Working away/long distances when pregnant?

[Hannabee123]

I drive alot for work and some days I can be a few hours away from home. I'm worried about being far away and my employers aren't being very sympathetic. I suffered severe exhaustion in my 1st into my 2nd trimester and no matter how much I told them that I was struggling, they continued to push me to my limit sometimes expecting 17 hours out of me to which I left the job early as it's illegal.
I have no work life balance and the thought of working away as I reach the 3rd trimester really is worrying me. Can anyone give me some advice or has anyone had something similar?
Should I tell them I need to be local and refuse work which requires me to travel alot further. My partner keeps telling me to join a work union for backup

Are you in the UK? If so, your employer is required to undertake a risk assessment for you which will cover things like this. I had mine as soon as I told my employer I was pregnant and it includes working long hours, late working and driving distances. I have to tell my manager if it's difficult for me in any way pregnancy related and they're meant to assess and adapt my role.

Yeah I'm in the UK and the risk assessment I had to fight for and they wrote down I wont work past 10 at night which even that they have pushed :(

Hmm, it doesn't really sound right. I think you need to tell them how it's affecting you and make sure you back it up in writing, an email summarising a meeting or something.

If things get really difficult for you in wondering if your midwife can help in any way or give you advice?

They should update your risk assessment- it's not a fixed document and should be reviewed regularly. My boss was good at saying the right things but then raising an eyebrow if I tried to point out how work could be adjusted. I was based 53 miles from home which was over an hour commute each way in rush hour and I had to drive a lot during the working day. Around week 20 I developed back pain and the driving was making it a million miles worse. I ended up being signed off at 28 weeks which solved that issue and although my back is bad it's so much better than when I was working. I'd ask your employer to update the risk assessment and stand firm- I had to and know it didn't feel comfortable doing it but I felt it was important that work listened to me.

I guess I'm going to have to try and stand my ground abit I cant see myself coping with long distance driving for much longer. They constantly push my working days and I feel like I have no life.
Can't really afford to be off sick as they pay around 80 pound a week which is nothing :(

You should definitely join a union: best source of advice and support.