How do people work in 1st trimester?

[Ros2023]

I am wondering how people work when they’re struggling in the 1st trimester?
i am 9 weeks pregnant have been off work for 2 weeks due to nausea and struggling to function every day! I am now taking some anti sickness tablets that have taken the edge off a little bit but I still feel sick and generally crap. I am back at work today and absolutely dreading it. Especially because we haven’t told anyone about the pregnancy yet so trying to hide how I feel is going to be so hard!

Congratulations!!

How is your relationship with your manager? You may have to tell them if you are still suffering with sickness and other symptoms.

Sending best wishes to you

it depends as I struggled to work much at all so I took sick leave and annual leave to help. It can settle later on though

Ginger biscuits, little sips of water at regular intervals and a pot of nuts and raisins to hand. Working took my mind off the pregnancy and sickness and all the other first trimester anxieties.

Sorry I forgot to mention that I have told my manager but not my other colleagues. Hoping to wait until the scan to do that.
I have my snacks at the ready to help keep me going. I work until 11pm too so it could well push me over the edge. I’m trying to be positive!

Girl same! I'm 5 months post partum now but the first trimester of pregnancy was horrendous. Nausea and sickness. I was on sick leave for 2 months as I genuinely could not bring myself to work when I was feeling so horrible. I genuinely cannot answer how people get through work when they feel that way!

I try to do what I can when I can. I had 4 weeks in July of work 1-2 days a week. There were days when all I could do was lie down. There were days when I could only manage to keep up with emails. There were days when I could do bits of work between vomitting and other days doing mostly normal activities. It really did vary from day to day. My boss knew straight away due to my job and 2 people who I was accountable knew, 1 as she heard me vomiting another I told. I was having a bad week and had spent 2 days lying down. He asked me to do some prep work for a meeting. I was honest, I have hyperemesis, I've been off sick. If I can get it done I will but if not sorry and hopefully I will be in the meeting but there's a chance I won't. Unfortunately my pregnancy came to an end and the same people were supportive with managing expectations as I proceed the situation.

I made the decision prior to conceiving my daughter that if I was needing adjustments due to pregnancy and no other sensible option I would share that information on a case by case basis. I needed adjustments in the lab with my daughter and had to ask a colleague to handle some samples for me.

Being able to WFH made a big difference. When I had my daughter I was in the office 5 days a week and my nausea and vomiting started around 10am every day which was long enough to get into work but then I couldn't face getting on another train home until it started to ease at 3pm so i had to do my best to cope at my desk.

I told my manager very early (pretty much as soon as I found out). I was pretty sick but was lucky enough to be able to work from home if I was having a bad day so it was easier to hide.

I really don't know. I signed off work for 2 months and due to go back next week. Nausea still pretty bad (although I'm not bed bound 24/7 anymore) and zero energy for anything. I'm 19 weeks now!

I'm lucky that I have a job that pays me my full wage while being sick, I honestly feel for women who don't have this and have to survive on statutory sick pay.

Some people just don't get as extreme nausea so they can manage it better. There are even people who don't "feel pregnant" as well. I hate those people 🤣

There needs to be so much more understanding around pregnancy and especially first trimesters. We're kind of just expected to put up with it.

How do people work in the first trimester?

With extreme difficulty! I have been absolutely wiped out this pregnancy and the sickness has been really bad. My husband and I run our own business and it's just us, no staff, so I couldn't just call in sick or not turn up.
I'm 14 weeks now and honestly don't know how I powered through some of those weeks!

Never thought I'd actually say this but COVID was, in hindsight, a blessing for my first pregnancy. I was employed at that time and was offfor the majority of my pregnancy on full pay but with no work I could actually do from home.
I was basically just paid to stay at home and don't think I appreciated that at the time

Not got that much advice - I was sick in a hedge on the walk to work this morning! Have my 12-week scan on Monday and can’t wait to be able to tell everyone. Hoping I’ll be able slow down/get some slack on tasks that have been piling up.

Honestly I have no idea 🤣 probably pure survival mode!
It was awful, especially feeling sick the whole time, but then I'm very good at hiding things if I don't want someone to know so tried to act as normal as possible. Hopefully you will start to feel better in a couple of weeks.

@Ros2023sorry you're feeling so awful. I'd look at getting signed off by GP if I was you. I'm 35 weeks now, I was signed off work from weeks 8 - 15 I think, I was on cyclizine which took the edge off but I couldn't do my job. Absolutely floored by nausea and couldn't get out of bed/function/look after my toddler. It can be incredibly disabling, but hopefully will pass onto the second trimester.

Edited to add, don't worry about telling people at work or what colleagues might think. Only my manager knew about the pregnancy, when I got back a few people shared what their theories had been about my absence (including stress, bereavement, pregnancy!)! People will speculate, but it doesn't really matter if they do! Just look after yourself for the next few weeks.

I remember actually falling sleep sitting at my desk twice in first trimester! I was working unholy hours and I’ve no idea how I got through it.

I had between six and seven weeks off - I was so so sick. I didn't lose weight or require hydration treatment but the vomiting and constant nausea was awful so the doctors signed me off. Firstly I was on cyclizine - hated it, made me so dozy and wore odd, then tried prochloperazine which was a bit better. After 12 weeks you can have ondansetron which did help a lot but I was one of those unfortunate ones who was sick up to 20 weeks so spent a lot of time WFH when I was semi-well, in between the bouts of it getting worse. I was lucky - my boss was v supportive which I appreciate isn't always the case even though legally it should be...

First trimester was awful. I did maybe 50%of the work I usually would. I faked a stomach flu at its worst. Luckily I can wfh 3 days a week which helped. But even at home it was hard, staring at my work laptop screen made me nauseous so I'd do 20 mins of work and then sit on the sofa in the very dark living room for 30 minutes at a time.

I had hyperemesis in all three of my pregnancies, so I had to take time off. I was off for about 10 weeks in pregnancy 1 with two weeks on 50 per cent as a phased return. About 12 weeks off with pregnancy 2. And then pregnancy 3 was my least severe and I took a few odd days here and there initially trying to manage, and then had to get signed off for about another 6 weeks eventually.

Utterly grim.

Yuck it’s so hard. I took 10 days off work with my first when I was 8 weeks because I couldn’t move for being sick. Even when I went back I was so much less productive than normal until well into my second trimester.

This time round I’m self employed so I’ve had to drag my sorry ass to work half dead! ☠️ It’s not been pretty but at least it’s just me and my partner there in the privacy of our own space and if I needed to lie down during the day, I did it! I’m in my second trimester now and although I feel better, I’m still flagging a lot in the afternoon so we’ve started going to work an hour earlier and leaving an hour earlier, which has helped.

Hope you feel better soon! X

I threw up up to 10 times a day, every day, for 8 months. I worked throughout (office job with the ability to constantly pop to the loo without anyone really noticing).

I just persevered as I knew I'd get hg again but really wanted a 3rd DC so had prepped myself mentally for it as much as possible so was able to 'power through' as much as i could.

I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant (apart from dh) until I was 20 weeks & had been reassured that dc was healthy with abnormality scans done etc.

I weighed less when I gave birth than I did when I got pregnant, but I accept I was lucky to be able to get through it like this & that many others can't.

I found that when I wasn't at work or at older dc activities I just slept constantly in the 1st trimester. My energy increased in the 2nd trimester but I didn't stop being sick until I had given birth (was sick earlier in the morning but I suddenly stopped feeling constantly nauseous once dc had been born via c section - it was amazing how it just switched off).

Good luck

It's so hard. I had to pretty much constantly nibble on crackers or biscuits and sips of water. Then come home and collapse on the sofa for the evening!

We honestly are superwomen with what we have to go through sometimes 💪🏻
my first shift back at work after being off for 2 weeks last night wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it would be. It took my mind off things a little bit although the feeling sick was still there so I had to keep snacking and I felt exhausted after my shift.
I don’t finish work until 11pm so I got home and went to bed. As soon as my children had gone to school I went back to sleep for 2 hours. I must have needed it! This first trimester is really taking it out of me this time around. Every day is a struggle to get through. I’m so tired and crap!
Thanks everyone xxx

I'm glad you're first shift back went ok. Rest when you can and try not to over do things.

I landed in a & e in July after a fall caused by dizziness as a consequence of the sickness. Keeping busy is my tactic for managing my mental health only problem is it isn't always the best for my physical health! The day before the fall I had pushed myself to go into the office for a meeting as I was "only" being sick as the nausea had mostly gone. I had generally found the nausea more debilitating than the sickness so when that eased off I overdid things as I underestimated the impact that not being able to eat /keep down food was having and I tried to return to normal functioning a bit too quickly!

I had to tell my employers at 8 weeks when I had to come in late after I'd vomited all over my hair and clothes on the walk into work. Other than that, I didn't take any time off sick - I just ran off to vomit every hour or two. Looking back, I wish I'd been less of a hero as I felt shit the whole time and ended up being made redundant 5 months later.

I could hide during the quiet 6 weeks over the summer where not much happens. I wasn't very sick but dropped a lot of balls due to being exhausted and took a lot of mid afternoon walks. Thankfully my work is results based over relatively long time scales so I'm hoping I can catch up later! It's like have a 3 month hangover, how does anyone enjoy pregnancy?!