(no subject)
12/01/08
The assistant manager at Lu's work today told her off for being tired and yawning on the shop floor. She knows that Lucie is pregnant, but told her "if you're tired it's not because of the pregnancy - you're only a few weeks gone and I know for a fact that no-one feels tired until three months".
Bollocks. You read anywhere it will tell you that the first few weeks and the last few are the most tiring. The first trimester is obviously because of all the hormones whizzing around your body, the extra energy being used by your body (and I quote: "you're making the all-important placenta, your baby's life-support system, a process that won't be complete until the end of the first trimester. And your hormone levels and metabolism are rapidly changing while your blood sugar and blood pressure tend to be lower, all contributing to your sense of fatigue").
So she can just bugger off. If she's like this now ("when I was pregnant...") she will be intolerable for the rest of the pregnancy. I was whinging on the phone to my mum to let off steam, and as she said, every pregnancy is remarkably different: she really felt tired at the beginning when she had all of us, whereas my sister never did. On the other hand, my sister never had morning sickness for her first pregnancy but had it terribly all the way through during the second.
I've told Lucie to whinge to her manager about it. I don't want her to have preferential treatment at all, just for them to have a little compassion and understanding.
Furthermore, I've discovered that they have done any pregnant worker risk assessments for her yet, a simple procedure where they think about what they might need to do to ensure that Lucie has a safe pregnancy whilst working. Their excuse is that "they don't have to do one by law until 13 weeks".
Double bollocks. Any employer with more than five staff have to do one as soon they are informed that an employee is pregnant and document it. When I told Lu that she also said that "they have to wait for the forms to be posted from head office". I said that was a load of crap as well and to get them to do it now, otherwise she could potentially be doing work that could harm her or Pip.
In happier news, Pip is growing at an astonishing rate:
You may not look pregnant at this point but your embryo's heart, no bigger than a poppyseed, has already begun to beat and pump blood. The heart is dividing into chambers and will find a more regular rhythm soon. The embryo itself is about a quarter of an inch/ half a centimetre long and looks more like a tadpole than a human. It undergoes a growth spurt this week.
Major organs, including the kidneys and liver, begin to grow. The neural tube, which connects the brain and spinal cord, will close this week. The embryo's upper and lower limb buds begin to sprout -- these will form your baby's arms and legs. The intestines are developing and the appendix is in place.
Below the opening that will later form your baby's mouth, small folds exist where the neck and the lower jaw eventually develop. As early as this week, facial features are already forming. Nostrils are becoming distinct and the earliest version of the eyes' retinas are forming.
The assistant manager at Lu's work today told her off for being tired and yawning on the shop floor. She knows that Lucie is pregnant, but told her "if you're tired it's not because of the pregnancy - you're only a few weeks gone and I know for a fact that no-one feels tired until three months".
Bollocks. You read anywhere it will tell you that the first few weeks and the last few are the most tiring. The first trimester is obviously because of all the hormones whizzing around your body, the extra energy being used by your body (and I quote: "you're making the all-important placenta, your baby's life-support system, a process that won't be complete until the end of the first trimester. And your hormone levels and metabolism are rapidly changing while your blood sugar and blood pressure tend to be lower, all contributing to your sense of fatigue").
So she can just bugger off. If she's like this now ("when I was pregnant...") she will be intolerable for the rest of the pregnancy. I was whinging on the phone to my mum to let off steam, and as she said, every pregnancy is remarkably different: she really felt tired at the beginning when she had all of us, whereas my sister never did. On the other hand, my sister never had morning sickness for her first pregnancy but had it terribly all the way through during the second.
I've told Lucie to whinge to her manager about it. I don't want her to have preferential treatment at all, just for them to have a little compassion and understanding.
Furthermore, I've discovered that they have done any pregnant worker risk assessments for her yet, a simple procedure where they think about what they might need to do to ensure that Lucie has a safe pregnancy whilst working. Their excuse is that "they don't have to do one by law until 13 weeks".
Double bollocks. Any employer with more than five staff have to do one as soon they are informed that an employee is pregnant and document it. When I told Lu that she also said that "they have to wait for the forms to be posted from head office". I said that was a load of crap as well and to get them to do it now, otherwise she could potentially be doing work that could harm her or Pip.
In happier news, Pip is growing at an astonishing rate:
You may not look pregnant at this point but your embryo's heart, no bigger than a poppyseed, has already begun to beat and pump blood. The heart is dividing into chambers and will find a more regular rhythm soon. The embryo itself is about a quarter of an inch/ half a centimetre long and looks more like a tadpole than a human. It undergoes a growth spurt this week.
Major organs, including the kidneys and liver, begin to grow. The neural tube, which connects the brain and spinal cord, will close this week. The embryo's upper and lower limb buds begin to sprout -- these will form your baby's arms and legs. The intestines are developing and the appendix is in place.
Below the opening that will later form your baby's mouth, small folds exist where the neck and the lower jaw eventually develop. As early as this week, facial features are already forming. Nostrils are becoming distinct and the earliest version of the eyes' retinas are forming.