Early Pregnancy & Telling Work..

[expectinglittlebear]

Hey all!

Just curious about others experiences here. I am currently 5+2, so early early in my pregnancy and therefore have no intention of telling anyone until we have our first scan, just to be on the safe side.

However, at work today I had a wave of sickness over me and had to run to the toilet (luckily didn't throw up - but felt sick ever since!) and also had to spend 30 mins on the loo with bad stomach pains (constipated - lol TMI sorry!).

For reference, I work in an office and my desk is close to the loos, so luckily no one saw me run to the loo, or noticed that I was in there for ages. BUT if my symptoms are now going to be affecting work, I guarantee someone will catch on soon!

So, basically I was wondering what your experiences are with dealing with symptoms while at work, how soon you told your bosses/colleagues and yeah, just general experiences really :)

I told my last boss at 6 weeks and it took all the pressure off. I had a couple of sick days and they were really kind and I didn't have to make up excuses for medical appointments. I think the hiding of it can be quite stressful. I only worked with 4 people though so it felt quite natural for them to know.

I told my line manager very early on as was so sick I was struggling to work. It took a massive amount of pressure off and she worked with me so that I could still feel like I was contributing towards work when I could but was also able to rest when I needed to.

I told work right away. I work in HR. It’s not just about being protected by law, it’s about your boss doing a risk assessment as even office based roles may need adjustments.

I work from home and told my manager at 7 weeks after I ended up puking during a call with them. It's definitely helped alleviate the stress of having to come up with excuses for appointments. I've also had to take some time off due to sickness (week 9 was a killer) and they've been understanding and supportive. Again no need to come up with an excuse as why I needed the time off.

I also told my boss straight away. I need a risk assessment for site visits and my scan conflicted with an important meeting. I’m 14 weeks now and the nausea is still lingering but early on I had to cancel some site visits because the nausea/sickness was too bad. I’m still working from home and so I’ve been able to hide it a bit more but there have definitely been a couple of meetings where I’ve turned my camera off, ran to the bathroom and prayed nobody asked me a question while I was in there. I don’t know how I would hide it in the office. If the running to the bathroom didn’t clue them in, the lunch time that I cried because I didn’t like pineapple anymore would definitely have tipped them off!

@Sleepyquest @Taenia @Littlegoth @titchy13 @InTheNightWeWillWish

Thank you for your replies ladies! That's certainly made up my mind.

Out of curiosity, did you ask your boss to keep it to themselves until you had your scan and then announced it to colleagues too? Or did you tell everyone you work with, for complete transparency? xx

I told my manager and they asked if I was sharing yet and I said no but understood that HR, H&S would need to know and I was fine if senior managers for our team needed to know. The rest of my colleagues I’m telling as and when it comes up. So I’m doing a site visit with one in a few weeks, so I told them that we need to adjust the site visit slightly as per my risk assessment. However, there are members of my team who don’t know yet. If I’d been in the office and it was obvious I was running to the bathroom all the time, I’d have probably told more colleagues. It depends on your work culture (how gossipy it is) and how well you’re able to hide it.

My boss told my colleagues which I thought was out of line but I got over it. Depends how many colleagues you have I think. This time round, I will wait until after the scan to tell anyone but that's because I'm working from home I also have a new boss

I've only told my line manager and have asked her to keep it to herself which as far as I can tell she has. :)

Now I've had my 12 week scan I'm planning on telling some others I work with :)

I work with chemicals and anesthetic gases (the one in particular that I use says on the bottle not to handle when pregnant) so I told my manager as soon as I found out. Colleagues slowly guess by which activities I am and am not doing. It can't be helped in my situation!

It was obvious I was pregnant for lots of reasons, quitting my 6 a day coffee habit for a start, but my boss and colleagues were polite enough to pretend not to notice until I told them after my scan.
There are lots of good reasons people might need to tell work early but don't be pressured into it if you aren't ready.