Re: lone working and pregnancy

VNsmac — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:59:06 GMT

Hi, I work for an ooh's vets and did throughout my 2nd pregnancy, during my 1st pregnancy i worked in day practice. My practice carried out a risk assessment when they found out i was pregnant and then i sat down with my senior nurse to discuss any issues i would face. The biggest problem i found was the tiredness, you're exhausted for the first 3 months and then again towards the end of your pregnancy and that was very hard work. I made sure i took plenty of rest breaks, i sat down as much as i could when assisting the vet and i made sure i got plenty of sleep when i wasn't at work. Obviously you won't be able to assist with x-rays but this was never a problem for me as i would either ask another member of staff to help or if there was no-one else then the vet would have to make sure an animal was adequately sedated or anaesthetised so that they could position the animal on their own. I still monitored anaesthetics during pregnancy, but that was my choice. As long as you colleagues are supportive then you should be ok and if you do chance upon an unsupportive colleague just don't take it. I also find that working nights is a lot better when you have children, my eldest child is now at school and so it means i am generally home to take him and pick him up from school everyday and i'm always around if there's a problem.

Hope this helps and good luck!