Self-Employed and NOT working from home - anyone in the same boat?!

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All the internet seems to focus on when it comes to pregnancy and self-employment is about being able to work from home, and take breaks, and have a nap, and how it's easier to keep it a secret for the first 12 weeks.

Am I the only person who is self-employed and DOESN'T work from home? I own a little shop in my home town, so I have to be here every morning to run errands before I open, I can't leave the shop once I am open as I'm the only one here. I have to handle all my deliveries myself each week, regardless of how heavy the boxes are (OK, I do have a friend who come and helps me with this when he can, but he works shifts, so it's not every week). It regularly take me up to two hours to eat a single sandwich because I refuse to rudely eat when there are customers in the shop, so I have to take my chances.

Today is the hardest day so far. My energy levels are at their lowest (I used to be a caffeine-fiend!), and the last few days my sickness has decided to be a bit more routine, which means kicking in about 7pm, so I go to bed and try to sleep it off, but then wake up feeling the same, until about 11am.

I do have some other freelancer friends who volunteer here to give me a day off here and there, and to work at home and catch up on my admin, but it's on a flexi-basis around their workloads too. They don't know yet that I'm expecting, so I can't ask them if they can be a little more available.

I've been doing so well up until now, but I'm currently sat here wanting to cry. And I've got another 7 months to go yet!!!

Sorry for the rant. I needed to get that out.

I know how you feel a little bit - I don't have long set hours but I work as a private tutor so had to get up and go to visit students even when I feel awful. Although I am one of the lucky ones who works from home as well so I could usually take a nap or break if I was desperate. I did find it was a bit easier once I was past 12 weeks and the nausea was less pronounced.

I am so pleased it's the summer holidays now though!

What are your plans for the shop once the baby is here? Maybe look at phasing in some cover sooner rather than later? I think the summer will be hard with the heat but guessing you aren't due until Jan/Feb so at least you'll have the worst months for uncomfiness when it's cooler.

Also once you have a bump I'm sure your customers will cut you a bit more slack :)

Yes, I'm due end of Jan. In conjunction with the shop I also organise a local major event, where we have a lot of volunteers - currently I'm hoping to utilise them to help out at the shop for extra experience/discount. It's a very low turnover shop, so I can't actually afford to pay a full time manager to take over, but I do have friends and family who have already offered to help a bit (those that already know!).

I'm hoping once I'm past the 12 week mark I can start to phase in some more help, and pass over more responsibilities. Currently my OH is using his lunch break to come to me, and relieve me for 20 minutes so I can get some fresh air and go for a little walk, before he has to dash back to work.

Worst case scenario is that I take minimal time off once baby is here and then back to work within a matter of weeks - I'm hoping it won't come to that, and my hormones are kicking in a bit and I'm panicking, because I KNOW I have a strong support network around me, but not being able to tell people is making me feel a bit stuck, and feel like I'm making excuses and letting people down at the moment...

I'm half from home half on site so a bit of both worlds, when I'm on site it's 14he day's, limited breaks, and most annoyingly sometimes hard to get to a bathroom, but at least not physical.
Could you take on a teenager/youth for some hrs a week to do deliveries at least, aren't there schemes to cover part of the wages if you take on someone who has been unemployed for a while. Could be good to start training someone if you intend to take mat leave.

Yep, I'm in the same boat. Self employed and can work from home sometimes but need to go into my client's office most of the time. And working from home means carting my laptop back and forth which has put me off! Thankfully tomorrow is my last day before mat leave, but I remember how hard it was in the early stages, so you have my sympathy! If it helps, my energy levels did get a lot better in the 2nd trimester (the 3rd is another story...) so hopefully things will get a little easier for you.

Thanks for the reassurance! I'm hoping my energy levels return in the 2nd trimester, as I've got to do a lot of stocking up, buying and then promotion for Christmas - luckily with my dates, the 3rd trimester is right in Xmas season, so I don't need to do much work except be here and take the money! Hoping to finish on Christmas Eve (we close over Xmas and New Year anyway), and then have the place managed from New Year by another person or two (again, my inner-control freak is glad it's the quiet season!) for a few months...

I think yesterday just got to me - I slept well last night after an evening meeting went on late, and I just wanted to cry and go home! Feeling a bit better today, but expecting energy to drop around lunchtime...at least it's Friday - I have a Saturday person who runs the place so I can have a weekend!