Should I go on the sick?

Courgette

inkie wrote: »

In my first pregnancy I was off sick from week 29 with sciatica (I was a Midwife and couldn't really function). Because I was off sick with a pregnancy related illness, when I got to week 34, I was put on Mat Leave automatically. You may not be able to be off sick until delivery.

mountainofdebt wrote: »

OP

I thought of the point that Inkie has raised but as it was a number of years since I needed to worry about maternity leave I didn't post.

Have you thought of this?

It's 36 weeks now where your employer can start your mat leave for any condition related to pregnancy.

Another thing for you to consider, and it has been raised a little bit already, but if you do go into work unless you have a proper documented meeting with your boss/HR about what your limitations are they have a right to expect you to be able to do everything you would normally be doing if you weren't sick. It's sounds like it's unlikely to happen with your boss, but you really don't want to be pulled up for a performance related issue.

I understand exactly were you're coming from with the guilt - I'm a secondary school teacher and I was off sick for the month when year 11 and 12 did their GCSEs and AS levels. Not joking, I cried for the whole day the day yr12 sat their exam, I just felt so guilty.

Hope the doc can help you through it a bit this morning

Triggles

I had to go off sick due to SPD when pregnant with DS2 at about 26 wks. I hated the idea of it, but as my supervisor and midwife pointed out, I was much more likely to push myself too hard at work, because I didn't want people to think badly of me, which meant I was more likely to actually hurt myself more and end up in more pain. I found that once I was home and taking better care of myself, doing the things that were recommended to help (positioning and such), that I actually had a little less pain. I realised that I was pushing myself very hard in an attempt to make up for the problems that I perceived were being caused at work by my SPD and in the process actually making it worse.

Give yourself a break. You're hurting, you're tired, and you owe it to both yourself and your baby to take the best care possible of yourself. It's only for a short time, and the last few months of pregnancy can be exhausting anyway. If your boss is fine with it (and let's be honest, even if he's not!!), just do it. You don't have to be "bored" at home - there are tons of things you can do! You will only become bored if you allow yourself to be. What you can do depends on your level of mobility, but if you're taking care of yourself and not pushing yourself too hard, you may find it eases off just a bit. Best of luck to you.

clairehi

When you're in pain, its hard to think logically. You are obviously a very conscientious person or you would not be feeling so bad about it all, so I am sure your work will understand if you need to go off sick that you are not swinging the lead. How would you feel about it if it was another team member who was in your position?

I think the people you need to take advice from are your healthcare professionals, not us or your work. You do also need to consider that you need to be in as good shape as possible after the birth.

Welshlassie

Thanks everyone
My GP signed me off for a fortnight this morning and has split my painkillers so I can take part of it more often and the other part 6 hourly to try and give me pain relief for longer. Yes my physio is the womens health one I saw in my first pregnancy. She also runs the hydrotherapy sessions for women with SPD.

Im not sure how I feel about acupuncture as I tried it in my first pregnancy for hyper-emesis and after 5 sessions and GBP150+ had no relief. I'll discuss it with my physio/midwife next week. I had a support belt in my last pregnancy and had a smaller one on order for the night, but because my pelvis is twisted, wearing one during the day actually exacerbates by pain. I'm having a manipulation session with my physio next week, but she has already warned me it will make me worse before I get better for a day or so and there is no guarantees it will help.

Regarding other duties, unfortunately I'm one of the senior members of the team, we have an office manager for the admin stuff so its not feasible for other duties unfortunately. They'll have to get a temp in to cover my work now as it is.

mrcow

The other thing I wanted to mention was sleeping with a pillow between your legs in bed. I found it really helped with support (and still use it from time to time as my pelvis has never fully recovered).

lita

I had to go off sick from 16 weeks onwards thanks to SPD. I sympathise I really do! I had codeine which I only took at night to help me sleep, I was on crutches and I was given some tuba grip thingys to wear round my pelvis - none of these worked fully. I bought a memory foam mattress topper off Ebay - Life saver!! Was so comfy. Also got a body pillow from Costco which also helped, I slept with it inbetween my legs and under my bump. Hope you find something that works for you soon x

clairehi

Have you tried osteopathy?
I know someone who was struggling with SPD, she has been seeing an osteopath every fortnight and it is fine now (she is 36 weeks).
NHS physio couldnt help her at all.

mrcow

I found a really helpful website at the time too.

I can't remember exactly as I thiought it was a US site, but here's a UK one with some very practical tips:

http://www.pelvicpartnership.org.uk/practical-suggestions/at-home.html

I'll keep looking as I'm 90% sure it was a different site, but take a look at this one anyway as there's a lot of information on it.

Welshlassie

mrcow wrote: »

I found a really helpful website at the time too.

I can't remember exactly as I thiought it was a US site, but here's a UK one with some very practical tips:

http://www.pelvicpartnership.org.uk/practical-suggestions/at-home.html

I'll keep looking as I'm 90% sure it was a different site, but take a look at this one anyway as there's a lot of information on it.

Thanks I found this a few weeks ago and have been spending quite a bit of time reading through it.

Welshlassie

lita wrote: »

I had to go off sick from 16 weeks onwards thanks to SPD. I sympathise I really do! I had codeine which I only took at night to help me sleep, I was on crutches and I was given some tuba grip thingys to wear round my pelvis - none of these worked fully. I bought a memory foam mattress topper off Ebay - Life saver!! Was so comfy. Also got a body pillow from Costco which also helped, I slept with it inbetween my legs and under my bump. Hope you find something that works for you soon x

I wouldn't be without my body pillow. Have been using a pillow between my knees since 8 weeks and dug out my body pillow (Percy as DH calls it) at 18 weeks.