Now that I'm pregnant...I feel different about my job and work in general

jessicab711

I'm only about 8 weeks pregnant...but all the sudden my job and my career seems so meaningless.  I find myself so distracted and just ambivalent in general about my duties and responsibilities.  I do plan on keeping my job after the baby comes, so I should still be focused and determined and ready to work!  I just feel so unmotivated.  Perhaps it's the sheer exhaustion or gross morning sickness that lasts almost all day....but does anyone else feel this way??  

JessHy2012

Yes! Yes! Yes! I am feeling the same way. I have these major construction plans that I NEED to get finished but I can't concentrate at work and is could care less about my projects.

jessicab711

Well glad to know I'm not the only one!  It's just so hard to keep all this in...not telling anyone yet.  I'm hoping in a few weeks things will ease up a bit.  We'll be able to share the news with family and I will bounce back to life.   

dragontears507

I'm in a slightly different yet similar situation. My work knows about my pregnancy, and I've been on modified bed rest/restricted activity since my positive due to some complications with our fertility treatments. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm not even sure that I want to go back. My job responsibilities will have to change drastically due to the pregnancy (I'm a vet tech) and I'm just not sure that I want to do it. 

DH and I plan on my staying at home once the babies are here, and we're fine financially. I'm just so ambivalent about the whole thing despite the fact that I previously loved my job and do miss it. 

kshare18

Lurking from another board, but I'd like to say it gets better...It doesn't. All I do is obsess baby things and could care less about work. I am still doing my job and doing a good job of it, but I have so many other things on my mind and am severley distracted!

jessiekeb

Omg.... I thought I was the only one. I loved my job prior to getting preggers. I am about 7 weeks and I just feel no motivation what so ever. I don't want to get up in the morning whereas before I struggled but I got over it after about 15 min and was exicited to get to work and get stuff done. Even after work I dont want to cook or clean etc.

bjb1979

same! I used to love having my career, but now there is something so much more important to concentrate on, I just don't care about work.

 

Actually it's same for petty worries and other peoples whining, all I see is the bigger picture and have no time for other peoples crap, which is great!

Maple403

I've been feeling this way, but noticed it was mainly when I am feeling more hormonally than normal- more moody, headachy, bloated, tired, crampy, and nauseous. I think that feeling the woes of 1st tri really makes it hard to concentrate on routine work tasks. On the less symptomy days I feel like my normal self and have my regular go-getter energy.

JennYoga

I feel exactly the same. I was a work-a-holic until I found out I was pregnant. I am only 9 weeks and have zero motivation to do anything. However, I think once I get through the first trimester things will change.......I hope. 

jessicab711

I think you gals are right about things turning around after the first trimester.  I'm sure once the morning sickness and extreme exhaustion level out a bit...my normal motivation will return.  Atl least that's what I'm telling myself. 

In the meantime, fake it till you make it.  Gotta keep on trucking.  Put a smile on.  Do my job. 

preggersprncss

Glad to hear I'm not the only one. I have a lot to do but could care less. All I want to do is read baby stuff, in fact I'm at work right now doing this. I get so distracted. I hope my feelings about work change otherwise it's going to be a long 9 months.

Erze

This gives me hope. I am productive at work for the first couple of hours, but I start dragging around 1 PM and I am completely useless at 4 PM. I've also been very forgetful and kind of in a fog? I don't blame the pregnancy for any mistakes I make, because it seems like a cop out. But it is difficult to focus. 

As long as I get my work done, my boss doesn't care if I am reading things online. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that they haven't had somebody in the firm in the last twenty years that has been young enough to get pregnant and they're more excited than I am. 

I am just going to do what @jessicab711 is doing. 

greenbumbletea

I'm so glad to know that it's not just me!

@dragontears507 I am also a veterinary assistant and I have told most of the people at my work due to some hazards in the workplace. I've yet to tell my boss and I'm waiting to tell hopefully after my 2nd dr's visit tomorrow, but it's hard to get motivated because for me I am feeling the effects of smell and food aversions and exhaustion frequently. Plus the fact that since the nature of the job is physical, I am worried that I am going to possibly hurt myself, etc, etc, but you know how that goes. My colleagues who know the news already has been very mindful and switching duties with me, so that has been helpful.

Erze

kyliedaniellexx said:

I hate to be this person, really, but be grateful you have a job. Tomorrow is my last day of work and I have had absolutely no luck finding anything else. We can afford to live on SOs income but it's going to be tight as I was going to work til baby gets here and save 75% of my income so we have a cushion. Now that is gone. Being tired and nauseous sucks, and having to work through it sucks. For sure. Use LO as motivation to keep pushing through it every day.

@kyliedaniellexx: Thanks for saying this, because you're right. I'm just hoping I don't have to work 70 hours a week again - which is what I'm pretty terrified of right now. If I can't make it through a normal work week, if that gets tossed on my shoulders again, I'm much more likely to be LO. 

katiecnorth

I am 27 weeks and since I found out I was pregnant I have had a lot of trouble being motivated at work.  All I want to do is prepare our home for our new baby.  I have anxiety already about returning to work.  We can't afford for me to not have a job but I can't imagine putting our baby in day care.  I've been reading stories of women who quit during maternity leave and trying to convince myself it's ok to do this.  My company has no maternity leave policy besides short term disability and as a commissioned employee, 60% of my base salary is nothing.  I'm saving up my vacation time (meaning no visits to my family throughout entire pregnancy) for maternity leave.  Of course, they pay my medical benefits in full so that is a huge plus.  I just don't love what I do and people will say it doesn't matter, you work to live, but when you work 45hrs a week and commute 5 hrs a week, you don't have a whole lot of time left to live...let alone be a mother to an infant!  

jsl82

I'm 10 weeks and recently engaged.  I spend 90% of my day looking at baby and wedding stuff (and stressing about trying to do everything at once).  I hated my job before I got pregnant (I was on a job interview the day before I took the test) and now i feel stuck there until after the baby arrives just for the paycheck.  We are living in a 1 bedroom apartment with 2 cats right now, and I want to be in a 2 bedroom by September, but that leads to fighting about where we will be relocating to and if it makes sense for me to come back to work as my long hours at work will mean my paycheck will go directly to the daycare.  Thinking about switching careers to anything that I can do part time or nights and weekends to lessen the financial burden daycare will put on us. 

kim51985

Totally get it!! I felt this way long after I gave birth to my first.. It got better once I got the hang of things after delivery.. but now that Im pregnant again I feel myself slipping into that mindset again. I think it's totally normal!

rodiesmum

I think it is the zapped energy and all day sickness that makes us this way. I have days where i just wish thati could sleep in all day. But then again im thinking, at least the pregnancy is ok enuf for me to keep working vis a vis being on bed rest or something, and yes, that therell be extra funds for the family

kursem

i am 8 wks pregnant with baby # 2 (DD is 4, will be 5 in October).  We found out we're pregant about a week and a half ago, and I seriously think i've only been getting work done about 4 hours a day.  I'm just so darn excited, sick, and exhausted!  I also called out sick on monday because i was so ill with MS, and that is really frowned upon in my office.

I already announced the pregnancy because due to my responsibilities it's going to take a long time to plan for my absence...so at least I can be open about it.

The crappy part is i've only been in this job since January (we relocated to new area) and DH has been at his just over a year.  Benefits are through my job (he has awful options as the company is too small) and are decent - but no paid maternity leave.  I am lucky that by my due date i'll be here a year so will have some PTO (we don't get it the first year which i think is RIDIC) and will be forced to use that and then temp disability/FMLA for the rest of the time.  I'll probably only be able to take 6-8 weeks total, which is freaking me out because i stayed home with DD for four months and still had a hard time putting her in daycare.  I'm also having a tough time with no vacation, and realizing that I won't have any next year either.  After coming from jobs with 4-6 weeks vacay, that's a tough pill to swallow.

I don't hate my job - it's okay.  I like many aspects of it, but dislike others, so pretty typical.  I had to take a huge pay cut to come here, so that bothers me - and the cost of living is far more expensive, so it's stressful on us financially.  But we love the area for raising children and are willing to make those sacrifices to make it work - one sacrifice is that i will never be able to be a SAHM. 

I just wanted to whine   I am trying to focus on the positives and be grateful for what we do have rather than focusing on what we don't....it's just tough some days!