Work

[CIng]

Hi Mumsnet community. I’m in the early stages of pregnancy (c.7 wks) and feeling rotten (which I appreciate is common). Also very anxious as my only other experience of pregnancy ended in miscarriage. I have a full-on job in professional services and work on a hybrid basis but I’m finding the commute (90 mins each way) and being in-office really difficult when so feel so ill. I need to find a way to work only from home but ideally without telling my employer that I’m pregnant (it’s too early and it’s a gossipy environment). Does anyone have any tips as to how to handle this? I can still do my job well but it’s a lot easier to manage feeling so horrendous with nausea from home. I’d really appreciate any advice.

Honestly I would tell HR and line manager. You don’t have to tell everyone and I’d make it clear that you want to keep the news private until further notice

@BringbackbuffyThanks for replying. It feels so early to do that and I have no confidence that the information would be kept private :(

Bumping in case anyone else has any thoughts!

Say you’ve pulled your back and you’re taking pain medication that means you can not drive.

I found lemon things helped a bit (though I still spent a lot of time trying to hold back nausea at work and rushing to the toilets, wfh wasn't an option at all for me, and I empathise with how tiring a 2 hour commute can be) and sucked a lot of lemon flavoured sweets, and lemon ice lollies were the best for me, so maybe worth trying, as it seems a lot of friends found it helped a bit.

When I informed my line manager I told them it’s still early days (5 weeks) but I literally couldnt lift my head off the pillow to get up let alone do my 40 minute commute each way AND teach. I asked for a HR referral to be put in so I can get advice and possible options for moving forward. I have unfortunately had recurrent miscarriages also so wanted to ensure this was covered incase it happened so that I wouldn’t have to stress sorting it out at the time x