Working with Morning Sickness

Coping With Morning Sickness At Work
Taking time off from work is a luxury which most women experiencing morning sickness cannot afford. However, by following a few simple steps and making adequate plans, the interruptions morning sickness imposes on your working day can be cut down to a minimum.

Make a Plan
Although nausea can strike at any time of day, it is likely to create more problems if you are feeling this way whilst at work. As the nausea is often (but not always) accompanied by vomiting, so it's a good idea to plan in advance how you are going to get to work and back home again in a safe manner.

Listed below are a few suggestions for you to take into consideration when making your plan.

• -Does the nature of your work allow you to operate from home? If so, this could be worth discussing with your employer. When in your own environment you are likely to have more control over your nausea.
• Can you schedule your sickness into your day. If you know you will be sick after breakfast - can you get up early so it is over with before you go to work?
• If you are feeling at all nauseous or dizzy you should avoid driving the car.
• A ‘morning sickness’ bag becomes a useful accessory, prepared easily with plastic bags, tissues, lemon or mint sweets, a bottle of water, a small snack for energy, a handkerchief with smelling oil and any other items which you think may be useful.

Make sure that you have at close hand an array of foods that you find apealing and are easy to prepare. I kept a cupboard of food in my office that included ready brek, stem ginger oat buscuits, oranges, bananas, cake, ready salted crisps and a whole host of other goodies

Also I would take a litre bottle of water to sip throughout the day

Commuting
As nausea and dizziness can affect your driving ability in a negative way, you may consider car pooling or even taking the public transport option. If these choices are not possible, and you really have to travel in your own car, you should drive with the window down so the air can blow on your face and have iced water available in case you need a drink. A few plastic bags should be at hand, (the variety without holes are best!) so if you do feel you are going to be sick, you can pull over and wait until the wave of nausea passes.

Take Time Off Work Or Lighten The Load
Depending on what extent you suffer with morning sickness, you may decide to take some time off from work. Jobs involving a lot of travel, flying or a large amount of physical activity may not suit you when you are pregnant. An alternative would be the possibility of working part time in your current job, if your financial situation allows this. You could always ask to be transferred to duties of a less physical or lighter nature with a view to resuming normal duties when the morning sickness subsides a little later in your pregnancy. If all else fails, maybe you would consider embarking on a whole new career.

Should You Tell Your Manager that You Are Pregnant?
This a decision that only you can make but if they know wht you are ill and requiring time off it will put you in a much stronger negotiating position. HOwever if you do not want to reveal your pregnancy you can get a medical note from your doctor with a non - specific description.

The Home Based Business Opportunity
You may have considered running your own home based business in the past and this would be an exciting time to start being your own boss. Again, you would be in familiar surroundings and likely to have more control over your nausea avoiding the situation of having to rush to the toilet when you smell or even see what your colleagues are savoring for lunch. There are so many choices of working from home available on the internet and from forums and local business associations, so spend some time in discussion with your partner, brainstorming the various options open to you, then if you decide this is the path of your future, go for it!