Is this taking the mick?

Hey all,

Something is bothering me and i didnt want to ask on a pregancy forum as the responses may be biased!


I have to use all my annual leave up before i go on maternity in July.

Im shattered by midweek so am going to use 2 days annual leave to reduce my working week down to three days... (So Mon-Wed - work, Thurs/Friday - annual Leave...)

Mon-wed are the busiest days at work.

My midwife has recommended i go to aqua natal as im overweight, to help keep off excess baby weight etc...

HOWEVER,

All my midwife /hospital appointments are on Mondays and the only aqua natal class is on a tuesday 12-12.45

Id like to go but i'd feel bad on work as they may struggle to fit work around me (I attend meetings that are all pre booked and take minutes, so christine allocates the meetings on the friday before)

The Preston classes are run by the midwives from the hospital i will be attending so will be good to get to know them.

Now, Ive found out that there is a class on the fridays but is run by a seperate group of midwives about 15 miles away.

Now ive had no problem with time off and my employer will give time off for exercise classes recommended by midwive etc....

My main dilemma is.....do i just go for it anyway and just buy christine a big box of choccys or do i give it a miss? I feel bad for taking so much time off with my pregnancy!

Any opinions welcome!

Personally my view is this, your employer is being generous and considerate to allow you time off for exercise class (they don't have to ) and I wonder if you take even more time off, they may feel you are taking advantage of their good nature, and become resentful.

I know, thats why i feel bad - its County Council (my employer) policy to allow time off ect for exercise things( the other stuff is a legal requirement) i just feel bad as the three days i am in there are a few weeks where there will be two days on the run that will be difficult....

IMO your health and the wellbeing of your baby is more important than the feelings of those around you. You will have to make many more decisions like this in the future, and you always have to choose your child (and your own well-being).
Do what is best for you.

If you discuss this with Christine and she knows in advance when you will not be there then she might be able to arrange meetings around you which would minimise the impact?

You have to do what is right for you and the baby first and foremost though

this is whata bothers me....i feel bad but then think...well sod em, they are slashing our pay to help the banks out! i shoudl do whats best for me and they can ike it or lump it....

but then i feel bad for the team.....

How would you feel if another member of the team were pregnant and facing this decision?
You`d tell them to take the time off, yeah?

I know...and i would...(and id be a teeny weeny bit jealous but in a good way!)

maybe im just trying to be too nice!

Could you discuss it with them and ask how they feel about it - explaining that you prefer this exercise class because of the midwives? I wouldn't worry about taking the time off for the medical appointments because they are not on a weekly basis.

The exercise class is around lunchtime - would it be feasible for you to take an early and extended lunch break (I don't know how long it takes to get from work to class but suggest something like 11.30 am until 1.30 pm) and work any extra time owed that morning/afternoon or spread over a few days?

the only thing is, we dont get a defined lunch break... we often have meeting starting at 11 am 12 noon and 1pm and we work from home.

we get a list of meeting that have been booked, christine then allocates the meetings to our team of minute takers. We dont work from an office as such so she would have to take into account any meetings im in in the morning and how long it would take to travel there etc. and then again for the afternoon.