Newish job in covid, ttc

[StayEs]

Hey, I hope this is allowed here?

I have two queries really.

The first is - I started my new job in April (though it wasn't new, it's a transfer from one civil service department to another). My other half I and are considering going back on contraception as I haven't actually managed to meet my new team yet. Its all been working from home! Should I put off trying to conceive now? Would my new boss hate me if I got pregnant?

Secondly, how does everyone feel about the shared parental leave? I'm thinking it would be a great thing to utilise, especially in my new job post. Has anyone used it and can tell me how it felt for them?

I know this isn't birth announcement related, but it wasn't really conception related either so I didn't know where to place it, so I'm sorry if it isn't relevant. Also, I know I'm not actually pregnant yet so I'm probably thinking way too far into things.

Any thoughts are really appreciated. :)

The general consensus on these boards, (which I subscribe to), is that there is never a right time. There are so many variables. You might not get pregnant super quick, you might join the 1 or so in 4 women that has a miscarriage before 12 weeks etc etc.

Your boss won’t hate you, they might feel ‘inconvenienced’, but their feelings shouldn’t really matter at the end of the day... - someone on here once said “can you imagine looking at a baby’s face telling them your boss was inconvenienced by them”. I found that quite a funny vision. - which sort of puts it in perspective.

Re shared parental I did the first 6 months the partner did the last 6 months, you can switch it on and off I believe, so take a good look at the rules in your respective places of work - I found when we did it 3 years ago it was still pretty underused! (But it’s great, highly recommend it!) 😀

Hey I’m in the civil service too and took advantage of the fact I’ll be working from home now for the forseeble to try and conceive. Luckily it didn’t take long! My boss has been really supportive. I’ve been feeling so rubbish, but it’s been easy to hide, unlike it would do if I was in the office!