When are people thinking of starting to slow down at work? Now I'm approaching my third trimester, I'm giving it more thought (especially as my current rota is a KILLER!) I think I'm getting to the point where I have to admit that my pregnant body (and mind!) is no where near as agile and able as pre-pregnancy!
I'm essentially on call every other weekend, and have been since I discovered I was pregnant at 6weeks - so I basically work 12 days in a row, get a weekend off then do the same again... This stretch is especially worrying as as well as a long stretch it's a mix of days and nights - basically this week = Mon - Thurs 8.30am - 5pm ( which = 6.30pm in reality) Friday is a 8.30am - 10pm day, Saturday nd Sunday 9am - 5pm, then Monday - Thursday 9pm - 10am :-/. The nights are henius when not up the duff - the only doctor on shift for 10 32 bed wards (with ITU support for when the brown stuff hits the fan!)! I want to nap just thinking about it!!! Roll on April, after which my longest stretch will be 7 days or nights!
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DrFluffy
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Wow those shifts are harsh, what has happened in the past with pregnant collegues, I would ask them first, see if you can still handle the pressure if not, maybe take holiday then maternity leave
My GP worked until 7.5 months, then took full maternity leave. She obviously benefited from the normal working hours and some portion of sitting down. I'm 27 weeks now and too much time on my feet is beginning to not feel so wise. This is not supposed to be an endurance test - hopefully it is a wonderful experience! But everyone is different, a friend of mine took her bar exam at eight months. I'm older and couldn't do that, I need rest and time to keep my body in good shape.x
you have to look after yourself, if u think things are getting too much then time too pack up shop id say, sounds bloody hard, and u have done well!
Baby due on July 20th I am planning leave from 1st July. but I am more free in my work - normally most international relations Ph.D scholars are - we dont have experiments to attend to - we just have to sit in our offices reading and at time writing a paper !
I'm planning to start maternity about 3 weeks before my due date - but same as ritz21 above, my work is fairly chilled-out, mostly desk-bound so i hope i'll be fine. I feel for you with your rota, take care of yourself, I'm sure you'll know when enough is enough! All the best.
Hoping to work up to 38 weeks, but we'll see. I think my rota would be hurting right about now even if I weren't pregnant! I just hate being this tired! I'm sure I'm probably anaemic too, as my Hb was borderline to begin with! Friends have varied from one who pretty much gave up all on calls from her first trimester as had overwhelming morning sickness (and was working in A&E), to one who worked through to 8 months, but in GP, so no on calls and desk based anyway!
Unfortunately, acute medicine is never prgnancy friendly - thankfully (and a little sadly as I'm still not 100% sure I've applied for the right speciality!) next week is my last set of acute/general medicine nights of my training. My remaining night of this training year are 'speciality' so only looking after one ward :-). Doctors in hospital training get a pretty poor deal compared with nurses and GPs as there is much more of an onus on service provision, we don't have any clear reporting structure or a line manager who is consistent (changes every 4 months for me).
I already have a doctorate (lab based - molecular biology) which I completed before I started my medical reining - that was a walk in the park compared to the life of a junior doctor!
The way I figure is that Flump is massively hard core! (S)he managed to exsist inspite of e fact i'm supposedly infertile! has coped with exposure to chemo therapeutic agents during conception and first 5 weeks of gestation, and with exposure to Toxoplasmosis, Parvovirus B13, multi drug resistant TB, mumps, secondary (thus contagious) Syphilis and Pertussis before the end of it's first 12 weeks in the grow bag! I'm sure me being knackered is nothing to this steely blighter!!
Hey DrFluffy, tried to reply last night but phone died! I am giving up working more then 5 days in a row as of end of June, I work as a team of between 3-6 nurses on the weekends depending on time of day and i don't want to hinder them by waddling around saying, I cannot do this or that. It's hard enough now having to say no, I can't X-ray, handle birds, help with lifting or take that Rottie out in fear of being pulled over. I spoke with my collagues and many nurses call time at 35-36 weeks, they simple said by that time they were over it! I would like a little time to relax before bubba arrives and a 38 wk induction has already been mentioned as am 40 so I am thinking 35wks for me. Many of my collagues babies have come early too, not sure if significant to work environment and my boss didn't get to go on Mat Leave, baby just arrived! I think we deserve a little R&R in the later months after all we have been building a new life and that is hard on the body.
Are work asking to you to tell them of your intentions?
And wow Flump has had more then her fair share of exposure to hazards! She clearly want to stay (you mentioned Toxo, after over 20 years in veterinary I was negative!) Xx
oh i dont know how you do it.. im going off on 22nd april taking 2 weeks holidays then starting my leave 7th May and im due 19th june.. and counting the days
Urgh!! That 7 days done (69 hours without a rest day so far - don't listen to anyone who claims doctors only work a max of 48 hours a week!), nights from tonight... Dreading them :-/. Roll on Friday! Actually, roll on next Wednesday when I rotate off this crappy rota!
I've decided no more nights from 8 months! Just thinking about them makes me want to nap!!
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