Due May 2020 (thread 6)

[sao81]

6th thread already 😬😬😬 not long now

@november90 yes i spoke to my manager to start this week instead of 1 may.

I am keeping my son off school tmw and calling head to ask what I need to do with regards to sending him in, as he is a risk factor for me. Husband is working from home...

@Sunshine8888 they said those measures regarding vulnerable groups will kick in over the coming weekend, but yes that was a bit of a shock, this is the first time they included pregnant women in that group. I wonder what this means in terms of routine antenatal appointments? And what about NCT / antenatal classes - mine are in April 😕

I've missed the bit where we are now classed as vulnerable! 😩 anyone else feel so in the dark? My gp has closed! I'm not in work until sat but I might email my manager asking if I can start my leave earlier 😩

I’m going to speak to my occupational health tomorrow as I can’t limit social contact if I’m working as a nurse! I’ve got a feeling that they will say carry on, and I understand that they need all the staff they can get, but it doesn’t help my poor vulnerable baby that I need to protect. Hopefully now it’s come from the government they will take it a bit more seriously. As much as I don’t want to take early mat leave, I may have no choice

@Emmacb82 I'm also clinical and will be asking to start my maternity leave early.
Clinical exposure to all sorts leaves us and baby at risk..I would consider asking to leave sooner.

My remaining NCT classes have been cancelled and work has contacted me to tell me to work from home with immediate effect

I work in admin and my employer made me get a doctors note to say I should work from home, took it in today and they still haven’t ‘approved’ me to work from home. If they don’t then I will also be requesting to start my mat leave early.

I've just emailed my manager. I feel like if we've been told to work from home but it isn't possible then we should be entitled to being paid but not going in. It's an employers responsibility to tailor the role to support pregnant people and this is out of our control and its governments advice!
I'm just wondering if they've had new intelligence about this as we weren't high risk this morning! Scary times.

www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-on-coronavirus-16-march-2020

Hopefully just a precaution x

I'm on sick leave atm, due to start my annual leave in 2 weeks. I work in civil service anyway so I'm quite lucky that I'm on full pay at the moment, but there is no chance of me working from home anyway due to all the sensitive information I deal with. I think employers will have to make arrangements to work from home or arrange pay until mat leave,. As far as I am aware, they cannot force you onto maternity leave until 4 weeks before your due date. Speak to your unions, HR, anyone you can to get advice! We should be allowed the time off we need with our babies, not stuck at home waiting to give birth and forced back to work early. Its so wrong😔

@november90 what I made from the press thing was that there is no current evidence of danger in pregnancy, but because there is limited evidence it isn't reliable, so they're doing this as a precaution until more data becomes available

@sao81 I totally agree with your post! I don't want to be forced into starting my mat leave early and then having to suffer finically later. I guess I'll have to see what my manager says when he responds to my email. I just hope we don't fall into the full self isolation category. I'm getting really bad anxiety about it!

Have just sent a letter to my son's school to say I am not sending him in tomorrow after Boris's conference, and can the head call me to discuss. Have to see what they say

I have emailed NCT to ask if our classes in April will be cancelled. I am pretty sure they will be though. I am so gutted, there goes our chance to meet other new parents 😕 I wish they could do some kind of remote course at least.

I hadn’t even considered NCT classes. Damn I was really looking forward to them

Just rang my GP as I can feel a water infection coming on so wanted an app. Doctor rang me back told me they'll send antibiotics to the chemist for me for someone else to collect I'm not to leave the house unless its for a routine antenatal appointment. I'm officially terrified

Ugh I’m still trying to find out what I do about my work, it’s been super stressful the last day. I’m waiting on an answer but I can pretty much guarantee they will tell me to carry on as normal, they can’t afford to lose the staff. Which means I would have to force early mat leave so will have less time with baby 😢 I wish the government would actually enforce these things rather than advise because it’s not helping matters

@emmacb82 its awful isnt it! Our office have been told anyone in the at risk group is to be sent home and not to return to work until further notice, I think if this was made mandatory it would benefit alot of people. But instead companies are more worried about their profits than their staff its so awful

My company has told everyone (not just vulnerable groups) to work from home from yesterday until further notice so I am really lucky, but I realize a lot of people's work is such that they can't work from home so agree it would help for the government to enforce these things 😐

Apparently it’s being discussed in a meeting this afternoon by the government so we’ll see. Unfortunately being nhs, I reckon they will say carry on. But it’s not fair to have rules for some pregnant people and not others just because they happen to be a nurse!

We are lucky as my son's school has given me permission to keep him home and my husbands work yesterday closed the London office and all are to work from home for now.

Still a bit concerned about how it will be in May. Hoping it will be calming down by then 🤞

@Emmacb82 absolutely. Fingers crossed they make a reasonable decision in that meeting 🤞🏻

We don't have a car as we live in London, and now getting a bit concerned about traveling to hospital and back for the next 2 months. Even if we take a cab, it's still pretty risky infection wise. We are thinking about renting a car for a few months 😬🚗

Hi all, a helpful article on guidelines just in case www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/coronavirus-pregnancy/covid-19-virus-infection-and-pregnancy/ xx