Thursday, 23 February 2012
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Maintaining a Job Through Pregnancy
You are pregnant! Hooray! A sweet little bundle to hold near and dear will be here before you know it. Now is the time to take especially good care of your health; and if you have never had a good enough reason to watch your diet, you do now.
Diet and indulgences
Nutrition is essential to a healthy pregnancy—and since you’re responsible for two people now, you’ll need to pay special attention to your diet. You won’t have to eat more food—but you should be eating as much nutritious food as you can. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, taking care to eat foods high in fiber. Go easy on the fats and sweets, and if you’re a coffee fan, go easy on the caffeine as well—according to the American Pregnancy Association, pregnant women can consume as much as 350 mg of caffeine a day.Staying fit
Whether you’re pregnant or not, smoking is bad for your health, so throw out the cigarettes and stay away from secondhand smoke. If you are an avid fitness fanatic, keep it up, but talk to your doctor about appropriate workout plans. If you are a couch potato, try to get some walking or yoga in every day. Did you know that stronger muscles are a great catalyst during labor and delivery? Most importantly, see your doctor as soon as you suspect that you are pregnant. Early prenatal care results in healthier moms and babies. If your doctor feels that you are going to have a difficult pregnancy, he or she can refer you to specialists who are educated in this field.
Working while pregnant
Many women would love to stay home and lounge around when they find out that they are pregnant. The first few months of morning sickness and incredible fatigue are enough to keep us on the couch with our feet up, snoozing away the day. The middle months are not too bad, but the third trimester promises to be gruesome, as we are as big as a house with shoes that don’t fit right. (I’ve heard the gossip around the water cooler.)
Practically speaking, staying home when pregnant is usually a luxury that most do not get to indulge in. Especially with a baby on the way, paying the bills is still necessary unless you have a fairy godmother somewhere that will magically zap them into oblivion.
Actually, working while you are pregnant can actually be good for you. It will make the time go faster, keep a roof over your head and keep you more active and physically fit. If you are worried about what you should or should not do when you are pregnant, just follow a few simple rules.
When you are pregnant:
1. Do not hide it from your employer. The sooner that your employer knows, the better. It will give them time to cover your position while you are out on maternity leave.
2. Do your job to the best of your ability without jeopardizing yourself or your baby’s health. If your job involves lifting something that is heavy, have someone else do it.
3. Do not skip meals. If you have never eaten three meals a day before you should definitely get into the habit now at least throughout your pregnancy.
4. Do not hold back on exercise unless you feel that you have a health issue with your pregnancy. Exercise is good for the both of you.
5. Do not smoke or be around anyone who smokes. This is harmful to both you and the baby.
6. The most important thing that you can give your baby is a great start in life. Be good to yourself and your baby.
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- From: dukes480
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Comments (21)
Kind of a know-it-all for a man who will never go through any of this.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - All the aforementioned information are things you can know without ever having to experience pregnancy yourself, regardless of whether you are a man or a woman. Doctors will give you the same advice if you are pregnant, and if the doctor is male, are you going to accuse him of being a know-it-all, because he hasn't gone through pregnancy?
@Asinine_Dreams@xanga - yes.
Sounds great, only the three meals a day thing could be six meals a day. Six smaller meals keeps you energized all day and helps prevent heartburn and reflux. When I was pregnant, if my stomach got empty I got so sick! Glad that a man is learning about this stuff, finally!
@Asinine_Dreams@xanga - I guess you didn't get my tongue-in-cheek humor.
This is all common sense "advice." No offense. And honestly, I don't really appreciate being told what to do by someone who isn't my dr, hasn't gone through it, and gets his information from water cooler talk.
Here is the experience of some friends of mine, and my own personal experience mixed in:
I worked in healthcare, lifting was involved even when I was pregnant. Emergencies happen and we are expected to do what is necessary for the life of the patient. As long as lifting didn't physically hurt me, my Ob/Gyn was all for it. All that to say, someone else isn't always (or ever) around to do my lifting - you know, since being pregnant is a handicap.
More than one friend of mine has been fired pretty much as soon as their pregnancy was declared.
More than one friend of mine told her manager that she was pregnant early on (as you say should be done). She miscarried. Everyone didn't have to know her business, but then they did. Because everyone expected a baby bump that never came. And early miscarriages are not uncommon. You should probably wait at least until your 2nd trimester to announce to your employer, if that is what you choose to do. Human resources has no need to know anyone's normal or abnormal medical history. It is personal choice to reveal - or not.
This is an idealist's advice. It isn't that in touch with the real world. Except the obvious, like no smoking, and don't starve yourself or become a potato couch slob.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - that was my first thought too
@millionofstars@xanga - You have obviously never watched someone deteriorate, suffer, and die of cancer. If you had you wouldn't be so quick to wish that sort of suffering on anyone.
I'm sure no one disagrees that smoking while pregnant is definitely something you should NOT do...
but to wish a life ruining illness on someone is absolutely disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself.
@millionofstars@xanga - that's disgusting. Nobody deserves to suffer from cancer. And why should innocent children deserve to spend their life without a mother because cancer has taken her from them?
@wretched_epiphany@xanga - I agree.. No one deserves cancer..
If someone gets fired right after they've told the employer they are pregnant, my guess is the employer was getting ready to dump them anyway. You can't exactly use pregnancy legally. And I watched my mother die of cancer. At a young age. If you haven't had such an experience, don't go around wishing it on other people. It's the kind of stuff that's nastier than you can imagine. And mom didn't smoke.
@Pollypinks@xanga - The rules on how or why a person can be fired are shaky at best, and not existent for some businesses (based on their size). Small businesses can fire (or refuse to hire) based on any discrimination they feel like.
I'm so sorry about your Mom. My Grandmother died from Breast Ca in her low 40's, she never met any of her grandchildren. I'm so sorry you (and she) went through it. So. Sorry. (Side issue, my Dad died from a heart attack when he was 52. Everyone wanted to find something to blame. Did he smoke? No. Unhealthy diet? No. Inactive lifestyle? No. It makes people feel out of control to know they can't ultimately protect themselves from illness and mortality. It is sad that when you write that your Mother died from cancer, you feel you should add that she was not a smoker. People should never assume it was her fault. But I know people *need* to feel immune.)
Oooh, I'm gonna go write a piece on "Enjoying Your Prostate Exam". :)
Seriously, anyone can give advice on being pregnant but not from this angle because well, no you aren't part of "keeping our feet up". Perhaps, pregnancy as through the eyes of a bystander, not participant, would be better. Otherwise, some of this stuff is just offensive (if you don't work during pregnancy the roof over your head will disappear... uh, no when I was pregnant twice my kids' father was still working and I was a stay-at-home mother then.)
@TiredSoVeryTired@xanga - You expressed this much better than I did. You hit the nail right on the head.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - Not to mention the title didn't exactly match the post. lol
Ok this through me off. Thought this was going to be a woman speaking about her experience working through her pregnancy. This is just odd
@Asinine_Dreams@xanga - Thank you! I have never been through a pregnancy. I am a woman. I have known plenty of pregnant woman and I could have pretty much said everything that he said. Most of it is just common sense.
If you keep your caffeine to a healthy minimum it is okay. Two cups of
regular coffee maxes you out. If you drink one soda a day, you should be
fine. Try to drink caffeine free drinks like Sierra Mist, Sprite, root
beer, ginger ale, etc.
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Read more interesting health articles here:
You are so correct. There are many institutions that fire you for nothing at all. I've seen it happen. And thanks to Sara for your kind words. I didn't realize my judgment by tagging "my mother wasn't a smoker" to my post about her cancerous death. I worked at the V.A. for 14 years in hospice mainly, and saw the ravages of emphysema and lung cancer, along with Vietnam's agent orange, and mustard gas and others from the gulf war that also included women. Women in their 20's were having tubes from their bladders coming out of the front of the body with bags to catch the urine, and the feds were claiming it couldn't possibly be from anything they'd been exposed to. So, I guess my point is, no one, not even a smoker, deserves the kind of stuff I saw. No one. But if you do smoke, give some thought to eventually stopping, with the help of a doc, nurse practitioner, whatever, who can put you on medication. I haven't been able to convince my 35 year old daughter of it, and we haven't spoken of it for probably 5 years, but I know what I've seen, and it's hard to watch your own child go down that road. Dad quit cold turkey after 15 years. Brother, after 10. It's rough, but it can be done.
I honestly cannot remember all I did or did not do while pregnant, but I'm caring for my 5 month old grandson 3-4 days each week, and it's been difficult. I harken back to the reasons why teenagers should not be mothering, since they have brains that are still developing. Actually, many women probably shouldn't be mothering, but that's a whole different post. Anyway, I came across a book that is fascinating, by John Medina, an affiliate professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and the director of the brain center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University. And yes, it's pretty down to earth, and the title is "brain rules for baby". How to raise a smart and happy child from zero to five. I'm just getting into the baby stage, and no, I sure as hell didn't and don't know a lot of stuff when it comes to parenting, but I do know that the first year of the baby's life puts stressors on the marriage that we never see coming. We never foresaw our little fellow having acid reflux, colic, and early teething problems. So I think parenting is something that ought to be planned by both partners, and I know accidents happen, but geez, anyone out there watch the Duggars?
I'm surprised you didnt mention look into the laws of your state. In order to get FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. It gives 12 weeks of unpaid leave) from a job, they have to have 50 or more employees & you have to work a certain amount of hours. To get maternity leave (which is paid up to a certain amount of weeks) you have only a few set weeks with set pay .
A job cant fire you because your pregnant but they dont have to give you the same job you had when you left. You have A job when you get back.
That's right, I forgot all stay at home mom's and wives do is lay around all day. *roll's eyes*