30 weeks, tired, anxious & signed off work

[Anonymousm]

Firstly is it normal to be knackered? I’m finding myself falling asleep in the afternoon for naps every day but I’m constantly needing the toilet through the night.

Im due for Maternity leave at 35 weeks and have a weeks holiday before that so 34 weeks.

I’ve been signed off for 2 weeks with pregnancy related anxiety, I honestly don’t think I can face going back to work - if I phone doctors reception will they be able to give me a note for the remaining 4 weeks?

I think if you have so much time on sick they can just start your maternity leave early so depends if you are happy to do that

They can legally only start it from 36 weeks, I’m going at 35 weeks anyway plus I have a weeks holiday at 34 weeks so I should be okay

Yes they should be able to extend it x

You can always ask. Towards the end of my pregnancy I needed to take a nap at lunch break (wfh) and then straight for another nap at 5pm.

I sound dumb but what do you ask for on the phone?

It’s like from 26 weeks onwards, I’ve felt knackered - had my bloods done and they seem okay from what I understand of the results but I think I’m also anxious because I was told I have notching in the cord too, which causes smaller baby, preterm births, higher chance of pre eclampsia so kind of feel like I need to stay as calm as possible and take it easy, work deffo isn’t helping the situation!

Have you tried some YouTube meditation videos to relax? Or pregnancy yoga ones? Really worked for me when I was having anxiety and stressed.

I haven’t actually, I probably should do I feel like I’ve always had anxiety and go through bouts of it every few years, work always seems to be the cause of it but I think it’s more so because I feel like I’m potentially affecting baby getting so upset/anxious. That might help to try meditation, I’m okay while I’m home and in my own space normally, work seems to feed the anxiety and then that leads to anxiety about baby if you know what I mean

This one worked for me: