For some pregnant women, the clock on the office wall will seem to tick a lot slower than usual when they’re looking forward to their maternity leave
When you find out that you are pregnant, I’m sure that you will only have one thing on your mind: maternity leave! I bet you are already eagerly counting down the weeks and days until you get to put your feet up and prepare for the birth of your new baby. You’ll even be able to enjoy extended leave once the little one is here as well. Unfortunately, though, some women find that work can start to drag as they are pregnant as looking forward to maternity leave can make the clock on the office wall seem to tick a lot slower than usual.
Wishing the time away isn’t the only thing you will find yourself doing in maternity leave. You will also need to work extra hard to ensure that you are comfortable at work. After all, your pregnancy will make you a lot more tired and the changes that your body undergoes might not make sitting at a desk all day the most comfortable of experience. Thankfully, though, you don’t have to suffer too much. Here are a few ways you can handle all your work while pregnant.
Let Everyone Know You Are Pregnant
First of all, it is really important that you tell everyone about your pregnancy as soon as you are able to. Your boss will need to know so that they can start the recruitment process to find someone to cover you while you are on maternity leave. Once you are pregnant, you will find that you start to experience some symptoms very early on even though your bump won’t have started to develop just yet. For instance, most women have to contend with morning sickness. Unfortunately, this sickness isn’t always confined to the mornings and you might experience it throughout the day. So, if your employer knows that you are pregnant, at least they will understand why you may be rushing off to the toilets so often! As well as this, they will also be a lot more sympathetic if you call in sick some days. Not only that, though, but your boss might be able to reduce your workload while you are pregnant so that you don’t get too stressed.
Wear Comfortable Clothing
As your body grows and gets bigger, you will need to start wearing maternity clothes. This is also the case at work. Don’t worry, though, that doesn’t mean that you need to start wearing frumpy clothes that make you look a lot bigger than you are. As you can see here, there is actually some very stylish maternity wear that is suitable for a variety of offices and workplaces. The main thing to remember is that the waist on any trousers or jeans needs to be elasticated. Plus, it is always best to wear clothes that have been made out of natural materials, such as cotton, as these will help your skin breathe better.
Be Honest To Yourself About How You Feel
When you are pregnant, you will find that your health can go up and down. You might not feel completely sick, but some days you might feel ever so slightly under the weather. It’s important that you are always listening to your body so that you know whenever is the best time to take some time off from work. Otherwise, you might end up pushing yourself too far and could end up making yourself even sicker, which could cause problems with your pregnancy. So, always listen to your body and learn when you need to take some time out to get some well-earned rest.
Keep On Snacking
Research now shows that it isn’t a good idea to eat for two people while you are pregnant. Sure, you need to eat enough so that your baby can grow healthily inside you, but that doesn’t mean you should eat double your usual portion. That will only make you put on a lot of unnecessary weight. However, you do need to keep your energy levels up throughout the day, especially when you are busy at work, and the best way to do this is to enjoy a few snacks. Just make sure that you stick to healthy ones, such as fresh fruit and cereal bars.
Get Plenty Of Rest
You will find that your pregnancy makes you quite tired very quickly. That’s nothing to worry about as it happens to all pregnant women. After all, you are growing a whole new human inside you, and that process will be using up a lot of your energy! So, you need to make sure that you are getting plenty of rest especially when you are still working. Be sure to go to bed at a reasonable hour every night so that you can try and get at least eight hours of sleep. That’s important as you progress in your pregnancy. You will find that you keep waking up more through the night, so will need longer to try and get as much sleep as possible!
Change Your Schedule
It could be worth reviewing your usual schedule at work and seeing if you need to change it in any way. For instance, you might now have to juggle work with hospital and doctor’s appointments. One good idea is to move any regular meetings into the afternoons if possible. That way, you will, hopefully, be over most of your morning sickness by the time they come around.
Watch Your Stress Levels
All pregnant women need to be careful not to get too stressed if at all possible. Stress isn’t good for the baby or your own health. If you experience very high levels of stress, it could even induce labor before you are ready. So, you might want to delegate some of your tasks and responsibilities to other people in the workplace. That way, you have less to be stressed about at work.
As you can see, working while pregnant doesn’t have to be a struggle. In fact, you might even surprise yourself and enjoy it!
