Pregnant women now in higher risk group

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Anyone else pregnant and now thinking wtf am I meant to do? I've felt OK about it all as thought low risk, even GP said no special concerns, and now talk of 12 week isolation. I could greet!!

I am 13 weeks pregnant today and work in London and all still going to work - there is talk of us all as a business working from home but this hasn’t come into effect yet - what should we do?

Is your work the kind of business where people can work from home and still do the job @Charliesammo? If so I’d have thought your boss should be making provisions for everyone to work from home with immediate effect given the government’s latest update tonight. If they haven’t, could you email them and ask what they plan to do?

It’s very confusing.

If pregnant woman can’t leave the house how can they attend midwife appointments or scans?

Will maternity leave be triggered early as that is what happens if you are off sick closer to the time you are due to go on leave?

@PlomBear
I'm going to text my midwife in the morning because I was thinking the same! My scan is in 2 weeks then I have to see the obstetrician 3 days later up the hospital again!

It's self isolate, not social distancing: Within days, it expects to announce measures for people in at-risk groups to stay at home for 12 weeks. This affects pregnant women, people aged over 70 and those with underlying health conditions.

OP where does it say isolate?

"Stay at home" , I'm taking that to mean self isolate, or certainly isolate. Copied that from BBC article summarising the briefing.

Department of health clarified on twitter:

Others over 70, with health issues or pregnant, should reduce contact.

I’m pregnant too, I’m only 5 weeks and a teacher. Really don’t know what to do or say.

9 weeks pregnant community nurse here and no idea what to do?!
I'm on annual leave till Thursday and then plan on meeting with my manager to dicuss measures to protect me, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't mega twitched!
Any advice much appreciated?

23 weeks here. Really don’t understand it supposed to self isolate or just social distancing. Have a toddler and a dog to walk/horse to see so not sure what the plan is

I've found this online, the summary box at the bottom is (sort of) helpful, although there's no explanation of where the 12 weeks comes in. I'll be staying home from work tomorrow and speaking to HR to see if I can take special leave until I'm set up for home working.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people

@FoxtrotSkarloey very similar to you on both counts, I've done a few shopping trips past few days and also keen to be at work as was sick earlier in pregnancy. I want to make the most of being at work (enjoy my job) while I still can before being on mat leave again.

I'm hoping for clarity before I'm due back at work on Wednesday.

Thing is they just don't know at the moment what effect contracting coronavirus in early pregnancy might have, because no women who contracted it in early pregnancy have had their babies yet!

So, they're saying take extra precautions.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults
In this document in the summary at the end it says pregnant would are strongly advised to:
work from home
avoid public transport especially when busy
use remote access to medical appointments if possible

and strongly advised against:
social mixing in the community
having friends and family to your house

The RCOG also states that you would get an ultrasound 14 days after a confirmed case of corona as a precaution but if they are no longer testing how will that work??

They will test if you are hospitalized with pneumonia/breathing difficulties.

@Jellybott.

Thank you, that’s such a helpful link.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-on-social-distancing-and-for-vulnerable-people/guidance-on-social-distancing-for-everyone-in-the-uk-and-protecting-older-people-and-vulnerable-adults

I know isolationmum but what about those who have it and aren't hospitalised? They won't get a scan then? But the advice below says that you should so it's very unclear

I think it's just a precaution because everything is so unknown about the virus. It's just to protect you and baby.
I would hate to be pregnant with this going on. I'm such an anxious person anyway.

Why was this dropped in the late afternoon? Pregnant nurses, doctors and support workers are on shift tonight, whilst they should not be seeing suspected cases with the lack of testing there is no guarantee. Is the nhs going to follow this? Technically DH is in one of the groups but doesn’t want to say and is horrified at the thought of not working through this.

Just seen it is from this weekend which at least gives a bit of planning time.

I very much doubt off the back of this that employers are going to send pregnant employees home just yet. It sounds like we're going to have to wait for the weekend and further clarification. At the moment it seems like all they're doing is asking people to take extra care and avoid going out if they can? Not sure what people are going to be able to do if they can't work from home. Unless it's government enforced self isolation (which doesn't seem the case) I'm not sure work places are going to be able to just wave goodbye to us for 12 weeks? I work in a school like some others on here so definitely can't work from home for a sustained amount of time. I expect if you decided you want to take 12 weeks unpaid leave then they might find it hard to say no. But not sure how many of us can afford that!

It would be highly irresponsible for a company where a pregnant person could work from home would expect them to not work from home after the latest advise today

What’s the point in giving it and reiterating why it’s so important for it then to be ignored because it’s not explicit yet

@Sunnydays60 I'd get your line manager to update your pregnancy risk assessment in light of government advice (they strongly advise certain things) and take it from there - if they can't find you a way to work safely in line with government guidelines then why shouldn't you be at home on full pay?