Difficult Pregnancy - Advice?

[tw1698]

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone can give me any advice? I am currently 19 weeks pregnant and so far having an extremely difficult pregnancy!

At 12 weeks i was admitted into hospital to have minor surgery.
At 16 weeks when attending a private scan me and my partner were told that our baby had brain abnormalities.
After weeks of back and forth to a specialist children's hospital we have been told our baby boy has Spina Bifida.

We have decided to continue with our pregnancy and looking at fetal surgery (in utero surgery) however, we are not in the catchment area to have this in London so will have to go to Belgium.

My question is has anyone got any advice in regards to work etc. Me and my partner have recently moved into our own home (mortgage) and concerned about the financial aspect of having to isolate for 2 weeks, travel to Belgium for 2 weeks and then having to isolate on the return. On top of this - I will not be able to return to work and be put on bedrest.

So far, i have taken roughly 3 weeks off work on sick leave (following the minor surgery and a few days after baby being diagnosed with SB). I have been paid in full however would not expect them to pay me for the rest of my pregnancy.

Is anyone aware of my rights at work or if there is any services out there that help in our situation? I am having a hard time with the internal battle of doing everything i can to give my child the best start in life without upsetting my employer and losing our home in the process.

TIA

@tw1698 sorry I've not got any advice but just wanted to comment to bump your post.

I'm sure someone will come along soon with some more information!

I hope everything goes okay with the surgery!🤞❤️

@Lou98 thank you, really appreciate it ❤️

What stage of your pregnancy will you be having the surgery? How long maternity leaves were you planning on taking? If you were planning on taking say 12 months maternity leave can you start your leave 3 months early and so go back to work after 9 months instead?

There’s a charity called Pregnant Then Screwed who i’m sure would be able to advise you - they specialise in anything pregnancy & work related. Have a google and contact them x

Here they are :
pregnantthenscrewed.com/

Oh that all sounds really tough. There is a free advice service from maternity action maternityaction.org.uk/advice-line/ they might be able to help you understand your rights

I think your employer is obliged to follow their normal sick pay policy so it just depends what that policy includes. If not sure it’s worth asking HR to confirm. I also think they cannot terminate your employment for sickness absence (no matter how long) during pregnancy. But really I’m not an expert!

@ivfbeenbusy i will be having surgery at 23 weeks (4 weeks time) so will be off work 2 weeks before hand however i am not eligible for maternity leave until 27th December. It was our initial plan for me to go on maternity leave straight away however my employers have advised that that will not be possible

@Gerdticker - Thank you, i appreciate the comment. I will take a look

@83mimi we are only a small company and don't have a HR team however I am going to speak to my line manager today and hopefully ask him to shed some light and how he would want to proceed. Fingers crossed!