Coping with stress

[DearDinah]

How can I manage stress better.
We lost DH's mother a week ago, she'd been fighting cancer for 2 years, a remarkable woman, her funeral is on weds & I'm dreading it, we will miss her so so much. We have DFIL living with us, he doesn't want to be alone so now we may have to move back to the family home to be with him. I don't want him to be alone, but also scared of what this move will mean.
I'm 13 weeks pregnant, already really emotional, I've been making a few mistakes at work & on Friday exactly a week after DMIL died my boss told me how disappointed he was with me. He did it over email, I was alone in the office & wept for a good hour.
I'm so worried this stress will have a negative effect on my baby but really struggling to keep a lid on it.

Speak to your boss. Explain you found the email extremely upsetting and given that you have had a recent bereavement you would have appreciated a face to face chat.
You now have an email to a bereaved pregnant woman, showing (and I am a boss saying this) that your boss was too spineless to have that conversation - they wanted to blame-and-run. Poor management.

Speak to your GP about stress. MIL is a close relative and you are entitled to 1-2 weeks bereavement leave - if your job hasn't offered this, get signed off.

If you have a HR team, speak to them about the above email, shortly after a loss and while you are pregnant.

It sounds like you need some time out and your boss is neglecting his/her duty of care towards employees.

Thank you. I admit responsibility for the mistakes, I am the only employee. My boss lives & works abroad & conducts all communication with me over email & I'm alone a lot, I didn't know what my entitlement was to leave & being our company year end thought I would go in & do what needed to be done. I wish I hadn't bothered! I thought I was doing ok but watched a video with her on today & just crumbled

You're working in the UK so can be signed off for close family bereavement. Doesn't matter the time of year. See your GP and ask, as you're clearly very upset. Thank care of yourself.