Pregnancy and floor nursing

[aerorunner80, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN]

I just found out yesterday that I am pregnant with my first. I go in on Monday for blood work to confirm since I have yet to be late (april 1).

I'm just wondering when I should tell my unit director. I'm not planning on telling her until I get confirmation from bloodwork. Does this sound about right?

I work in the NICU where I will be the 5th currently pregnant person so I'm also a little hesitant to tell her because of that but I know it's something that I'm not going to be able to hide in several months anyway.

My only concern right now is exposure to x-rays but I work with an awesome group of people who are willing to chip in and hold for me since I won't be able to. There are also a couple of people I am going to tell when I go back because I know I can trust them to keep a secret but other than that, nobody else needs to know at this point.

At what point did you tell your coworkers?

I'm afraid I won't be able to keep my big mouth shut since everyone knows we are trying and I get asked almost weekly if I'm preggers yet but I feel it's the right thing to keep mum for a while to let things settle in.

[MurrR]

Well, since you're still waiting for confirmation I think it wouldn't be a lie to say "Still waiting!" - because you are waiting, waiting for your labs to come back!

As for when to tell, I'm not sure, having never been pregnant. I'm not exactly equipped for it, y'know? lol!

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We have 7 pregnant on our unit....our manager just rolls her eyes, but then again, when you work with 90 some women, someone is always pregnant lol

I'd wait for confirmation and just avoid xrays. If you have to hold make sure you have the apron, xray techs do it all the time. And you should be wearing the apron anyways. You may have to let the cat out of the bag if you get a pregnant woman precautions kid, but that is how it is.

Good luck :)

[LouisVRN, RN]

I told my directors/supervisors right away so that they knew when making the assignment that there are certain patients I couldn't take. I told a few close co-workers right away as well, but told the rest of them around 8 weeks. There are still, I'm sure some people who don't know though and I'm 12 weeks.

[evolvingrn, BSN, RN]

I told my boss at 4 months....... There really aren't many pts you can't take and i figured if it came up i would tell them. There had been some recent miscarriages at work and i knew that i joined those ranks i wanted to deal with it privately as it was very hard for them. I also told my co-workers at that time, gossip gets around fast anyway and i don't want to be part of 'cliquish' behavior so i kept everyone at work in the dark until i was ready to be out. Good luck

[TheCareerStudent]

Even though you may think you can trust telling people, I recommend not telling anyone. There is absolutely nothing worse then blind siding your boss. As a manager, I would be pretty upset hearing that one of my team members was pregnant around the water cooler. I would not tell anyone you work with until your boss knows.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

I think you should at least tell your manager right away then you can let it spill later to the others.

[tablefor9, RN]

First, if more than you and one other person know something, it's no longer a secret. Depending on the one other person, it may not be a secret then.

Second, so you can't hold for xrays. There are a few other patients you won't take. Deal with it as it comes up, unless you have a microtiny unit, in which case perhaps there would be good reason to share early (like staffing).

If you want to tell because you're excited and can't wait...go for it. But don't tell when you don't want to because you think that's the "ethical" way to go.

[aerorunner80, ADN, BSN, MSN, APRN]

I think you should at least tell your manager right away then you can let it spill later to the others.

That is what I ended up doing.

[MegNeoNurse]

First of all, CONGRATS!! I am currently 21 weeks pregnant. I waited until I was 12 weeks to tell my manager in NICU and 16 weeks to tell my manager in PICU. I was pregnant last April, but miscarried at 7 weeks, I told my work I was preggo at 5 weeks and it was so hard to tell them "nevermind.." So I wanted to wait till the "safe" 12 week point and I waited longer in the PICU because I've only been there since November and didn't want people to think I was being lazy because I was pregnant. I had a miserable first trimester with nausea and fatigue though... so it was kind of difficult to hide, and a few people said "I wondered if you were pregnant!" It's really up to you when you should tell your manager. Just be sure you don't take patients with CMV or any TORCH diseases and wear gloves for EVERYTHING!

[kat7ap]

Congratulations! I am now almost 15 weeks with twins. I work in a busy rehab hospital and fortunately we don't get too many patients that I can't take so I was going to keep it quiet for a while. However, literally a week after I found out I was pregnant I was assigned to a patient with shingles. I had to come out and tell people at work that day - way earlier than I had planned especially since I had a miscarriage the first time. After that I just decided to be open with it since others had found out and were not keeping it a secret. Everyone I work with has been very supportive.

It's really a personal choice when you announce. As sad as this sounds, miscarriage is very common early on so you just have to ask yourself who would you feel okay "untelling" if something were to happen. I agree it is a good idea to tell your manager and supervisors when you get confirmation. Since your co-workers know you were trying it might be difficult to keep it a secret for long! Good Luck!