Is anyone finding it difficult to keep working?

This is kind of a vent, but I am just so very tired. I'm barely coping with being at work, and I have *no* idea how I'm going to keep going until at least 32 weeks. It's such an effort to drag myself in here, and I'm so unproductive.

Is anyone else struggling with work so early on? Other people seem to be OK working until just before their EDD, but I just can't see how I'm going to do it. I feel so big and cumbersome already, I can't imagine doing this when I'm twice as big as I am now.

The earliest I can go on leave is the end of November, and that seems an eternity away.

Urgh. Anyway, I know I'm probably being a sook and I should just deal with it, just had to have a little whinge.

Devon
xxxx

Hi Devon,

after the rank morning sickness, constant migraines and overwhelming tiredness that lasted to 18 wks, I have had 4 weeks of feeling great BUT STILL dragging myself off to work, daydreaming, reinventing the meaning of the word "spacey" and running into things (i'm not even that big yet) then yesterday the "i don't want to be here" feeling became overwhelming so on a sick day today (unpaid leave as i have no sickies left!).

if anyone has any great ideas on how to make my previously enjoyable job feel like that again please tell me as well! i have until just before xmas to work and man i'm counting (literally - the weeks on the calendar!)

Yep, I'm only 17 weeks and I'm exhausted! I've already dropped a day of work and my boss says I can take my mat leave whenever I want, obviously just give some notice. But I will try hang in there til 30+ weeks hopefully! I've been so tired and forgetful - I keep making stupid mistakes at work but I've been told it will only get worse! One of my managers keeps going on about how I have it easy, because I'm only part time and how she worked up to 2 weeks before her due date full time. BLAH BLAH BLAH! Well I do full time uni and have to go home to assignments and study, and don't have the luxury to sleep or have weekends!

Maybe you can drop a day or reduce your hours? I find the days I work just go soooo slow :rolleyes:

In fact I'm so tired now I think I'm going to have a nap...

Hey Devon,

I'm in the same boat ... I am exhausted but I think for me it has more to do with the fact that now my priorities have changed I just don't want to be here which makes it hard to come in a be productive!
My job involves quite a lot of forward planning and I just can't see the point considering that I am going to go on ML in December.
Is it possible to go down to 4 days a week or shorter days just to make it more bareable?

Good Luck Chick
xxx

Thanks girls.

The thing is, I already only work 4 days a week! Which is a godsend, there is no way I'd be coping doing 5 days.

IKWYM with the priorities, I am so preoccupied with the baby and all the things I have to organise, that I really just don't care about work at all. I'm just sitting it out really.

Have to try to keep in mind that the longer I work the more we can afford to do before the baby arrives - like putting in some air-conditioning.

Lucyinthesky - I have 5 days of sick leave left and I'm rationing them! Need to hang on to all my annual leave so I can finish earlier.

Thanks for listening!

Devon
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Hi Devon
Know just how you feel, Sal's employer just ( very nicely, I might add ) offered to drop a day or a day and a half from her roster as she is sooooo exhausted and not coping. We've had a couple of bleeding scares already, so I am hoping she will take the offer and go down to 3 or 2.5 days a week. Don't feel bad about not functioning at work, just remember you only get to experience the first pregnancy once! If you choose to have another baby, you will already have a little one running around the house. This is the last time in a loooong time that you can be selfish and think about yourself first. Some women cope with working all the way to term and others don't. You don't have to feel bad that you are tired! Take the time and enjoy being pregnant if you can afford to.
Good luck!

I laughed when I read your post bcos that is how I feel now and am not even 8 weeks!!!!!!

With my first pg it was exactly the same, but we had a few complications too so was on and off work a bit, but at then end of the day your priorities have changed.

I had women say to me that they "worked up to the minute they gave birth" and I would say "wow good on you I want to enjoy being pregnant and have a break before I start real sleep deprivation". And then I would tell them that I was planning to finish work at 32 weeks and the faces were hilarious!!

Pre-pg I was a career minded ambitious dynamo then I fell pg and turned into a jelly brained procrastination queen - but hey it was all worth it and is just a taste of how your perspective changes once you have those babies! Lucky I work for myself now!

Remember you are growing a little human being and just like we are all different, each little baby affects its mum as it grows in a myriad of ways! Stop when you need to - yes pregnancy is a condition, not an illness but I bet the person who said that was a man or had a "perfect" ms-free bloat-free once in a million pregnancy!

Hey Nelly,

I was exactly the same, climbing up the ladder and now I couldn't care less if the ladder burned down...lol

I have a friend I work with who is due in 2 weeks and is still out on the road seeing clients and she doesn't get that I am finishing up at 34 weeks....

I had a horror 1st tri and now I just want to take some time to enjoy and focus on my first pg :)

hun that was me with Jake and me again now.

Take the time to enjoy it - you need all the rest you can get!

I knwow how you all feel! I am working till 38 weeks - and it seems so far away! But in reality I only have 6 weeks left to go!! YAY.
There is light at the end of the tunnell! Oh and playing on BB all day seems to make the days at work pass alot faster!! hehehe
My work is awesome tho - they basically just leave me to it and I get done what I get done - no preasure really!!

Hope you all get that 3rd tri boost of enegery to get through it (im still waiting for mine!!)

Kate

Thanks Sally and Nelly.

Sally - I totally agree that this is such a special experience, I want to be able to savour the good parts of it, not be preoccupied with what I do to get money. Thanks for your comments, they reminded me of what's important.

Nelly - I do hear you, working through the first trimester was a nightmare, and even worse because I had to pretend that all was fine. I really want to have plenty of time to get my head around this whole baby thing, which I don't feel I've been able to do yet. I'll try to listen to my body on when is the right time to finish. Wishing you all the best for your pregnancy.

Devon
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Devon, I recently read in my pregnancy book "BIRTH" (it's a great read!) that when a woman is pregnant, her priorities change immediately and things like working and other things take a back seat because the baby occupies so much of her brain! It's so true.... I know how you feel. There is so much for us to think about while pregnant, so much to learn, so much to experience, so much to think about after the birth also.... so much planning is involved with this little baby. I'm also a very organised person in that I have to have things done otherwise I panic if I leave things to the last minute!!
I too also feel it's such a special time and I want to be able to savour all the special moments of the pregnancy rather than be preoccupied with other things.

I work 5 days a week in our business with my DH and it's so tiring lately.... it really is hard work working 9hr days, 5 days a week when all I want to do is go back to bed.... :lol: esp as I toss and turn all night long every night trying to get comfy.

I'm looking forward to the last week in December (i'll be 36wks then) as I'll be finishing up and only coming in to help DH out when it's needed or when I'm bored.... but I reckon I will have so much I will want to do at home before bub's comes so won't be in here much :lol:

Take it easy when you get home from work each night and put your feet up - that's what I do.... I don't do much when I get home....although I am lucky I have a very good DH who cleans, cooks etc without being asked!

Devon, how can anyone possibly concentrate on Work when you are growing a life!! It's just sooo much more interesting and absorbing than anything you 'used' to think was important!

I was working shorter days (mobility issues due to pelvic instability and my DH was away)- I felt terribly flakey for not being able to stick it out with my regular hours until 37-38 weeks like my coworkers had done. It was only afterwards though that I realised the extent to which they were just turning up and cruising through - they both resorted to using flex and other leave several times over the last few weeks. Basically I was just being very hard on myself!

Afterwards my supervisors and close coworkers told me they thought I was amazing to stick with it as long as I did - my preg was very hard and while I thought I was putting on a brave face they obviously could see how much i was struggling to stay afloat. So if you need more time or want to start your mat leave at 34 weeks, just do it. Those last few weeks of dreaming and resting and preparing are such a precious time and IMO help you to be better prepared for the impending birth.

Devon and everyone else,

I feel exactly the same! I'm sooo tired during the day because of not getting enough sleep during the night and my brain is filled up with baby this, baby that, that i find it sooo hard to concentrate on work. I use to love working here but now it seems so much harder to just get here in the mornings that i feel like giving up already!

I plan to stop working about 4 weeks before my EDD but the office closes down for christmas break 2 weeks later so i probably will end up working an extra 2 weeks. I already only work 4 days thank goodness but some weeks earlier i did take an extra day off because of sleepless nights etc.

I have it very easy at work and feel probably the best i have all pregnancy so i'm just trying to endure each day and tell myself each day is going to be pretty cruisy so "just go to work"!!! I think in a couple of months i might cut back to 3 days a week as i expect to get much more tired and preoccupied with baby.

I guess all we can do is keep going while we feel ok and then cut back as needed.

I assume most of us girls keep working only to keep the money coming in and not because we really want to.

OMG! i'm only 11 weeks and already i cbf with work. All i sleep, eat and breathe is baby this baby that! LOL, how will i ever cope in a few mths time.

I'm lucky i get paid maternity leave for about 6-7 months but i want to save as much as i can for when baby is actually here!

I am finishing up work at 36wks...last Friday in November and i can't wait! I am so over working, the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that i really want to spend as much time at home with bubs while on paid mat leave, i am pretty lucky as i get 6 month paid mat leave and am planning on taking a further 6 months. I find the best way to get you through the days is to count down the weeks not the days....so many more of them!

I think I'll be staying on at work till im about 35 weeks
last pregnancy I was unemployed and finishing my uni degree. So I felt I had all the time in the world to enjoy it. Time went so slow with my last pregnancy and I wanted to keep myself informed about the ins and outs of pregnancy and what the baby would be up to so to speak! I think THAT made me MORE exhausted than I am now.

I actually really like having a schedule and being busy. I feel really good at work and time has been flying, it feels like only last week that I found out I was pregnant!
BUT
if you ask the same question in say 4 months lol I'll probably say im over going into work!