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Pregnancy

Advice re reasonable working whilst pregnant please....

3 replies

amelianoah · 10/05/2011 12:11

Hi, I am an equine vet and the nature of my job involves close contact with horses which obviously can be dangerous (getting kicked / squashed etc) and often involves heavy lifting. My first baby was stillborn at 40+5 (nothing to do with work). Whilst pg with her I carried on pretty much as normal till 30 weeks when I came off the out of hours rota. With my second pg I was understandably completely stressed and tbh, lost the plot a bit and was pretty terrified and therefore pretty useless for the whole time.

I am now pg for the third time and want to get the balance right. I think I did too much first time around and not enough the second! Out of hours we are on our own and so have to see everything that comes in regardless of how difficult or dangerous it may be so when do you think is a good time to ask to come off the out of hours rota? At what stage of pg is it reasonable to say I don't want to see a horse that is rolling with discomfort or pain? At what stage is it reasonable to stop doing physically demanding jobs like rasping teeth?

Sorry this is such a long post but all opinions gratefully received. BTW we do have a risk assessment at the beginning of pg but this relates more to drugs and radiation than potential physical dangers.

Thanks

OP posts:

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Joannezipan · 10/05/2011 12:28

Hummm well I'm not a vet, I'm an engineer. But my work make sure we have risk assessments regularly throughout pg to make sure we are safe. I have to do one about every 6 weeks, more often if something changes. I wasn't allowed to do site visits after 24 weeks and all out of office activities are off the cards after 36 weeks.

An aquantaince who is a GP stopped seeing most of her patients at about 24 weeks as she was getting sick all the time. Maybe you should just see how you feel at the time?

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harrygracejessica · 10/05/2011 12:50

are you solely an equine vet or do you do small animals too?? Personally having seen horse with colic and choke etc I wouldn't want to be there at any stage in pregnancy!!! Especially on sole call out which could be the middle of the night.

Only you can judge how you feel, if you feel happy carrying on doing it.

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amelianoah · 10/05/2011 19:49

Hi, thank you so much for speedy replies. Yes, I am purely equine and so it can be scary when pg but you're both right, think I'll just have to wait & see, and asking for more regular assessments will help.