How Long Should You Keep Working?
During pregnancy, many women wonder how long it is okay for them to continue to work. Well, the truth is that these days many factors play a role in how long women should be able to work. In the old days, many women thought that any type of work during pregnancy should be avoided. This is simply not the case anymore. Women are not as fragile as they may seem while pregnant. That being said, there are certain things that should be limited when pregnant, but that does not mean that working is impossible.
Make sure that you are taking precautions when working to ensure that you are not putting your body or your baby at risk by the work that you are doing. You can start out by making sure that the job you work is not strenuous. If you have a desk job, then you may be able to work right up until the delivery of your baby. If you have a job where you are on your feet a lot, then you may want to consider doing something that will keep you off your feet as much to prevent swelling.
You should really talk to your doctor about the type of work that you do. By doing this, you will be able to make sure that you are doing what is best for your body and your baby. Each woman is different. Each pregnancy will be different as well. That is why it is best to put it up to yourself and your doctor to decide how much work you should do while you are pregnant. Sometimes, jobs may not be suitable for pregnant women.
When you are making the decision to work or not to work, you will need to talk to your employer about your options. It is not legal for them to discriminate on you due to your pregnancy. For this reason, you will find that you are able to talk a lot more openly with your boss. There may be options that they have for you that will be able to cut down your work load to something that is more tolerable while you are pregnant.
Some women have no option but to work while they are pregnant. This is especially true of single mothers and mothers of families that have lower incomes. For this reason, it would not be good to say that no pregnant women should work. This is why it is important to know your own body and to realize the things that you are able to do and what you are not able to do while pregnant.
You will want to take a look at how long you will be allowed to have for maternal leave. Some employers only give up to six weeks, while others may give up to twelve. You may want to take a couple weeks off before you have the baby to make sure that everything is ready. This is something that you may be able to focus on as the time gets closer. It may or may not be something that you will be able to handle doing.
When you get ready to stop working, you will want to make sure that you arrange ahead of time with your employer if you will plan to go back to the position once you have the baby or not. Some employers may hire someone to work temporarily in your position while you are out for leave. Others may want you to take some things home with you to be able to work from home with your baby. This may or may not be something that your employer offers.
As you can see, the amount of time that you work while pregnant really varies. There is no textbook answer on when you should stop. This is something that you and your doctor must decide. No matter what you decide, you will want to keep your baby in mind first. This will make sure that you are able to focus on the ways to keep your baby healthy and ready so that you can have a full term healthy pregnancy with a healthy labor and delivery.