pregnant, work done Occ health refereal. should i worry?

emmamc252

ok. Basically I am 14 weeks pregnant with my second child. I had hypermesis in my 1st pregnancy and can only say that so far this one seems worse! I am a teacher working with very low ability students in a mainstream highschool so I do very active lessons. behaviour etc is a major issue and you very much need to be a physical presence with my kids, sitting at a desk at the front and giving out worksheets is NEVER going to work.

Last time I was in and out of work with the sickness but managed until 29 weeks when I was signed off for the rest of pregnancy. I went off after DH basically said enough was enough, I had only gained 4lb in total and was literally waking up, going to work, coming home and sleeping, doing my planning on the weekend and sleeping some more. I really pushed myself and ended up really ill, having growh scans on my baby at 28 weeks and at that stage I had actually lost 2lb. I had also fainted twice.
In hindsight I think the way I pushed myself was rediculous and I actually feel quite guilty for putting myself and the baby at risk like that.

Anyway, this time the sickness started at 3 weeks, before I even got a positive test result. at 6 weeks I had a bleed and had to have 2 early pregnancy scans but thatkfully everything was ok. I have been off work since then and have been managing as best I can at home but cannot imagine how I would be at work. I have also been reffered to have an ECG as my GP thinks I may have something called POTS syndrome. Basically when i stand up, especially from lying down i go very dizzy, very warm, heart races and I feel like I need to sit down or I'm going to feint. I had this last time but not until MUCH later in the pregnancy. he took my pulse sat down and then when I stood up and it went from 110 to 136 just from standing up. (normally I am pretty healthy low bmi etc so it really is just something pregnancy triggers in me!)
Currently I have manintained my current weight, I wake up at 9am, nibble crackers and dried fruit until I feel well enough to get up (DH gets dd up and takes her to nursery so I can sleep in, if I get up earlier the symptoms seem much worse nad last all day!) which is usually about 10. I have a shower and put some laundry on, quick tidy up, for about 20 minutes by which time its 10;30 and I feel knackered! genuinley!!! like I've just ran a 10k, an in my normal life I have done that!!! LOL!
so by 10;45 I am sitting infrot of the telly and resting. If I don't I just feel worse and worse until I end up wretching, going very hot and feeling like I need to lie down. it doesn't go away until I rest. I sit and sip lucazade, i eat ritz crackers, dried fruit etc, I find by nibbling I can keep more down. even if I do wretch it just doesn't come up as much.
so by 12 I have settled again so I have another 20-30 minutes to do something, so I will have a potter and then by half 12 I'm back on the sofa sipping my lucazade.
When i'm at work DD is at nursery in the morning and then with my mum in the afternoon. At the moment my dad is ill so mum is helping me out but she can't really do much more than she already does. Driving is a BIG trigger of my sickness (which considering I have a 50 minute commute to work is also an issue) so she picks up DD and brings her over here about 1pm. she normally stays with me until about 3;30. I have dried toast, porridge, on good days a plain baked potato for lunch, I eat slowly which also help and play with dd at the same time, it takes about an hour to get a whole jacket potato down.
My mum usually brings in whatever toys I want for DD and we set them up in the living room and I sit on the floor to play with her then I'm not moving around all the time. She loves art and crafty things so I'm quite lucky really that she doesn't want to be running around all the time.
About 2;45 we get ready to go for a walk. The colder the air the better I feel. My mum comes with us as I have had the odd funny turn when i'm walking so wouldn't neccessarily feel comfortable going on my own. By funny turn I mean my heart starts beeting fast, I get out of breath and go very warm, I literally have to take as many layers off as I can and sit down, even if its on the curb for 5 mins or so before I can head back home. mum looks after dd whilst I get myself back to feeling human.
3;30 is DD's nap time and after our walk and playing on the carpet I am thoroughly exhausted too. so we say goodbye to my mum and we got o bed until about 5.
This is the hardest time as when DD wakes up she wants to get up and if I get up straight away all the nausea and dizziness is really extreme. So we have a disney sing along dvd that I turn on and we watch that and have a sing and dance. I munch my crackers and have some fruit juice until I feel like I can get up and go downstairs usually around 5;30. Then we play on the floor again. DH comes in about 6;30 has 1/2 hour with us and then makes dinner. The smell of food is another trigger so he is definately in charge of that! I feed DD at the same time and then we eat, again I will eat dry pasta or rice and soy sauce, chicken breast, anything boring really! again it can take me upto an hour to eat so by then its getting close to 8pm and I eat in the living room so I can play with DD at the same time.
8pm is bath time, I can't lean over the bath as it makes my head spin so I tend to get in the bath with DD. yet another coping strategy, DH tidys up down stairs. then its pj's, book and bed time. I can sometimes manage 30mins with DH infront of the tv but by now I'm so tired I usually end up falling asleep with DD!
Saturdays I have DD on my own all day and I cannot describe how hard it is. I literally spend the day wretching, vomiting, feeling like death and having to sit down. its beyond stressfull because DD doesn't understand why mummy is so useless these days! I will got o wither my sisters or my best friends in the afternoon but as I said driving is a huge trigger, so even with the window down it can take me an hour to recuprate and stop feeling nauseaus and wretching when we arrive.
nap times still 3;3- so its only really 6 hours I have with dd and I really struggle.
This is basically what I was like the whole time last time. The gp has signed me off 2 weeks at a time, now I'm 14 weeks I think they will be able to do it for a bit longer as its unlikely to be "early pregnacy" stuff when it keeps going. He has prescribed me some tablets for the sickness/nausea but I am managing iwthout them at the minute and am really unsure aobut taking medications for the whole pregnancy, i just worry about what it might do to the baby, I know theres no evidence it does any harm, but theres no evidence it doesn't either! If I was losing weight again I think I would but its not just the nausea, its the constant exhaustion and the dizziness etc all together.

anyway, I just don't see how on earth I can be expected to return to work feeling like this. I have no idea how I would get there, an hour in the car would kill me, doing that there and back?:eek: I can;t sit on the floor and not move much with my classes, they never stop and work know this! I just don't understand how they think I could manage this!!!

I basically had a "welfare visit" and the woman who came in fairness I don't ge ton with and she doesn't have any kids herself and she just kept saying "to get you back to work" and I was just thinking, there is no way I am coming back to work feeling like this! I won't be pregnant forever and I know its a long time but I can't help it.
Anyway, she has reffered me to occupational health so that they can see how I can come back to work. I just don't see what they can say that I would be happy with. I feel like I need to concentrate on keeping me and baby healthy, NOT do what I did last time and priorotise work to the point where I make myself totally ill, nearly in need of hospitalisation and where I'm having to have growth scans on my baby because of the pressures I've put on it.
I'm really stressing over it because I just don't feel like going back to work is whats best for me right now. I feel like I'm only just coping whilst at home so how can they expect me to manage working too?
I have looked at what they can do, reduced hours etc but I don't see how that would help, I can literally manage 30 minutes of cleaning before having to sit down, and thats without the 1hr drive each way! I just don't see what they could do to make working possible when I'm, like this.
I'm also worried they will insist I take the hypermeisis medication. I am just not sure if I am confortable taking medication like that for prolonged periods whilst pregnant.
All of this is really stressing me out and in honesty is making me feel worse! I just don't need any of this stress right now.

I understand that work want me there, after all they are paying my salary, but I'm not going to be pregnant forever and I just feel like its unfair to put this kind of pressure on me when I am pregnant, any advice???

antonic

What your employer is doing is to cover themselves legally, by assessing all the risks and problems that may present themselves during the time you are pregnant (as any reasonable employer would).

(I do risk assessments were I work and they are done every 3 months on pregnant women).

Any discussions you have about the type of work you can do *SHOULD* reflect on your pregnant health.

emmamc252

i think its just the way the woman who did the welfare visit was talking that worried me. she just kept repeating "obviously we need you back at work,"
and whilst I understand that, (I have heard from collagues that the supply are having real problems controlling 2 of my classes, like I said I teach bottom sets, I also work in a VERY bad area so they are full of bahaviour problems, I genreally enjoy the challenging atmosphere and I really enjoy helping my students but I can't be a good teacher when I feel like this. Its not fair to put pressure on me just because they will struggle to get supply to cover what are considered to be some of the most difficult classes in the school.)
I just feel like I need to look after myself right now and I don't see how returning to work will allow me to do that.

I think the biggest issue is with the travelling, like I said its a 50 minute commute there and back, nearly 2 hours spent in a car? I can't see how I could make that work. I would arrive at work dying!! even if they offered part time I would still have that travel time. a train would take 90 minutes as theres no straight route from where I live (middle of nowhere) and I dread to think how to get there by bus. I don't even know if that would help.
If I worked around the corner I think I would possibly suggest doing afternoons, I couldn't manage mornings as they are the hardest time for me, but I just don't think I could manage the drive and working. It takes me like an hour to feel ok after a 15 minute journey, I would imagine I'd have to stop at least once each way, I went to my 12 week scan appointment about 1/2 hour away and had to stop twice and got there 30 minutes early so I could sit and rest before the scan. so by the time I got there I'd be in no state to teach. I'd have to allow an hour and a 20 mins at least to ge thtere, another 30 to recuperate once I arrived so thats already 2 hours. We teach 5 lessons a day, 4 in the mornin then lunch and 1 lesson and then home. so say I did 2 lessons a day, I'd have to arrive for 11;45, so would be leaving the house at 10;15 teach 12;15-1;15 rest over lunch which is 1;15-2pm and then teach 2-3. prob have another rest after that until 3;30/3;45 byt hte time I've done detentions etc. same stops on the way home, 30 minutes to feel ok again which is a minimum so that nearly 6pm before I am feeling ok again. no time for snacks or trying to eat bits of toast, it would al just be about managing to work.
I'd still be out of the house from 10;15-5;30 and would find all of ths stuff I have to do at home that much harder for it.
and all that is for 2 lessons a day? I haven't even factored in time for planning.
currently I do my planning when dd is in bed but as I'm going to bed with her now that time is gone. Like I said I am only getting out of bed at 10am anyway so I'd have 15 minutes to get ready for work?
it just sems crazy and silly to be honest.
so if thats too much what else can I suggest, 2 afternoons a week? so I teach a total of 4 hours a week? 1 afternoon? is there really any point??? some days are worse than others and I can still see me phoning in sick some days even if I was only going in for 1 afternoon a week, that could still be on a bad day. ugh.

theoretica

If your GP has signed you off that trumps whatever occupational health say.