Stress at work

[Ozabet40]

Hi ladies …

I am 27 weeks and have had quite a lot of stress at work. It just seemed to calm down and now it’s gone mad again… expectations for me to meet same day deadlines, work long hours, and fit way too much into one day (I.e new starter training, interviews, and meetings all in one day on top of my usual workload of managing a team of 20).

I’ve made it quite clear to my manager that working long hours isn’t reasonable especially as I’m so tried and struggling to work my current hours.

I’m going off from work early to spend time with my family who live abroad before baby comes, so I only have 8 weeks left…

I really am counting down the days and just really I’m stuck between just get through the days and do what I can and nothing more, anything that’s not done is just tough sh*t and I’ll get to it when I can…

Or whether I should continue to push myself to work as hard as possible in case they perceive it as performance issues, as ultimately, I couldn’t be dealing with losing my job or any type of performance meetings at this stage …

I’m really trying to put myself and baby first and just so worried about not enjoying the final weeks of my pregnancy because of stressing constantly about work. I was even dreaming about it last night and woke up a couple of times panicking about things I still had to do!…

I’m not expecting anyone to tell me what to do, I’m just looking for advice really and whether anyone else has been in a similar position and how you handled it?… I have no intentions of returning to the role. I’m taking a year and a half off and me and my partner have agreed that I won’t be going back to this role due to the long hours and stress, but that’s not to say I won’t return to the company just a different department and role, hence why I’m concerned about any performance issues as I don’t want it to jeopardise my chances of returning if needs be…. I have such a small bump that I think people forget I’m so far gone and just treat me like my pregnancy isn’t even happening!

so sorry about the novel… but thanks to anyone who reads this and gives advice! Xx

I'm so sorry to hear you're having such a hard time at work. I'm also in a stressful role and battling with the idea of not returning. I've developed pelvic girdle pain due to the rushing around and have been asked by my GP to work from home for the next four weeks; after that, I'm on maternity leave.

In the UK, all businesses have a duty of care towards their employees, so if this impacts your health, you can speak to your GP and then HR(once your doctor signs you off or provides an adjusted work plan). I know it's an uncomfortable situation, as you can never predict how this will affect your future career, but life is way too precious not to put your health and the health of your child first. Government laws aim to protect us from discrimination, so they cannot hold your well-being against you. I suggest researching your rights as well.

Background: Since disclosing my pregnancy, my boss has made a special effort to make my life hell with unreasonable deadlines and unjustified complaints and has asked me to travel between buildings during working hours. I'm 33 weeks pregnant, and I have developed pelvic girdle pain due to all the rushing around. I never experienced this during my first pregnancy as I worked for a different company; my boss eased the pressure and had realistic expectations of my workload during working days when I had appointments, for example. I'm in a similar situation and will also be researching my rights.

I hope, whatever you do, you can take it easy on maternity leave, and you have a magical pregnancy.

God Bless

Hi I was recently in a very similar situation and it got really bad that the thought of going into work was making me ill. at 31 weeks I rang in sick and started crying at the midwife appointment who advised me to go to the GP
and get signed off work. She was saying that the extra stress on myself and the baby really wasn’t worth it and I’d never get this time back. I’d worked at the company for over twelve years and I have never ever been off sick so I was really anxious about doing it. When I spoke
to the GP she was absolutely lovely and signed me off work without a second thought until 36 weeks. She put “pregnancy exhaustion” on the sick note as pregnancy related illnesses can’t be used against you and don’t count towards normal sickness policy! It was honestly the best thing I could have done. Hope you get sorted