What would you do? Pregnant NHS worker

[Razmataz92]

After some advice on what to do about work. I’m about 4 weeks pregnant and do a job which may not get a high proportion of Covid positive patients, but does have a heavy involvement in all manner of bodily fluids and very prolonged periods of patient contact.

I’ll next be in work when I’m about six weeks pregnant. If I tell my manager it will mean everyone knows, as lower management will need to know for allocation on shifts. This will force me to tell a couple of friends who have been struggling with infertility, when I really didn’t want to tell them until later on. I also just don’t feel comfortable with telling people about my pregnancy so early on.

As it is, I don’t think much ‘special treatment’ will be offered and so I don’t know if there will be any benefit of telling management. I imagine I will still be at high-risk of catching it due to the nature of my work and the fact people can be asymptomatic. I feel very torn between letting my colleagues/patients down or the very small risk of impacting negatively on this pregnancy. Would just appreciate some outside perspective?

I hate to use the word since it's been thrown around so much, but this is an unprecedented situation.

You need to tell your work. They need all the available information so they can make appropriate decisions about keeping you safe, and staffing levels.

Set aside your feelings of discomfort - this is important.

Hi,

This is a tricky situation for you. For me, I feel the bottom line is you need to put yourself and baby first. I understand telling management early is less than ideal and it is a shame that you think they might not be good at making alternative arrangements for you, but I would hope they might? Can you be in touch with your union to check what they need to do?

As someone who has suffered from infertility I do understand and appreciate your empathy for your friends who are struggling, but honestly for me it helped me know as early as possible when friends were pregnant to get my head around it. You are always wondering if your friends are pregnant anyway and it’s usually not much of a surprise when you find out they are but I think being told quietly and quickly when friends fell pregnant made it easier and stopped me second guessing.

Wishing you all the best.

Thank you both. That’s really useful to know regarding telling my friends @mouse1234567. This is slightly off topic, but do you think a text telling them is best? I think face to face will be hard, as I don’t want them to feel trapped in any way. It seems a bit cold just texting, but it would give them space?

I’m lucky that I have a couple of weeks before going back into work to have a good think about this and look into what adjustments I could expect from management. I just think in my last pregnancy I didn’t start thinking that things were going well until about 20 weeks, so telling people this early seems crazy. I need to get over that!

@Razmataz92 you sound like a lovely, sensitive friend, and it makes all the difference having those around. A text is def the preferred way to hear when you are suffering infertility-just keep it quite simple I think and let them know you understand if they need to take some time and that you are always thinking of them. They will be happy for you but also they need to take time to compose themselves and reflect on their own journey. All the best. I hope work help you out.

Hi @Razmataz92, early pregnancy is anxiety inducing at the best of times, never mind in the middle of a global pandemic.

Current guidance from Royal College of Obs and Gynae is that pregnant women in the NHS should make every effort to avoid COVID patients, but can continue working in other areas. In the third trimester, it’s more important to avoid contact with the wider public and therefore you should work from home if possible.

Hopefully that’s reassuring for you, in that you’re not at increased risk at the moment.

Saying that, I agree with PP about informing your managers early - if they are able to support you minimising patient contact early that’d be great. I just wanted to point out that if they can’t help you avoid patients, you aren’t in danger as far as we’ve seen from the virus so far

Thanks again for the replies. I’ve decided for the time being not to tell management. Guidelines seem to change daily but the latest trust guidance is that below 28 weeks there is to be no change in job roles as no evidence of risk. A pregnant colleague has had this confirmed today in an email from our manager.

I feel exasperated by this and how healthcare workers are being told very different things to the general public. It feels as though we’re the guinea pigs. I don’t understand how they know there’s no risk in first trimester when the virus has only been active for

Congratulations on your pregnancy! It is a strange and stressful time to be pregnant but it's also good to have some good news.

Helpful sources of info and advice are RCOG, Maternity Action, "Pregnant Then Screwed" and your union.

From the latest guidelines it does seem that you'll have to work as normal for now. I guess just be extra careful with protective equipment, handwashing etc.