranged flexible working/working from home while pregnant?

[hopefully]

I currently work for a publication in central london. I work 9-5, which are perfectly reasonable hours, but I live virtually on the south coast, so my commute is nearly 2 hours (I leave at 7am and get back just before 7pm). I recently discovered I'm pregnant, and the commute is already killing me!

I know that the initial tiredness will pass, but I'm also concerned about having to stop work earlier than I would like (I want maximum leave post birth!) purely because I cannot manage the commute. I know that I am legally allowed to request flexible working, but has anyone got any advice for applying now (well, in a few weeks when I am further along and prepared to tell my office)? Any experience of applying while pregnant?

I don't feel in a terribly strong position, but I'm doing it because I enjoy my job and want to be able to carry on doing it, as well as hopefully having a flexible working solution in place for after the birth to encourage me to come back!

My office is theoretically supportive of working from home, but my immediate manager is flat against it and refused a request once before from me (pre-pregnancy)
Any thoughts much appreciated.

[flowerybeanbag]

Employers are encouraged to be flexible if possible with pregnant women so could you negotiate something temporary, not a formal flexible working request?
Might be worth a chat about temporarily adjusting your hours/working from home occasionally, coming in late or whatever, just while you are this tired then reviewing it on an ongoing basis during your pregnancy, rather than make a permanent change to your contract at this point.

[hopefully]

I suppose in that situation I'd be best approaching HR in the first instance, and then going to my manager once I've spoken to them? I have a totally unsupportive manager, so am reluctant to go directly to her.

[Gumbo]

Hopefully, you need to get your employers to do a Risk Assesment on you. At my company they do this automatically, and decided that I spent too much time driving (65 miles each way to work) and that I'd get too tired, so got me to work from home twice a week (more towards the end of pregnancy).

HTH!

[flowerybeanbag]

If there is someone approachable in HR, see if you can have a confidential chat about it, feel them out and see what they say. I would expect them to have dealt with similar situations before and be helpful and sympathetic and advise you how to approach your boss, and explain the different attitude expected with pregnant women to him/her as well.

Give that a try, and do come back for more help if you need to.

[hopefully]

Thanks for the advice - am just trying to track down my hr person to chat to her. I may be back with more questions soon!