Exhausted every day - what are my work options?

[Lagirl20]

I’m nearing the end of my third trimester and I’m constantly exhausted. I have energy for around one thing a day - when I’m not working, I shower, get out for a walk, etc. but on days when I work, I’m exhausted all day long. I work from home at a desk. I need to take long afternoon naps and I return to my desk as tired as I was beforehand. I’m meeting my midwife this week, I’ve had my iron levels etc tested but I’ll bring this up again.
My question is what can I do about work, without losing pay or going on early mat leave? Can I agree shorter working days with them? Drop down to part time? Would a doctor be able to sign me off for some of the time - partial sick leave? My workplace is pretty flexible. Has anyone else been in the same situation? I can’t keep on trying to work and feeling like this 😢

Post should say I’m nearing the end of my SECOND trimester, not third.

Nothing really unless you have a genuine reason to be signed off sick or trigger mat leave early.

Thanks, this is what I thought. I’m just so exhausted now though that I’m desperate for a solution. Argh.

I'm nearing the end of my first trimester and honestly could've written this post word for word.

Weekends I can muster up energy to do a few bits that desperately need doing but weekdays, I WFH but in a really busy job and it's all I can do to just get through each day. Even as I type this I desperately need to go and lie down and sleep, utterly exhausted, I have HG too which is kicking my arse further. People aren't that sympathetic as all I get is 'well at least you WFH.' Yes it's a small blessing but I have to be present on Teams all day and there's so much work to get through so I can't slope off (work don't know I'm pregnant yet either)

OP, if you really are exhausted could you book a week's annual leave or get signed off from the GP for a week and literally just spending it resting and getting your energy back? You might find with a weeks complete rest you'll feel a bit lot better, other than that if you really need a longer term plan than I suggest speaking to your midwife/ GP and your HR department to come up with a plan moving forward.

@Simpkins04

I'm nearing the end of my first trimester and honestly could've written this post word for word.

Weekends I can muster up energy to do a few bits that desperately need doing but weekdays, I WFH but in a really busy job and it's all I can do to just get through each day. Even as I type this I desperately need to go and lie down and sleep, utterly exhausted, I have HG too which is kicking my arse further. People aren't that sympathetic as all I get is 'well at least you WFH.' Yes it's a small blessing but I have to be present on Teams all day and there's so much work to get through so I can't slope off (work don't know I'm pregnant yet either)

OP, if you really are exhausted could you book a week's annual leave or get signed off from the GP for a week and literally just spending it resting and getting your energy back? You might find with a weeks complete rest you'll feel a bit lot better, other than that if you really need a longer term plan than I suggest speaking to your midwife/ GP and your HR department to come up with a plan moving forward.

Thanks for your reply - sorry to hear you are as tired as I am! I really do have to choose one activity a day and then I’m done 😂 I also had severe sickness for weeks 7-21 so I feel your pain then. A week of rest sounds like a good idea. I never imagined pregnancy would feel this draining!

Your GP can sign you off onto reduced hours, mine put me on 3 days per week and gave me a 12 week note until I finish for Mat leave. He was really supportive so I guess it depends on your GP. But having those two days off in between really helped me physically and mentally

@Ems2021

Your GP can sign you off onto reduced hours, mine put me on 3 days per week and gave me a 12 week note until I finish for Mat leave. He was really supportive so I guess it depends on your GP. But having those two days off in between really helped me physically and mentally

Great to know, thanks for sharing. Do you mind me asking if this was for the same thing - extreme exhaustion? I didn’t know it could be done.

You can definitely speak to your GP about being signed off or other things such as reduced hours. You could also ask your employer for reduced hours etc. I don't know why anyone would say there's nothing that can be done! I'm sure your employer would rather you there some of the time than being forced into getting signed off completely...

If you go off sick for pregnancy related reasons I think work can trigger your Mat leave starting if they want to.

I feel your pain…could only make it to 36 weeks before going on Mat leave this time. Even at home I can only do about one chore a day before I want to fall in a heap.

From ACAS website:

4 weeks before the baby is due

If the employee is off work because of a pregnancy-related illness within 4 weeks of the due date, maternity leave begins automatically. This is unless you and the employee agree together to delay it (for example, for health and safety reasons).

Once maternity leave starts, you must pay them maternity pay instead of sick pay.

I ran my paid sick leave right down then triggered my mat leave early. They made me redundant on mat leave. It's just a bit shit if you have tough pregnancies in this way. It costs you a fortune.

@Lagirl20 it was just general pregnancy related sickness he put down on the note, but I was exhausted, struggling emotionally and not sleeping well. I'm a primary school teacher and he was very sympathetic that it's a full on job as it is without all the rest. They can't trigger your Mat leave until week 36 x

Could you use holiday to take a half day off a week for the rest of pregnancy? I did that to do 4 days weeks and it made a huge difference.

If you're looking to not lose pay it probably depends on if your company pay anything over statutory sick pay? Which is very little & only kicks in after a certain amount of time being off sick anyway so could be some time unpaid before any pay at all.
How long is your paid maternity leave? Would you want to be off work entirely for potentially 4+ weeks before the baby comes at the expense of not having that time with the baby? (If you are signed off sick & your mat leave ends up being triggered early)
I'm 3rd trimester now but at the end of last year in my 2nd trimester I used holiday to take off 1 day a week and it made a big difference. (Ordinarily I probably wouldn't have had any spare but with covid restricting travel I had quite a bit)
This year I've been using holiday to take 1 day off a week & also reduced my hours on the other days so I come in an hour later & leave an hour earlier so I can have more time resting & it makes my commute much nicer. My company is very flexible though & desperately need me to stay working as long as possible so this was part of the agreement of me continuing to work until the birth.
I would consider if you could use holiday to give yourself more time off a week.
Also speak to your GP about maybe being signed off for a week or 2 now (if you can afford it), as maybe the break will help you recuperate.
If your company are flexible then talking to them about reduced hours is probably a good option - though they don't necessarily have to pay you for this so again, if money is really a concern then this might not be possible for you long term.

I used my annual leave to go ‘part time’. I worked a 3 day week. Then 2 days- I only did this the last month/six weeks though. Is that an option?
If you feel exhausted, see your GP and tell them.

Thanks for all your replies, I really appreciate it. Using annual leave is a good idea, I have a lot left over due to covid. I have tons of sick pay entitlement so I think I’ll speak to GP, see if I can get signed off for a week or two to rest, then use annual leave to go down to 4 days a week.

That's what maternity leave is for partly, it's why you can start it at 29 weeks. When I had mine my company allowed you up to 11 weeks before plus 29 weeks after afterwards, that was the max back then.