Pregnant teachers

Hi

I'm wondering how you teachers out there cope with morning sickness, trips to the toilet, etc while at school. It's early days for me and I have no idea how I'm going to manage - i have images of me running out of the classroom...

Also, when did you let your principal know?

Ha ha - my principal was the first person to find out (after I had texted DH). I had rung the doctors for the blood test result and then I ran into his office, shut his door and said - I am sorry, but I have to tell someone so you're it! If I hadnt had the relationship I do with my boss, I would have left it longer, till around 10-12 weeks (but then I brought forward ttc in the hope that if it worked first time, whcih it did, it would make planning staffing for this year easier!)

I was lucky in that my ms was only at night, and wasn't vomitting, only extreme tiredness and feeling like rubbish, so I didn't have to worry about school. ANother teacher at our school had terrible ms and she would just run to the loo. If I had been a vomitter, I would have used one of the girls loos, and put an out of order sign to keep the kids out of it so it wasn't gross.

I did have to take trips to the loss during class time - I teach year 3 so I would put my P.A.s in charge (just my name for class leaders) and they would continue with whatever they were doing while I was gone. The P.A.s would give points when I got back. This is usually ok from Year 1 onwards, just new entrants can find it hard to cope and wander outside.

We have been on a PE contract and our staff is really physical, so having people know earlier meant that I could avoid stuff like that - also meant that I never had to get out of helping move furniture and people wouldn't let me climb up things etc. So if you have a good close staff, you may tell them sooner rather than later.

I told my kids after my 12 week scan - showed them a picture which they loved. That was just before the end of term 4, and I was 12 weeks 5 days then. Parent community keep coming in now to visit and chcek the size of my bump - so sweet!

Good luck!

Thanks guys. I don't know what I'm going to do yet - I think I'll wait until I have some sort of morning sickness or something and see how it goes. I teach Y8 so leaving the class shouldn't be a problem, my main issue is that I have only just got the job there this year! I feel like it's a bit rude of me to be announcing I'll be leaving before the year is up so soon after starting. And I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't go down well with the parents...

The other issue is that we have camp in a month's time - it includes sleeping outdoors - I'm not sure I want to go at all!

I too was a little worried telling "the Boss" as we've had at least one or two people on maternity leave for the last 4 years! Already this year we have 2, and then I go end of term 2!

Miss, we're on the same PE contract, I'm one of the lead teachers, so I know what you mean!

I have just found out about bubs - last time we let everyone know at 7 weeks, as I was feeling yuck and having to eat pretty much all day. That was good b/c I ended up having nearly four weeks off due to the m/c anyway.

So far (only just past 4 weeks) i'm fine except for needing to visit the loo every hour or so (probably b/c I'm drinking so much water). I teach college kids, so I am pretty ok to go while they're completing a task. They will yack while I'm gone, but not too much.

DH and I have decided not to tell anyone till we have a heart beat this time, so unless something happens that I can't do, we're keeping Mum. May need to be told sooner if teaching girls PE gets too much for me, other than that I teach college English and Social Studies.

Would be interested to know how secondary teachers coped also as most replies seem to be from primary teachers? I guess most things are kinda of similar except secondary usually have to move classrooms heaps and have furthur to go for toilet etc.

Thanks (am not pregnant yet but am just starting TTC as wanted to finish at the end of the year rather than half way thru)

I asked my mum about this as she works in a school that has over the past 3 years had a number of pregnant woman. One teacher had to take 3 weeks off work in early pregnancy as the morning sickness was so bad. She had told the principal pretty early and he gave her most of the time off (as she was a permanent not a LTR) paid and she had been at the school for a number of years before she got pregnant. Another one had to use the kiddy toilets (the children were year 5 and 6) so they weren't that little and the floor wasn't covered in pee. Most of the teachers told their boss pretty much as soon as they found out so that he was aware of what was going on (in case some kids said something to their parents and went to him about it) but waited to tell the rest of the staff - apart from the few that they wanted to tell. As for camp - make sure they know and make sure you let the parents know that are coming away with you. They will give you better support if they know.

Monster, male principals are generally nicer than females about things like this, so that is good news! I think if you go in honestly and talk about your intentions to return or not, you might find they make you permanent (especially if you are any good!) or at least give you an indication of the possibilty of reemployment when )if?) you return. Any thoughts on what you might do re/ time off?

Yay monster, I am glad it went well. It is awesome how excited people can get when you announce your pregnancy, isn't it!

Oh , also - can anyone explain the maternity leave thing for teachers - I guess being fixed term I wont be able to come back - or will they fill my position while I'm away then will I be able to restart just like if I were permanent?