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??

None, but I was very lucky and had no symptoms at all except tiredness - but not much new there!

I'm so grateful for lockdown because I was really starting to struggle. I'd have to dash off the tills and vomit out the front of the shop - remember everyone in Starbucks just staring at me one morning it was so embarrassing. Employers weren't really very sympathetic - even the women! They couldn't understand why I was unable to run upstairs and be sick - baring in mind the toilets were far further away than the door!
I went home 2 hours early one shift but went and made up hours the next day. Think I'd have had a lot more time off if I'd still been able to work!

Pregnancy related illness is treated differently so no don't use your AL or lie about it!

First pregnancy I soldiered on but really should have just got signed off for the worst of it

Second pregnancy was even worse and I was on medication and signed off for 6 weeks in the end. Couldn't move without vomiting. Never been that ill for that long in my life.

Napped in the toilets at work for both. There wasn't anywhere else to go!

One day around 6 weeks (ended up telling my manager the following week I was PG so it didn't go against me) and another afternoon off a few weeks later.

I used to get exhausted by 2/3pm, so sometimes I would use annual leave to take the rest of the afternoon off.

Luckily I was only actually sick a handful of times, which coincided with the days I took off work. The rest of the time was horrendous nausea and wretching, which meant hourly toilet breaks!

Everyone in my team was very understanding and my direction even mentioned that I could probably go for a nap if I really wanted to and he wouldn't hold it against me!

Don't feel guilty about having time off due to being unwell. Your mental health is just as important. Feeling mentally tired and run down when your pregnant is a good enough reason to take some time off.

There is no award going in everyday

Like another poster mention pregnancy sick leave can't be counted/used against you. But if you feel more comfortable I would book a couple of long weekends off in a row or a week block.

Have the break and go back to work feeling better. I'm sure your workplace would appreciate you taking some time off, over dragging your heels for the next 30 weeks feeling crap.

My own personal barometer of sick day vs annual leave, I don't know if its helpful for you. If I'm feeling too bad (sick, tired, headachey/migraineous) too work at less than 50-75% functioning - I take it off as sick leave ensuring to mention pregnancy if it is related. If I need a day to prevent me getting so mentally & physically exhausted and rundown that I need time off as sick I take a day off as annual leave.

I had weeks 8-16 off due to hyperemisis. I was mostly I hospital for that time.

I didn't rtft but this jumped out to me :

My OH (other half) says I have a low tolerance to being unwell...

Please tell him that using these exact words next time he's sick. I'd have very little compassion for his next sickness !

It always annoys me how they derisively refer to "the little aches and pains of pregnancy". Like it doesn't matter at all because it's a pregnancy. Makes my blood boil because it sounds so condescending !

Personally I was lucky both times with zero sickness. If I did need time off my work would have been understanding though. Whether you need time off really depends on your own specific circumstances and the type of work you do, so don't feel bad about doing what works for you.

None at all. Felt absolutely rotten but just focused on making it to the weekend, week after week. Was a busy time at work so the stress of catching up if I didn't go in wasn't worth it

I was constantly nauseous, exhausted and hungry. I must have been on 6 proper meals a day.

Still went into work. I worked in London so it was a daily commute of an hour every day. Aside from annual leave, I worked solidly up until my 38th week.

First pregnancy I had one day off and struggled in feeling terrible (wish I hadn't bothered as they made me redundant on maternity leave).

I'm 12 weeks pg with my second now and have had no time off, I've been working from home though and haven't been as ill this time.

If you've told your workplace you are pregnant and call in sick with pregnancy related illness they can't count that sickness towards your sickness record and can't use it in any redundancy proceedings.

As mentioned, your employer must record pregnancy related sickness separately to ordinary sick leave, and cannot use this in disciplinary action against you.

Lots of legal, medical and practical support at Pregnancy sickness support.

Pregnancy nausea sickness is vile. Both my pregnancies were the absolute grimmest times of my life. Please kick your partner in then nuts if he mentions anything about”low tolerance”.

I've been signed off since week 10 with HG (I should have signed off earlier, but the beginning of lockdown meant several projects went on hold, so for a couple of weeks workload was much less and I could do it in between bouts) and I'm now week 15.

My work has been sympathetic but have said they don't want me back off sick leave unless I can work at 100% capacity, as due to redundancies etc. when I return, they can't provide me with any support and I'll need to take on extra projects. Which is fair enough, but means they would not have been happy with me "struggling on".

If you need to take time off, listen to your body and do it. Although this is a much wanted first pregnancy, it has been by far the worst 15 weeks of my life in terms of how I feel and at times I've wondered if I would be able to get through it. Putting pressure on yourself to perform in exactly the same way as other pregnant women is just going to make things worse. Every person and every pregnancy is different.

I found out I was pregnant a couple of days after we all started working from home, about a week before the official lockdown started. First pregnancy so I have nothing to compare it to but I’m very thankful I’ve not had to commute. I’ve had terrible nausea for weeks and think I’d have been much worse in terms of vomiting if I’d had to commute to my job in central London. I’ve been able to have naps on my sofa on my lunch break, eat crackers and fruit when I want and just lie low.

2 days. I was supposed to do a 12 hour shift on the Thursday, and another one on the Friday. I had barely recovered from doing the same on the Monday and Tuesday.

I got into work on the Thursday. Immediately vomited, then burst into tears because I was so tired. I was sent home and told to only come back on the Friday if I felt ok. I did wake up later that day feeling ok, but it was 7pm and my shift had already been reallocated. I figured why risk undoing all the good work the long rest had done and gratefully took the Friday off as well.

Off and on over the first trimester, totalling about 3 weeks. My "morning" sickness meant I couldn't safely commute.

None. But although I was incredibly nauseous, I wouldn't vomit, which was 'handy'. Also, my morning sickness was always worse in the evening, especially around dinner time. That's when it would really kick in. I could actually function in the morning. I'd have milder bouts in the morning and day time, but it was the evening that was so hard for me.

Your OH is out of order, sorry! Tell him to try out pregnancy. See how he copes. It is undescribable how exhausting those early weeks are. That's what was the hardest, especially with DC1, the fatigue. It's been 19 years since I was pregnant with him, but goodness the exhaustion, the utter fatigue in early pregnancy with him was like nothing I'd ever experienced. I think with my other two kids, I was more 'in the zone'. You live it, you learn it, so to speak, so it's easier to mentally handle the sickness and fatigue in subsequent pregnancies. Or maybe I'm just talking bollocks.
You do get a breather, OP. I think it's (I can't remember) around weeks 8-10, generally, there's about a week where it lifts off, then comes back until 12-14 weeks, depending on the person, and then it should be gone for good with the very rare, occasional visit of nausea. But of course, we all vary. Good luck. Don't be hard on yourself. If you need time off, take time off! Look after yourself and your baby.

None at all. Didn't take holiday until 36 weeks. But your employer should be understanding. But don't feel bad if you have to take off if you're feeling poorly

I should add I was lucky enough not to have any pregnancy symptoms throughout except heartburn. My job meant I was on my feet for 8+ hours a day. But take the time if you need it, it's important

I didn't have any time off but then I didn't get any morning sickness

None. I worked up until ten days before giving birth - was meant to be a fortnight but my baby came early. I'm not smug about it though, I've know enough people who had terrible times.

If I had had something like HG I would probably have had loads of time off, I don't see how that could be avoided; I knew someone who had HG and it was horrendous! Another friend of mine had regular migraines throughout pregnancy, I wouldn't have wished her experience on anyone.

I haven’t had any but that would be different if I wasn’t working from home because of lockdown. My nausea this time round has even significantly worse.

I had a week off around 8-9 weeks due to HG, then another 3 weeks off from 12-15 weeks again due to HG after I ended up on a drip 🥴

I also had absolutely hideous exhaustion that made me feel like I would die if I stood up so I don’t think I’d have been physically capable of work in the weeks I was off!

With my first pregnancy, none in my first trimester. I did however go home sick at 15 weeks ( throwing up , felt dizzy) , came in late once at 16 weeks due to random bad back pain which probably wasn’t even pregnancy related and again around maybe 35 weeks because I was so freakin tired I just couldn’t function lol .

I’m the type of person who rarely gets sick and never calls in sick so I felt guilty every time .

I’m currently 13 weeks pregnant but on furlough and have been since I was 6 weeks pregnant. If I do need a sick day , I’m going to ( hopefully) feel less guilty for calling in sick this pregnancy.