Im a new hire and im pregnant

Nurses New Nurse

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Interviewed for a new job last week and was offered employment this week. I start next Wednesday. With all this going on I just discovered I haven't had a June period so I took a test a wow its +. I go to the OB on July 16 and I'm calculating I'm 5 weeks now and will be 8 weeks at my OB appointment..when and how should I tell my new boss...I'm worried ill get "let go". Any wise words or suggestions? You have to be at a job 12 months before you can get FMLA and I'm due in February... What about short term disability? I dont know what to do :-/ my friend who works in a different dept at this same hospital started when she was 15 weeks pregnant and got FMLA even though she wasn't there 12 months( she was there 5 months)...her department was fine with everything and she had no trouble! Hope ill be able to say the same..

some..... maybe I just work with all awful people ....... some will help while going on and on and on about how inconvenienced they are. we've had a couple pregnant nurses and most work until 9months. they get cdiff, vre, mrsa pts ( sometimes that is 75% of our unit ).

C dif, mrsa, vre, etc don't pose a specific threat to pregnant women. I'm referring to shingles, 5ths disease, CMV, etc. With standard resistant flora, following isolation precautions is sufficient. There are a few diseases however that can cause severe illness or birth defects and I never had anyone suggest IRL that I suck it up and deal with risking the life of my unborn child. I worked at 3 different jobs while pregnant and had a similar experience at all three.

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Don't forget to talk to the GCSU department or they'll take your baby away.

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Don't forget to talk to the GCSU department or they'll take your baby away.

? Excuse me ?

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Don't forget to talk to the GCSU department or they'll take your baby away.

I do not know who this is...... GCSU.

Why can they take your baby?

What would you need to tell them?

Are you outside of the US?

OP remember not all members are in the US we have many international members. No one is going to take your baby away.

YOu are very early on your pregnancy.....take a deep breath and wait a few weeks. If you come upon a patient you probably shouldn't take like someone with measles...then say something if not then wait until about 12 weeks. Things have ways of working out

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Specializes in Emergency Department; Neonatal ICU.
IME, people in the real world are much more supportive of pregnant ladies than people on the internet are. Online people tell you not to avoid patients and situations that are risky to you and the baby because "it's not fair" and "no one forced you to get pregnant." In the real world, people freak out if you try to lift anything on your own and trade patients to keep you from having to go in a room with an infectious disease that's high risk for pregnant women or that psych patient who likes to kick nurses in the belly.

I agree 100% with this. And OP, I too started my first job as a new grad pregnant (I didn't know it until a few weeks after I started). Management and co-workers were very supportive. I worked until 38 1/2 weeks when, while getting report for a 3-11 shift I had picked up, the reporting off nurse said I didn't look good. I told her I didn't feel good. They sent me to the hospital (I worked at a children's hospital at the time with no L&D dept - they couldn't wait to get rid of me - lol). 8 hours later, about the time I would have reported off, I had a healthy 6 pound 7 ounce son.

Congratulations :)

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So what y'all are saying is even though I don't qualify for FMLA because it'll be before 12 months I will still get 4-6 weeks leave?

If you do not have a maternity benefit (worst case scenario), then it falls under your short term disability benefit..your employer either provided this to you at no cost OR you had to elect to pay for it and you get however many days your doctor writes you out. 6 weeks is typical for a lady partsl delivery and 8 weeks is typical for a c-section.

If you do not have a benefit and they do not provide you with short term disability automatically as part of your employment benefit package and you did not elect for it....then all you have is PTO and their good graces of how long they will allow you to stay home WITHOUT pay...they are not required under federal guidelines to provide you with FMLA protection (unless they want to voluntarily) because you would not have been working there for one year.

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Specializes in Transitional Nursing.
Don't forget to talk to the GCSU department or they'll take your baby away.

What in the world are you talking about?

OP- NO ONE is going to take your baby away!!!

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
So what y'all are saying is even though I don't qualify for FMLA because it'll be before 12 months I will still get 4-6 weeks leave?

You need to check with your facility's policy. No one here can tell you definitively what your employer offers.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I agree...if you work on one of those floors.

If you don't, then I believe that nurses need to look out for each other.

I agree with this to a point, but it often seems that the nurses who don't have kids never get the same accommodations that the nurses who decide to get pregnant do. If you've worked for 30+ years it can get really old to always have to take certain patients because someone is 1) thinking about getting pregnant; 2) trying to get pregnant; 3) is pregnant; 4) is no longer pregnant but is breastfeeding; and, 5) is thinking about getting pregnant again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

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Specializes in Peds.

I'm a new grad nurse and 16 weeks pregnant. I am not showing much and I will tell my supervisor once I start showing is that OK? I start Monday and I'm 16 weeks. Any suggestion... thank you.

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I'm a new grad nurse and 16 weeks pregnant. I am not showing much and I will tell my supervisor once I start showing is that OK? I start Monday and I'm 16 weeks. Any suggestion... thank you.

You're in my same boat. We don't qualify for FMLA

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Specializes in Peds.

Hi did you tell them your pregnant yet? Its my 3rd day and I have not. I'm not showing much. :)

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