Carrying on working when you’re pregnant isn’t always easy, especially if you’re dealing with swollen ankles, morning sickness and back pain. Unfortunately, many women don’t have the option to take as much time off before baby arrives as they’d like to. So, if you’re stuck working throughout your pregnancy, how can you make it easier on yourself?
While it’s never going to be truly easy, there are ways to manage your symptoms and successfully make it through. Here, you’ll discover some of the top tips for working throughout your pregnancy.
Make Sure Your Employer Knows About The Pregnancy
Trying to hide your pregnancy from your employer is going to make the experience a lot more stressful than it needs to be. So, as soon as you start sharing your pregnancy news, make sure your boss is one of the first people you notify.
You can then talk through your options with your boss in case the symptoms do take their toll during the working day. For example, they may let you work from home some days if your symptoms, such as nausea, are particularly bad. You can also find out everything you need to know about the company’s maternity leave policy. While all employers are different some will be really helpful at providing support throughout the pregnancy so it’s always worth making them aware of the situation.
Prepare For Feeling Nauseous
By far one of the toughest symptoms to deal with when you’re pregnant is nausea. It’s said that 3 out of 4 women will experience some level of nausea and vomiting during their pregnancy. Trying to deal with it when you’re at work can make it even more difficult to handle. However, there are things you can do to ease the symptoms and clear up the nausea quickly.
Take some washcloths and things to keep your mouth feeling and tasting super-clean into work with you. The washcloths can prove invaluable at soothing your forehead and keeping the temperature down. Products such as mints, gum and even mouthwash, can help to keep the mouth fresh, eliminating the taste and smell of vomit if morning sickness does occur.
Ginger products are also worth having on hand. Whether it be ginger tea, biscuits, or real ginger ale can all help to soothe nausea. If ginger isn’t your thing, the scent of fresh lemon can also help to ease that sickly feeling.
Finally, if your nausea tends to be triggered by certain foods, it’s worth avoiding eating in groups at work. The scent of other people’s food can be a trigger for nausea, so eating on your own until the sickness part of the pregnancy goes is a good idea.
Enhance Your Comfort
As your body changes throughout the pregnancy, you’ll start to feel much more irritable and uncomfortable. While it’s possible to easily enhance your comfort at home, when you’re in the workplace it can be a little more difficult. However, there are ways to ensure you remain comfortable such as dressing comfortably, taking regular breaks, modifying more strenuous tasks, adjusting your chair and doing small, gentle stretching exercises throughout the day.
You’ll also want to make sure you allow yourself plenty of restroom breaks. If you try and hold it in, you could end up developing an STI, which wouldn’t be good for you or baby! So, make sure your boss knows you’ll require more frequent restroom breaks if required.
Give Your Energy Levels A Boost
At certain times during the pregnancy, you’re going to feel your energy levels significantly drop. Fatigue can be a real problem, especially if you’re trying to keep working throughout. One of the best ways to combat tiredness is to ensure you snack regularly. You can also take a walk on your lunch break, the fresh air will do wonders for your energy levels.
If you need a fast pick-me-up, a great tip is to chew some really minty chewing gum or mints. The burst of freshness will really wake you up and give you the fast energy boost you need.
Consider Taking Up Prenatal Yoga
One thing that can really help you to manage the symptoms of pregnancy at work, is prenatal yoga. If you take up prenatal yoga classes, it’s going to help you to minimize the amount of stress you feel, as well as keep you more energized and flexible.
Keep A Record Of Checkups
When you’re pregnant, you’re going to need to attend quite a lot of check-ups to ensure everything is progressing as it should. Unfortunately, some of these check-ups may need to occur during working hours. Therefore, it’s important to make sure you are keeping a record of any check-ups you have coming up so you can show them to your employer. This will prove you’re not actually slacking off and you do have appointments to attend to.
Of course, you should always try to book the appointments out of work hours. Whether it be before work, after or during your lunch break. You’ll especially want to be mindful of booking check-ups during important meetings or presentations.
Take The Right Precautions
Finally, it’s important to look at the activities you typically carry out at work. Will you need to modify or avoid specific tasks? It’s crucial to take proper precautions at work to ensure there’s no risk to you or baby.
Precautions to take include ensuring you avoid harsh cleaning chemicals, you aren’t exposed to heavy vibrations, you don’t lift anything too heavy and that you don’t need to stand for prolonged periods of time.
Conclusion
Overall, carrying on working while you are pregnant isn’t impossible, but it does bring with it some challenges. The tips above will help to make it a little more comfortable and easier to work throughout the majority of your pregnancy.
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