first Pregnancy sickness and traveling

[pearlprotector818419]

I am pregnant with my first child and over the moon about it, I have had to travel a very long distance recently and feeling very tired. I am traveling over the next few weeks and starting to feel a bit sick. I don't have one of those jobs you can just stop what you are doing to have time off, As so much is planned over the time i am away and a little bit worried how i might handle it.

Advice please?

To be honest op, I'm sorry if this isn't what you want to hear but I thought I had one of those jobs too until I was just too sick to carry on and it turns out that was ok. I am currently 9 weeks with baby #2 and, as with my last pregnancy, I'm so sick there is no way I can possibly work. I've had multiple trips to a and e woth a torn throat from vomiting so much, I've been dehydrated and have been taking meds since week 7 (so this is better than it would otherwise be). My last baby came at 29 weeks after a horrific pregnancy like this so I'm not taking any chances. I know not every employer is but mine have been amazingly understanding (both of them; i work 2 jobs). If you feel you can continue to work then that's great but sometimes it's just not possible and things still work out.

I really hope that someone has more helpful advice on how to keep going but I just want you to know that if you cant, it will be ok. I organise events and travel for work so i thought everything would fall apart without me but people understand, it's amazing how many people have been forced to take time off when pregnant. This time I'm a week and a half into a 4 week doctor's line but I'm certain I'll not be ready to go back after that because last time I was super sick until week 17.

Goid luck op, hope you feel better soon x

Thank you that is nice of you but i cant get out of my job no matter how hard i tried it wouldn't work. Its very hard to explain but not working isn't an option. It not hard i just had to be on my feet for a fair few hours a day and i get to travel a lot with it.
Me and my husband are excited for the baby and we aren't getting any younger and felt like we kind of had to try as some women in my family have had fertility issues, My heart couldn't cope going through that and i would of felt a lot to blame if i couldn't provide children for him. That would of broken his heart but thank goodness that isn't the case.

I only met my husband a few years ago and got married this year so everything is new to me but we fell hard and in love very fast.
We both told each other we wanted children when we met and that was very important to both of us. If you have more personal advice please feel free to send me a message.

Thank you

Getting so ill you cant work at all isn't that likely, but if you are worried that sickness will disrupt your work, could you ask your GP for some anti-sickness medication? Just having them with you while you travel, to use if you need them, might help you relax about it a bit (especially if you're travelling around, presumably seeing lots of people who might not know you very well)? Other than that, always keep snacks and a drink with you so that you don't end up with an empty stomach which can make it worse. I've found some particular ginger biscuits which help settle my stomach, along with dried fruit which is an easy snack for travelling.

Obviously I don't know what you do, but are you able to plan your days and travel in a way to make it a bit easier? For example I'm finding that I get a lot more nausea at lunch time, so wouldn't schedule a meeting between 11:00-14:00 because I know I'll feel bad - I tend to spend those hours nibbling on my lunch and sipping cold water.

And, in the absolute nicest possible way, no one is indispensable and if it did get to the point where you were too ill to work at all (which is unlikely), your work would cope.

Thank you so much, I have not worked out the timing yet but even if it was a certain time of day i don't schedule timings and i cant let people down, 100s count on me everyday. Also a fairly new role as well,

Thank you for your support

That does sound difficult. Is there anyone travelling with you who knows about the pregnancy / who you can tell about the pregnancy? Is it possible to let someone know and then they can be a little bit of back up, cover for you if you need to disappear to the toilet, step out for some fresh air etc? Again, don’t know what you do but for example if you were in a meeting and started struggling they could know to step in and take over or suggest a break or whatever makes sense with what you do?

I’m quite emetophobic ( fear of vomiting) so have spent a lot of time thinking of all eventualities surrounding morning sickness at work!

yes everyone knows i'm pregnant so that's not be a problem. I'm probably blowing it out of the water as i have not felt like i was going to throw up in front of people today. so i have found lots of tips and tricks. My assistant is very helpful and my husband is very supportive.
defiantly already missing my wine haha

thank you ladies.

agree with the above. Eat little and often, have a tissue in handbag/pocket with a smell you can cope with to sniff if you are somewhere with strong smell that becomes too much. Wear the travel sickness wrist bands. Don’t overdo it. Mae sure you rest enough. I’m sure you’ll be fine but if you’re prepared then hopefully it’ll be a less stressful experience.

How many weeks are you? Generally things improve for lots of people after 12 weeks.

 just watch for Zika places although I suspect your work already have that in mind.

Is there anyone close to you that has experienced severe pregnancy sickness that may be able to advise.

Just make sure you always have your notes on you, I carried mine around in a bright purple folder so I always knew where they were.

Are you royalty OP?

Pressure bands for travel sickness, mints and prescription medication were my go to with morning sickness that ended up as HG at 14-20 weeks.

Good luck.

I have a similar job, which involves a lot of travel including long-haul. I didn't actually throw up more than a few times in my first trimester, but felt permanently really nauseous and exhausted, and it was pretty hard. The act of travelling definitely didn't help with the nausea, which seemed to increase with every day I travelled, but I had breaks in between and it definitely wasn't impossible.

I made sure I always had little snacks - and long-haul flights are quite good cos they give you loads of stuff like dry crackers and pretzels, which are just the ticket for nausea. I took Dr Karg's crackers everywhere with me, and had gum and sweets like Cherry Drops, Maoam or Starburst. Drank a lot of water, and cold cans of flavoured sparkling water like Ugly or Le Croix were an absolute godsend. Demand loads of ice in your drink everywhere you go. I had a big plastic travel cup thing that was permanently full of ice and I sipped on it constantly.

Rested wherever I could - felt bad about this as my job can be quite sociable and there are usually people who want to go for a meal or a drink - but I just made as much use of my hotel room as possible. Room service if you can! Often I couldn't have managed going down to the buffet for breakfast, it was better to get toast and cereal sent up to my room and work through it slowly and as I could manage.

Basically be as selfish as you can so that you can be on top form for the really important bits. You might well find that after 12-16 weeks you feel a million times better, I definitely have loads of energy now at 20 weeks and could definitely keep up with my duties for a good bit longer. If there is any way you can get your duties thinned out, do ask, but if you really have to be the one to do all this, you CAN get through it. Fingers crossed your sickness doesn't get too much worse. Good luck!

Thank you ladies all the tips made me feel a lot better today.
Hopefully i'm out of the woods and just being over cautious.