Travelling for work (uk) at 36 weeks pregnant

Train travel is extremely stressful where I live.

Northern Rail services are often delayed or cancelled. Trains are often condensed into 1 carriage at peak times so most people are stood up and squashed in like sardines. A lot of ticket offices have been shut so you either need to purchase a ticket over an app or on a screen at the station. That’s no good for the elderly or if your phone has ran out of battery. & not to mention to tackle all that, weeks maybe days away from giving birth!

Only 4 hrs away. How ridiculous. There’s no way I would entertain this, find a way out of it.
Nothing in the world is more important than the safe arrival of your child.
And a 2 hour commute is not the same and give yourself a medal for working until your due date 🥇😆

What do you do that you can’t possibly miss or zoom?

Every pregnancy is different and how people "manage" is very different.
I had PGP with pregnancy so I understand how awful this is. I couldn't walk to my car in the office car park without a struggle. My boss naively thought I'd be travelling 2 hours door to door either way on public transport for a work meeting at 36 weeks pregnant until everyone around him told him that was utterly ridiculous. I just don't think he had any idea it wasn't normal!
Have you voiced that you don't want to do this? Your boss's request might be coming from a place of ignorance/naivety

It’s only 4 hours away and presumably where you are going has an NHS hospital minutes away. They can stop a train for a medical emergency and get you to a hospital at any point along the route (I have been sat in trains delayed by such things before.)

I would agree to the meeting with the provisio that you might not make it as labour is inherently spontaneous and unpredictable.

Fwiw, I worked until my due date and my daily commute was 2hrs each way…

With PGP it's a NO there is no telling how much walking, standing or stair climbing you will have to.

What does your midwife say and has firm done risk assessment. Take medical notes with in just in case if you decide to go.

Of course it’s unreasonable, especially as you have PGP. They should be making reasonable adjustments due to your PGP.

I had my son prematurely (completely unexpected) at 35 weeks. I'm pretty sure you can request a risk or health and safety assessment. Your employers have a duty of care towards you.

If you’re in good health and feel ok I don’t see a major issue
but then I was travelling up and down the country until then and worked until a day before giving birth . its not for everyone though !

I gave birth at 36 weeks.

I'm sure I just saw this in Facebook!

Not a chance I’d have been happy with that but more importantly as a manager I wouldn’t be wanting the responsibility of making a heavily pregnant women travel anywhere especially one with PGP. At that point I’d be suggesting wfh only.

Not a chance.

Get a note from your GP or MW to say this is unreasonable.

I wouldn't want to do so much travelling so heavily pregnant, especially for a meeting that can presumably be done over Teams or whatever.

Ask them what they plan on doing if you go into labour.

Yanbu. I wouldn't be doing that either. Busy stations and all that. No thanks. I was pretty massive at that point though! Very large baby!

Honestly I think a nice train journey with a trashy book sounds lovely versus a day in the office

Mine came at 36 and37 weeks so I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to be travelling far in late pregnancy.

I'm travelling for a holiday at 36 weeks pregnant in the UK. Dh only coming for half the week so will be driving back alone. Other family are with me for the holiday though.
I'm checking out where the nearest hospital is but otherwise not worried too much, but then it's not my first baby and mine don't tend to come early.

I said no travel after 35 weeks and work were fine with that. Until then I was up and down to London (2.5 hours each way). I think it’s perfectly acceptable to say no - at 36 weeks I was at appointments three times a week at least due to needing to monitor placental blood flow so there’s no way I could have travelled!

I would never expect a woman that pregnant to travel 4 hours away for work, and I wouldn’t myself (mine all came early). I’d be telling them where to go personally.

So many train seats you'd struggle to fit in at 8 months pregnant. Have a word with your GP about not being fit for travel.

I am currently pregnant and following my health and safety assessment I won't be travelling at around 34 weeks pregnant (to be fair I will likely be too big to drive!). This should take priority to keep you safe in your role as it is your company's responsibility should anything happen to you.

If you are working you should attend unless there was a specific health condition that prevents travel, being pregnant isn't enough. Why not ask to start maternity leave/take any remaining annual leave then start? It used to be normal to start maternity 6 weeks or so beforehand and this was when we only got 29 weeks after the birth (up to 11 before and up to 29 after)

My job involved lots of travel, all of which involved international flights lasting 90 minutes to 3 hours. I travelled until 37 weeks if memory serves me right.

But do check your company's travel insurance covers you.