Hi guys! i just want your opinion i don't know any other therapist who have had babies or are pregnant so want to know what you guys did.

Im 18 weeks and need to start thinking about when to start my maternity leave... when did you start yours and what made you start then??

Also im suffering really badly from headaches which i have pin pointed down to nails, not just enhancements but polishes and nail polish remover, the fumes give such a headache im sometimes in tears, trying everything to stop them but nothing so far, do you think it is worth while cutting them out of what i do, im employed so there are other therapist's who can do them. But did any of you have any problems and how did u solve them??

Thanks guys

xx

when to start mat leave varies from person to person. i also had headaches etc at 16- 22 weeks though and its does pass.
im 33 weeks on and i dont get those headches anymore.
im still working but i now do 4 days a week in the salon at the moment 3 of which are long days. but if i was working full time for someone id have started maternity already around 31 weeks as you have less flexibility etc.

it could have alot to do with the the nails i reckon but you may find towards the end you'l get less sensitive to it... so maybe consider cutting it out for now. if they have someone who can do it hopefully shouldnt be a problem.

hope it passes for you soon.

Congrats on your pregnancy

I feel for you with your bad headaches! For me it was pregnancy-sickness that was my undoing. The smell of everything was over whelming and being so busy that I couldn't stop to snack every so often - left me feeling too crook to work. I cut down the amount of nails I did and actually had a bit too many days off in the beginning.
By the fourth month things settled down and I worked until I couldn't walk any more - practically right up until the end. I had to be careful about my back too, because it's fragile during pregnancy... so be careful about too much bending forward.

I started work again three weeks after my baby was born, but only worked part time and built up my hours.

hey

i think it will just be how you feel and how long you last. the longer you last the longer you'll get once the baby is born.

in my situation i was being sick everyday through the whole pregnancy with my 1st and my work were messing my job about (i wasn't working in the beauty industry), i wasn't getting breaks, working 10 hour days trying to sneak through the back to eat wasn't helping.

i ended up having to use up all my holidays and took my maternity leave 3 months before i had my daughter. im sure i was about 6 or 7 months.

but just see how you feel and how long you think you can go on for. i cant remember what the notice time was for you to give your work a date.

my friend is a hairdress and she had to stop as she was just getting a lot of problems because she was standing up a lot

i have 3 children 2 since being in the nail industry, worked up to 38 weeks with both my my younger children, did get a few headaches but think thats just pregnancy nothing to do with nails etc, not all pregnancies and mothers are the same so its entirely up to you when you finish, i am very lucky in that i have had 3 fantastic pregnancies. tired, fed up, aching, yes but not sick or anything so i managed well. went to back to work when my second was 3 week. my youngest is 5 week at the min i plan to go back to work in about 5 week. but thats because i am self employed if i was working for someone i perhaps would have longer.

congratulations on your pregnancy and good luck with everything. one thing i do know is pregnancy is a long process and can be boring if you have nothing to do and you seem to be waiting forever and a day. i know because of my first. xx

Hey there,

Congrats on ur pregnancy!

I was quite lucky and work in a health club so there was other options available for me.

I did treatments up until xmas and i was about 6/7 months by then and i was knackered all the time and even waxing was starting to get hard as my bump got in the way of everything! It is SUCHA hard job to do when u are pregnant! Especially massage which i basically said i wanted to give up from the start as i felt it was too much of a strain.

After xmas i went onto the spa reception so i had a break from treatments and then i was able to leave at 37weeks. I used one weeks hol and then my maternity leave started at 38weeks. ( You dont want to start ur maternity leave too late as if you go into labour early they just start it anyway and you would lose any hols you have put in to use!)

Hope this helps a bit.

Good luck

Lauren x

hi there i am on maternity leave at the moment i took maternity leave at 36 weeks but had two weeks hols before that. reason i done this my first pregnancy suffered pre eclampsia and was scared that would happen again, as most of time i have back to back clients and lots of massage, i was a lot bigger with my second and was a harder pregnancy. you get loads of maternity leave now even thow my boss is trying to get me back the now but i put my foot down they dont stay babys long and i dont wanna miss out on anything the now because my boss didnt want to pay someone else to cover me. also make sure you dont feel pressured into treatments i almost passed out from the heat and doing massage when i had already said i wanted to stop massage at thirty weeks as was so big but my boss had already booked my clients so had to them.

thanks for all the info guys, like I said I don't know any other therapist personally so didnt know what others did, this has really helped, im hoping the headaches will stop soon like yours did so fingers crossed!!!

knew I could count on the geeks to help me!!!

One of my girls is pregnant right now, approx 5 months. Last time she was expecting I told her to let me know if doing any particular treatments was getting too much for her, then I could stop booking then in. On the whole she was very good and said she felt fine doing everything, even though I wondered how on earth she managed doing pedicures when she was quite big!
She has suffered a bit with sickness this time but it hasn't affected her work. As far as I'm concerned as long as she feels fine doing treatments I would just continue as normal. If she's getting tired or anything I will start leaving her more time for her treatments and she knows I will cut out anything that she finds strenuous. Also she can take her maternity leave whenever she likes, it's up to her. I think she's planning on leaving a couple of weeks before the birth like she did last time.

I worked right up, I mean literally....waters went in the mornining, but i still went in to do staff wages! What was I thinking, i wont make that mistake this time round!! xx Anyway I agree with all listen to your own body, and take maternity leave when you know you need it....happy nappys!!! xxxx