Teacher early pregnancy anxiety

[hopingforapeainapod]

Hi all - was just wondering if there were any teachers out there who could give me some advice on teaching and early pregnancy? I’m very early on (4.5 weeks) but I’m already quite anxious about going back to school on Monday. I work at a very academic, fast-paced secondary school which is pretty demanding and full-on at the best of times. Next week for example I have a school theatre trip one evening, a Parents’ Evening one evening, and a tonne of coursework marking, on top of a full teaching timetable where I may be teaching 6 or 7 classes a day - which would be fine but I am already really exhausted (I am also on progesterone and I think the Cyclogest is making me really sleepy - I’ve literally had a nap every day this week, and have been on half term so have managed to get away with doing absolutely nothing).

I’m also worried about what to do once all the other symptoms start kicking in (eg nausea) - the thought of having to run out of a classroom to be sick fills me with absolute dread (plus the bathrooms are really far away and I am rarely in the same classroom twice). I have a few friends who had really rotten first trimesters and really struggled and they at least got to work from home, which is obviously not an option for me! But they have filled me with horror stories and I think set me a bit on edge.

I know I am probably worrying prematurely (someone please tell me that the first trimester isn’t always as horrible as people make it out to be!!) but I am finding the prospect of getting through this next half term pretty daunting; I know I can take time off if I need to, but as I have a GCSE and A-level class I know I will feel really guilty if I do.

Would just be interested to hear from people in similar positions / if anyone has any advice!

Teacher here.

Tell your head. Tell them you want it kept confidential, but tell them as they can protect you in the short term.

Really the first trimester doesn't have to be awful, plenty of women get through it fine (not minimising those that don't either, just saying most are OK). Get a supply of snacks for the classroom. Dip out of stuff where you can (stop volunteering for trips!).

It's a short half term and then Easter so you should be feeling a little better too by which time you can tell people at work.

All the best to you.

Hey, I’m also a teacher at a similar sounding school, and I’m currently 8 weeks pregnant.

I would strongly recommend telling your head and HR person. You don’t have to yet, but it was the best thing I did because I have been so ill in my first trimester. I haven’t had a choice but to take time off (I’m head of a core department so I absolutely get the GCSE and A Level guilt, but I physically could not get to work). I’ve dealt with the guilt in 2 ways:

1. My baby is more important to me now, so I have to look after myself or I could risk my baby coming to harm
2. I’m completely useless when I’m there anyway, so my lessons have been crap recently and they are probably better off having someone who’s been pulled from a team teaching lesson

I also told my line manager who has been brilliant at helping me to delegate more to others without unreasonably increasing their workload.

For the nausea, I have used acupressure wristbands (great for taking the edge off) and sucking on mint imperials to get through. That being said, since I’ve been on half term the actual sickness side of things has increased massively (right in the middle of the day too) so I’ll have to go to HR on Monday and ask for my risk assessment to be completed asap so I know what to do if I need to be sick while I’m teaching (my body has been giving me about a 60 second warning before it happens).

Hopefully your first few weeks won’t be as bad as mine - horrible pregnancies run in my family so I always knew I was genetically predisposed to a more difficult time. Maybe speak to female relatives and see what it was like for them? My mum was also a teacher and her pregnancies involved the head teacher taking her class for the first hour of every day while she was throwing up! That was back in the 80s so probably wouldn’t happen the same way today 😂

I told SLT very early on last time. (I'm prone to having ectopic pregnancies so I would either have been out shortly after due to that or a few months later for mat leave.) With DS, my first trimester was fine. I had a lot of nausea but chewing gum and crisps helped. I don't tend to throw up.
This time round, the first trimester was much worse. I was also on Cyclogest and Prolutex, so progesterone was really ramped up. I was exhausted and felt sick 24/7. I got signed off work at 7 weeks due to being high risk. (I'm abroad, though. It's quite common here and HR are used to it.)

I am also a teacher and felt very worried about how I would cope. Somehow, you just pull through and it was not as bad as I thought it might be. Of course you may have greater sickness than me in which case you absolutely need to use your sickness policy for what it’s there for. But otherwise, I got by with lots of visits to the loo in small breaks in the day, ginger biscuits at my desk to nibble, having good packed lunches so my stomach was never empty (as that was when I felt my worst), open windows for fresh air, sitting when I felt nauseous and prioritising myself more than I ever had - making it my mission to leave by 5pm as often as I could even if I meant I had to do a little more when I got home. When home, I had simple meals to cook and went to bed crazy early. I also told my head of school early on and he was very supportive. You can do it! 💪💪💪 x

Not pregnant but my colleague who was pregnant had concessions from HR, e.g. she was taken off duties. If nausea becomes an issue, see if u can be timetabled near toilet, would require room swop, but surely it can be done. Not looking fwd to the frenetic pace either. Good luck OP.

Thank you all so much for your advice! I had assumed I would hold out as long as possible without telling anybody but a lot of you are saying I should tell my Head / HR / SLT and are probably right!

@Hercisback yes I am very lucky that this half term is actually only 5 weeks - will be very packed as a result but means I will have 3 glorious weeks to relax over Easter when I will be about 9/10 weeks, so something to hold out for!

@Lillers I’m sorry to hear you are feeling so rotten! I will look into acupressure bands. I didn’t realise there is a possible family link with morning sickness! I will have to ask my mum (she doesn’t know I’m pregnant yet, am waiting to tell her when I see her next weekend!) I hope you get some respite from the nausea / sickness soon!

@Busyhedgehog yes I’ve been on Cyclogest since 1DPO and my main symptoms on it are tiredness / sore boobs / hot flashes but it therefore means I feel like I have been tired for weeks already or at least for 2 weeks before pregnancy has even started!

@FirstTimeMum1608 you’re right I guess everyone just finds a way to push through. I think mentally the thought of being sick at school is probably worse than the reality! I will just have to rely on DH to do all the cooking and cleaning for a while…!

@BCBird yes I had wondered about the room swap thing. I work in a relatively large building where, rather ridiculously, there are only two staff toilets! So a) they are quite far away and b) you often go anyway between lessons / at break time and they are taken! But I could possibly ask to move closer if I needed it. School are generally supportive of these things.

Thanks all again!

Also a secondary school teacher/head of department and gave birth last April, working till 39 weeks.
I didn't tell SLT/HR till 12 weeks as I was worried I would lose the baby, but once I did my risk assessment really helped by keeping me in one classroom and letting me leave 5 mins early each lesson to avoid busy corridors (although I rarely used this, in practice wanted to cram in as much teaching as possible). I would also say the students are so nice and helpful once they know you're pregnant, but you're a way off that yet so this is what helped me in my first trimester-

• snack regularly on dry crackers to ease nausea
• keep sipping on water/squash throughout lesson
• sit down teaching as much as possible (really helpful once you get bigger too)
• email colleagues to sit with my class if I was going to be sick. This happened a few times, and I had various excuses each time from being desperate for the loo to coming down with a bug.

I would say that for me, the nausea was worse than actually being sick. I think teaching is great for keeping you busy and your mind focused on other things. My friends who worked at home often had more time to think/worry and agonise over every symptom whereas if you're teaching you just have to get on with it, the days go quickly and you can nap at home in the late afternoon.

Good luck and congratulations!

Secondary teacher here. Firstly, try not to worry about things that haven’t happened yet. I didn’t have any nausea or sickness with any of my pregnancies. The worst thing in the first trimester was the tiredness but if this is your first you can go to bed really early every night.

Then, take every day as it comes, the school will have to make adjustments if you need them. Aren’t there only about 9 teaching weeks left until exam classes will be on study leave? So hopefully you won’t have an awful 1st trimester, but if you do, they will be fine anyway as you’ve already taught them everything. If cover is needed they are more likely to collapse/combine classes etc. It will all be fine. You need to prioritise you and the baby.

The great thing about the timing is you will have some gained time in the summer term and they won’t give you a proper timetable in the autumn term.

I remember one teacher having a bed in an office so she could lie down when needed!

You’ve got this.