Well, so much for waiting to tell!

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt

I've told my preceptors about my pregnancy just because I am having some morning sickness and because I want to be super careful if we do anything with radiology or see infectious patients. It's a good thing I've disclosed since yesterday we saw a patient on contact precautions so I just stayed out of the room and listened. 

Well, today one of my groups was planning a wellness day thing and people were thinking of going paint balling, wall climbing, long hikes, other intensive or contact sports and so I had to mention that, yeah, a lot of this stuff isn't possible for me right now. I know that at this point baby is well ensconced in my pelvic cradle and so sport related trauma isn't going to be able to hurt the baby, but I'm high risk and have other health conditions so contact sports or very strenuous activity right now is a baaaad idea. 

Those of of you with occupational safety concerns relating to your pregnancy, how are you handling it?

ficbot

I work in a primary school so I told my boss right away. There is another pregnant teacher and there were certain things they had to tell her about, like there was an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease a couple months ago which can be dangerous for pregnant women. We also told my husband's sister because she knew we had done IVF and kept asking us about it :-) But we have not told parents. My mom is a blabber and we want to make sure we are at the safety point before we tell people.

talkthewholetime

ficbot said:

I work in a primary school so I told my boss right away. There is another pregnant teacher and there were certain things they had to tell her about, like there was an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease a couple months ago which can be dangerous for pregnant women. We also told my husband's sister because she knew we had done IVF and kept asking us about it :-) But we have not told parents. My mom is a blabber and we want to make sure we are at the safety point before we tell people.

Ditto, I told our school nurse so she could let me know if anyone got something awful.

And then I told 2 other coworkers bcause I couldn't help it. I need to stop before everyone knows!

beforeyou

I just told my scheduler today so that she won't schedule me with a patient who has isolation precautions and so she'll know why I may need to come in late/leave early for appointments at the last minute if they come up. 
Its weird that she's the only other one besides my DH and I that know I'm pregnant. 

angieandjames

I've told my sister. I really want to tell my 2 best friends but haven't yet, and don't really have a good reason for not telling them. I'd love to tell my mom, but my dad is a blabbering and so is my MIL and if we tell one mom we have to tell both.

spacepotatoes

My class is going on an annual field trip to an amusement part at the end of May. I'm set to supervise but I'm debating backing out. I won't be able to do any of the rides and I'm not sure I want to deal with the 2.5 hour drive each way plus all day in the heat. Last time I went, I spent most of the day marking in a Starbucks with the other teacher chaperones. I'll wait a bit longer before deciding but if I do back out, I'll have to tell.

comealongponds

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt said:

I've told my preceptors about my pregnancy just because I am having some morning sickness and because I want to be super careful if we do anything with radiology or see infectious patients. It's a good thing I've disclosed since yesterday we saw a patient on contact precautions so I just stayed out of the room and listened. 

Well, today one of my groups was planning a wellness day thing and people were thinking of going paint balling, wall climbing, long hikes, other intensive or contact sports and so I had to mention that, yeah, a lot of this stuff isn't possible for me right now. I know that at this point baby is well ensconced in my pelvic cradle and so sport related trauma isn't going to be able to hurt the baby, but I'm high risk and have other health conditions so contact sports or very strenuous activity right now is a baaaad idea. 

Those of of you with occupational safety concerns relating to your pregnancy, how are you handling it?

Ha. I wish that was an option for me. I work on infectious diseases, this time of year 98% of my patients are isolated. I avoid the scary ones, like CMV, coxackie and fifth's...otherwise I'm in and out of iso all day (current top ones at work right now: noro, inf A & corona...ugh). My charge nurses know I'm KU, so they avoid giving me patients that need X-rays or testing with radiation etc as well as the scary infectious stuff though. 

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt

comealongponds said:

Ha. I wish that was an option for me. I work on infectious diseases, this time of year 98% of my patients are isolated. I avoid the scary ones, like CMV, coxackie and fifth's...otherwise I'm in and out of iso all day (current top ones at work right now: noro, inf A & corona...ugh). My charge nurses know I'm KU, so they avoid giving me patients that need X-rays or testing with radiation etc as well as the scary infectious stuff though. 

This is where being a student works in my favour. They wrap us in cotton wool. It's not my job yet to actually take care of the sick people, it's to learn to take care of the sick people. From a safe distance, at the moment. Works nicely as I'm slightly more than paranoid with my history.

Also, noro... yikes. I bet your unit has really, really high hand hygiene adherence. 

Pompomlove

Potential TW*** previous loss mentioned **

I'm not as worried about occ safety - your situation does sound difficult to deal with! However, my work travel has increased since my last pg that ended with a MC. If I have the same or even similar fatigue or MS, I think I'm stuffed! My boss knows about my loss and I think I'll have to tell soon just so he doesn't think I'm a slacker (unfortunately, he's not the easiest or most reasonable boss I've had). I also drive long distances at times so I am worried about that. 

My my day today... Up at 4am to catch a flight, 6 appointments including a dinner 9pm finish?? Start at 7am tomorrow and won't be home until 8pm! If this was a few weeks from now, I don't think I'd have the energy. Ugh. 

GreenEyedUnicorn

I work with troubled teenage girls, with a propensity for physical violence. I told my boss over the weekend. Half of my co-workers are also my really close friends, so I told them first. The girls at work are going to catch on rather quickly, though, the first time there is a major restraint and I don't go running to help (which is extremely hard for me to do. I'm not one to sit by and do nothing). 

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt

Pompomlove said:

Potential TW*** previous loss mentioned **

I'm not as worried about occ safety - your situation does sound difficult to deal with! However, my work travel has increased since my last pg that ended with a MC. If I have the same or even similar fatigue or MS, I think I'm stuffed! My boss knows about my loss and I think I'll have to tell soon just so he doesn't think I'm a slacker (unfortunately, he's not the easiest or most reasonable boss I've had). I also drive long distances at times so I am worried about that. 

My my day today... Up at 4am to catch a flight, 6 appointments including a dinner 9pm finish?? Start at 7am tomorrow and won't be home until 8pm! If this was a few weeks from now, I don't think I'd have the energy. Ugh. 

Wow, that's a really intensive day! I wouldn't be able to handle that myself. 

Pompomlove

Luckily it's not really the norm @KilgraveMadeMeDoItbut I really can't imagine being able to do this in a few weeks even if it's necessary! Hence the reason I think I have to tell my boss!! The worst part is you never know when the hormone surges will creep up on you and either knock you around with the MS or crazy fatigue!

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt

@pompomlove or in my case random crying jags. That's the really annoying one for me. 

Pompomlove

Ooh yeah... I didn't even think of that @KilgraveMadeMeDoIt because that's just me in general!! LOL

edit: half my post decided to delete itself. 

Dorydoodle

I'm a NICU nurse.  I will probably say something in the next week or two or sooner if I have an inappropriate assignment.  If my baby needs an xray I will have somebody else hold.  I'm hoping to make it to 5-6 weeks before telling them.

KilgraveMadeMeDoIt

@dorydoodle NICU nurses are the most amazing nurses I have ever met. You guys are awesome. Just had to say so.

MrsBigTime

PICU nurse here, I mostly just try to avoid CMV + patients (of which 2 of our 20 kids have currently) and I discreetly asked the charge nurse today if I could not have those kids. Thankfully, our unit is pretty protective of pregnant nurses, and if there is ever a question, someone not ku'd usually volunteers to take a dangerous kid. As far as X-rays go, you can usually tell who is pregnant because they are the ones who go way down the hall when their kid is being radiated. 

megan1683

Looks like we have lots of nurses on here! I am a pediatric oncology nurse. Today, my chemo bag came up with a hole in it and a small amount got on my hands. Cue panic attack! We also have a radioactive kid on our floor right now. They are in a lead lined room, but my patient is right next door to them and that is also causing me some major anxiety right now. Luckily, our unit has a KU list so we don't get patients who have potentially dangerous diseases, but the rest is pretty much unavoidable. Guess it will just have to be something I learn to deal with over the next nine months.