Travelling for work (uk) at 36 weeks pregnant

I think a lot of posters who worked up until their due dates in the mines had more uncomplicated pregnancies. I had my son at 34 weeks and lost a baby at 20 weeks which resulted in a 2 week hospital stay. I wouldn't be travelling for work if I got to 36 weeks.

No baby could come any time now. Yes youre still working but want to stay close to home. Could you dial into the meeting?

I gave birth at 34 weeks.
I personally wouldn't feel comfortable and could have a doctor's note to say you can't.
No meeting needs to be in person these days.
Covid has proven this....

No it's too far for this stage of pregnancy. A friend of mine travelled to the States at 32 weeks for work and lost her baby while there, I'd not go in the third trimester, even 4 hours away.

I'd have a false alarm on the morning and be unable to travel, damn those baxton hicks.

The competitive "I worked right up until labour and took a Zoom call during the epidural which was performed trackside, get over yourself"... Some odd attitudes, I very much hope some of the posters here are not responsible for leading teams.

OP, if you don't feel comfortable with it, I would first ask if the meeting can be virtual and explain that your PGP makes long periods of sitting, long walks to platforms etc, very painful. If they refuse,
I would seek a doctor's note requiring working from home / bed rest or sick leave and start mat leave.

FWIW, I did a heavily pregnant train trip for a meeting, became very unwell on the journey, vomited all over myself and nearly passed out hours from home. I turned around at my destination and went home again, declining long distance travel from there on.

It was scary, upsetting and unfortunately no one helped me. In fact, one woman had a go at me as I stumbled, sobbing and faint, out of the loo for taking too long (possibly one of the superior PPs on this thread who would have made a full recovery in half the time)

If your gut says not to do it, follow that instinct.

Hey op. No way in hell would i have done that.

Speak to your midwife asap.

We all have different pregnancies but i stopped work at 36 and 35 weeks both times and I’m so glad i did. Ignore all the people saying they worked until their due date. I don’t imagine anyone gave them a medal. My personal experience has been that it was more worthwhile to look after myself during those last few weeks than to save a few extra weeks of childcare.

My experience has also been that workplaces and individual managers, even if they are normally great, actually know absolutely fuck all about maternity rights etc. The training they get is really poor. I’ve worked for 2 very well known big companies and neither mamager even knew I had to do a risk assessment. I had to tell them. I also had one try and make me work extra hours in place of antenatal appointments, which i believe is illegal.

No point making a big show of you being in a meeting in person if you’re going to be in pain from a 4 hour journey.

Definitely talk to your midwife and ask your work to do a further risk assessment.

I have PGP at 20 weeks only (!) and I'm not sure I could manage that either. Personally, I would just start maternity leave at that point. You get a whole year of it anyway.

Unfortunately I am finding that women who have an easy pregnancy have zero empathy for the women who struggle. My pregnancy so far has been like a bingo of every single symptom on the Internet and it's miserable. I was a fit 33 year old running half marathons and lifting weights before this and my mum had a super easy pregnancy with me so there was no indication I would have it hard.

I've never experienced the world be so unkind until pregnancy and I find women on mumsnet especially love to write about how resilient and wonderful they are.

It's like you're doing womanhood a disservice by simply being ill.

I’d also add- I did too much up until I finished. It’s not a competition and in hindsight I shouldn’t have done. A train trip into London + 3 hour exam on one of the hottest days of the year probably contributed to my waters breaking early and a shit show of a labour with my first. I was much more sensible with my second but also had pgp and found it debilitating so had to finish a bit earlier.

The ‘train travel is not stressful’ comment made me laugh. There’s a good chance of a cancelled or short/form connection where there is no guarantee the OP will get a seat.

Also….. I don’t know why you feel the need to crow about working until your due date. This is classic ‘competitive mothering’ behaviour.
You might stop to consider other women may have all sorts of health reasons why they don’t work until their due date.

If it was an hour, maybe 2, I’d understand. But 4 hours each way, potentially making it a 12+ hour working day with PGP at 36 weeks pregnant, nope. Ask for a risk assessment with H&S officer.

Theres also a lot of strikes coming up which cause very busy trains/extra disruption.

Not sure whether they can make you or not. They may insist you start maternity leave early which is a bit unfair as it's really early to start m leave and then you would have to come back a month early at the end of m leave, thus, penalising you. Check.with HR.

Maternity leave is for late pregnancy as well as having a baby but many mothers now see it as just for baby time and take the mick in their job right up to their due date. Going off sick loads in the run up at the end. These women aren’t making it easier or better for women in the long run.

As someone who worked in a physical job with no options to adjust my workload short of changing my job completely I took my maternity leave pretty early. I am not saying everyone should go off that early but if you are lucky enough to work a mostly office based job and you still expect loads of adjustments towards the end you really are taking the absolute mick. No wonder women are discriminated against.

Well aren't you just fab working till your due date. Maybe OP doesn't want to risk early labour and bring stuck in a hospital hours away from her home and family 🙄

I absolutely preferred working as long as possible before due date and having time off after my baby arrived.
There should be no pressure on OP or anyone to start maternity leave earlier than they want to solely to avoid a potentially negotiable meeting.

The Eurostar is quicker than 4 hours. 😂😂

What are the hospitals like where you are going OP?

My SIL gave birth prematurely while she was staying up here with us, hundreds of miles from home, over Xmas! Luckily for her, our local hospitals have better facilities for premmies than her local hospital down south so all was good!

My work wouldn't make me do it, my office is 50-60 minutes from me and they are happy for me to now WFH with 4 weeks to go. If I'd asked earlier, I've bit doubt they'd have said yes but even I felt that was taking the mickey a tad. So no, not reasonable, I'd not be comfy sat there for four hours, Id also be bloody shattered they other end making the meeting painful and somewhat pointless. If they are really insisting, I'd be thinking about having your midwife/doctor do you a note to say it's not suitable for you at this stage.

Yay! Imagine the fun of the train being stopped to be medically evacuated of you go into labour! Both of my dc born early and no idea was in labour with either till waters went!

Do your work know about the PGP OP? I mentioned it late in the day to my boss because I wanted to see if it meant I could get reserved parking for the days I was in the office. He freaked out because apparently it's classed a temporary disability caused by pregnancy and he was worried they'd be in trouble for not giving me adjustments.

I don't think any woman should be expected to travel 4 hours on the train at 36 weeks (thats London to Edinburgh!) But to expect you to do it with PGP is particularly unreasonable.

OP, you should, by law, already have had an individual pregnancy risk assessment completed. You shouldn't even be having to request this.

So if this type of travel is regular for you, this should have been considered. If this is a one off request, the risk assessment requires review anyway.

Normally when I see "I'm pregnant can work ask me..." I mutter to myself in my head 'I worked on my feet in a front line NHS job until 37 weeks, pfft, young people today' but no, this is unfair. That's a lot to ask and as people have said rail travel is terrible at the moment, you can't rely on any of it. Plus luggage etc etc. Not sure how it works in the corporate world but I would try and swerve this any way possible.

In a bit of an 'in my day' comment though, we had to work for ever because mat leave was 16 weeks and you wanted the time with your baby (I was back when mine was 12 weeks which still makes me sad) but for you there's a lot more leave available, go off now, relax, potter and make time to look after yourself and freeze lovely food for after the baby is here. You won't regret it in the future.

My first came at 36+5. I'd been away due work a few days earlier.

With my second, we jointly decided I'd stay within a hour of home from 34 weeks.

YANBU, I would try and get a note from the GP. It's not just the pregnancy it's the PGP as well!

It’s only 4 hours, it’s not the Eurostar to Amsterdam via Paris.