Morning all,
I'm 16 wks pg and have had very difficult time with pg so far. Was signed off at 4 weeks pg with hyperemesis (although it was more constant terrible debilitating nausea than vomiting) and then luckily had the summer holidays to be miserable and suffer without the worry of going to work.
Although improving generally on the nausea front, I still can't manage a trip out for more than an hour or so before I become nauseous, fainty, dizzy, shaky, tired, and generally barely able to move my body. It quickly gets to the point of having no choice but to lie down and I often need a day to recover after a trip out. I'm still on a max dose of anti-sickness pills and I also have to eat all the time and can only eat what I can manage at the precise second in time, which differs from day to day and hour to hour. Lots of other general pg complaints that I won't bore you with.
I went to my doctor who has said I am not up to working yet and has signed me off pretty much indefinately.
I'm starting to think about how I will cope when I return to work and think about ways in which I will be able to teach. My main problem is I teach cooking and I'm exceedingly active in lessons. The vast majority of lessons are practical cooking lessons with very little chalk and talk/sitting down work.
There are many issues I'm wondering how I'll cope with including that fact that I still can't cook or cope with the smell of many foods and that in lessons I NEVER sit down. It's the nature of my subject and I can't sit at the front all the time. During practicals I have to walk around the room to make sure no one is doing anything unsafe and that they are all doing things right. In the past when I've had terrible headaches etc I've tried to sit at my desk and say if they have a problem/question about what they're doing to come to me, but this leads to lots of students wandering around the room, sometimes carrying food for me to check, which is potential issue as then things get spilt or people bang into each other or it encourages people to wander and become distracted (we have a number of students with SEN). If I don't keep an eye and keep looking at what they're doing all the time you'd be amazed at how they try to use a knife etc and it's actually quite dangerous and you need to watch them to check how they are all doing (despite demonstrating regularly how to hold a knife etc...).
So there's the issue with food smells (which is still bad), the issue with having to be on my feet during lessons. There's also the fact that I'm in an external block on my own with no teacher next door I can easily get to watch students if I need the loo/come over funny. There's also the fact that when you're under the weather you can't take things slow and easy - I know this from past experience. The girls are understanding but the boys don't care - they try and get away with what they can. So effectively you have to work twice as hard to get a good outcome when you feel under the weather (don't get me wrong, I'm not a bad teacher - I'm told I'm very good (but too modest to say I think I am) and I love teaching). And also I can't easily rest in between lessons/at break. Once a practical lesson is complete you have to get the room prepared for the next lesson - getting equipment required out and ready etc (which can't all be done before hand as no space to put it in previous lesson), which all takes time and more running about. Usually I'm on my feet running around most of the day every day I work.
I have a technician that works a few hours a week but this is mostly outside lesson time and even if she were in some lessons, she's good at helping some students and cleaning up but she's not very ab;e to reaching all students and isn't able to help with general class control as she's very timid, also I'm not allowed to leave students with her if I need the loo due to h & s and she would be uncomfortable with being in charge - I can see hell breaking loose with some classes left with her!
Also not quite sure how I'll manage with only being able to eat the food I can amange at that time and I have to have it as and when I feel I need it - can't stop the lesson for food or bring my food cupboard into work every day!
I want to return to school as soon as I can but all of these things concern me as to how I will actually manage the job given I've had quite a difficult pregnancy so far.
Is there anyone out there who has any advice or ideas of strategies that I can try when I return to make my job manageable?
Sorry forlong post.