How much time off work did you have in your first trimester?

[Paris2019]

I'm 11 weeks and have been struggling on, despite feeling like cr*p most days! Did you take time off, how much, and was your employer understanding??

6 weeks, then a phased return to full shifts over 2 months (I had HG and at my worst needed my husbands help to get from bed to the sofa, where I sat very still until it was time to be helped back to bed). Work were great and didn’t pressure me to come back too quickly.

In my first pregnancy I had half a day off for a scan when I miscarried. My therapist pointed out later that it would be normal to take some time off with a miscarriage, it didn’t occur to me at the time and I just struggled on, miscarrying in the toilet at work

I was exhausted and sick from week 5 and I had 1 day off sick but that was mostly due to having to be in A&E for my DH until the early hours of the morning, if that hadn’t have happened I would have been fine.

Other from that I took every Friday off as annual leave for the last 3 weeks of my 1st trimester as I was getting to the weekends and literally couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed, so having the extra day gave me time to recharge and not overdo it in the week so I could actually do something at the weekend.

None, despite having severe sickness up until 23 weeks! I thought about it, but my employers not very forgiving so I soldiered on the best I could and I needed to go vomit I went to vomit!

None. I work in a school with little ones and was utterly, utterly exhausted. Got home around 5pm, sat down, immediately fell asleep, DH woke me up for dinner around 7, then took myself off to bed by 8.30 every night.

Oh and I always had a small snack pot of raisins in my pocket or on my desk to curb nausea throughout the day, too.

None, first appointment was at 12 weeks back then and only scan was at 18 weeks (no appointments in between). Employer wasn't exactly accommodating either as I was the third out of 4 pa's pregnant at the same time!

@Superscientist yes I've had a few day's leave and long weekends which has helped immensely!!

None but everyone's different. Do what you need to do.

None, I was sick everyday from 7 weeks but I felt work distracted me from it, I was really sick early morning and at night but was okay through the days very nauseous but I just felt like I had to get on with it, you’ll feel more exhausted the less you do, I’d say unless you have hypremesis then there isn’t much reason not to work really but that’s just me!

Had about 2 weeks off total because my sickness got really bad. I was sent home after nearly vomiting all over my manager!!! Don't feel bad if you need time off, first trimester can be really hard going.

None. I work in an office so no reason at all to take time off. I scheduled all my appointments over lunch or on vacation days. I left work at 39 weeks with my first and 37 weeks with my second and third.

None, and I had 24/7 nausea until I was 22 weeks.

My employer at the time, an older woman with 2 kids (both medical professionals) and 5 grandkids, would not have been remotely sympathetic. She was arsey enough about me going on maternity leave!

HG here. Was signed off at 6 weeks until 16 weeks. Due back next week and I can’t see it happening. I’m expecting to need maybe another 2-4 weeks (hopefully only 2) and then try for a phased return to work. I expect to work from home for the rest of my pregnancy (even without the pandemic), if it progresses the same way as my last pregnancy. Last time I only had 5 weeks off, and I was in no fit state to go back to work when I did, it was ridiculous. This time, I’m just accepting it, even though I feel bad. It took me till 5pm to have a wash (at the sink, couldn’t manage a shower) and get dressed, and I haven’t got out of bed all day. Really hoping things will ease by 20 weeks.

I suffer from HG so not normal. I didnt work my first trimester 1st pregnancy. I struggled on for 2 weeks in this one, but I am too sick again and not expecting to be back working until June. Currently 11 weeks.

None. Didn't need any - felt fine, just a bit tired

None, I was fairly lucky and was only sick a few times and just nauseous/tired the rest of the time so I didn't really need to take time off. I would have done if I had been throwing up multiple times a day though!

For what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s any badge of honour in struggling on if you’re really struggling. I’ll bet there’s people in your workplace who have taken more time off for a sniffle. And your OH only gets to have an opinion once he’s grown a baby and a whole new organ..... You’re near the end of the first trimester so hopefully you’ll feel a lot better soon, but if you need to take a few days/a week to recover, I say do it. Sometimes just a small break to rest can make all the difference. Do you have some annual leave you could use?

Don't feel like a wuss OP, if you are struggling, you're struggling! We all have different thresholds. You need to look after yourself. First tri you're growing a baby and placenta and its ROUGH. I took 2-3 days off during my first trimester but I had plenty of days where I was at work or working from home and couldn't do much as felt too tired and sick. In hindsight I should have probably just taken more time off.

I also had the worst of my sickness in the evenings so during the day I could just about manage. The commute home was horendous and I'd then spew on the walk home from the station or once I got in. Awful times. But now I'm 24 weeks and haven't felt nauseous since 16 weeks :)

None, but I only worked part time, and had my own office, so between lessons, I could lock the door and cry about how tired I was.

I think I had a couple days off here and there in first trimester (terrible morning sickness- had to hide a toothbrush in the supply cupboard) but then ended up signed off for a week in my second trimester as I had quite a physically demanding job and kept fainting all over the place.

I had never ending appointments in 2nd and 3rd tri too due to gestational diabetes and previous mental illness- at one point I was seeing psychologist, psychiatrist, occupational therapist, diabetes nurse, GP, midwife, social services and having extra scans. Fucking awful!

None. Vomited in the supermarket when I went to buy lunch every day and normally a few more times!

I had HG and was hospitalised 3 or 4 times in the first 16 weeks so quite a lot!

Maybe a day or two for each pregnancy.

My first was my worst though, I remember almost crying every night walking from from the tube because I was exhausted. I didn’t know how I was going to put one foot in front of another some nights.

Take time off if you’re genuinely unwell but if you’re just tired and the like, use holiday.

My pet peeve is when women call in to work and literally say ‘I’m pregnant and I’ve got a headache so I’m not coming in today’. Not even that headache is that bad they are too unwell to come in - the precursor to everything will be ‘I’m pregnant and ...’ to try and stop you questioning it

@paris2019

You aren't a wuss! pregnancy hits everyone differently.

I worked from home quite a bit during my pregnancy as I was high risk so had lots of hospital appointments and the commute to the hospital from work was nearly 2 hours each way so just made sense to wfh as it was closer to the hospital.

I found I would get to 3pm and just crash. My employer was actually really good about it and very much let me work whatever hours worked for me as long as my work got done.

I had very bad insomnia so was up without fail every morning at 2am, regardless of when I went to bed. My work isn't customer facing and can be done anytime so I used to logon for a couple of hours at 3.30am (ish) then either log back on about 9 or get into the office for 9 to do the rest of the days work. By the end of my pregnancy though all my team knew that after 3pm I was useless, I couldn't think straight and they pretty much knew I'd be asleep if WFH or I'd be on my way home.

I can see it wouldn't work for every job but in my case I guess I was just lucky that my role isn't time sensitive and that my employer was very understanding (The HR director recently having had a baby probably helped)

My nausea and vomiting didn't hit until I was about 10 weeks pregnant so I didn't take any time off before that however once it hit, I think I was either taking a day off a week or working from home as I couldn't face the drive. I stopped needing the time off around 18 weeks, though I combatted the vomiting and nausea up to around 24 weeks.