Getting ready to tell the boss

Wednesday, 14th July (12+5)

I thought it might be useful to prepare for the big ‘telling my boss I’m pregnant’ moment.

If he asks lots of questions:

“I have something which we need to discuss as it probably will have quite an impact on my project.

I’ve no idea how to say this, so I’ll just say it as it is: I’m pregnant.

How far along are you?

13 weeks today. The baby is due 21st January.

When will you go on maternity leave?

It’s still a little early, but in the moment I’d like to keep all my holiday until the end of the year and start maternity leave in January. So I’d probably be working until beginning of December and can make sure the project gets to a stage were it can be handed over and leave when the actual implementation of the new processes start. It seems to make sense to do the handover at such a natural stage gate.

I think it would be important to get a maternity cover in well before then to ensure whoever will manage the implementation understands the project as well as I do.

Do you want to continue with the project?

Absolutely. I have made really good progress recently and to stop it at this stage would be crazy. We just need to make sure that there is someone capable to take over whilst I am away. I’m perfectly able to continue with the project during pregnancy.

Will there be many prenatal appointments?

There will be some. Due to medical history I currently receive some extra care which means that I have an appointment in the hospital on Monday in addition to the normal prenatal checks. Where possible I arrange these early mornings – so far I managed to have my appointments between 8:30 and 9am but the further I am into pregnancy the less likely I will be to get these early morning appointments.

Should we already tell the others?

I haven’t told anyone yet. I guess you might have to tell HR, but I would prefer waiting until next week before I tell anyone else. I expect to get my results for the nuchal translucency test on Monday. If those results are okay I’d be happy to tell the others. I won’t be able to hide it much longer anyway! I know that some of the girls already suspect.

How do you feel?

Quite good actually. I had a few rough weeks early in pregnancy. And I’ve already outgrown my clothes. But apart from that I am fine. “

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If he just stares at me and it will be a monologue:
“I have something I need to discuss with you. You know we said that we need to think of resources to manage the implementation of the project as I can’t do it all on my own.”

This is probably becoming a little more urgent in the moment. I’ll probably only be able to complete the first stage of the project but won’t be able to manage the actual implementation.

Because I am pregnant.

I am 13 weeks and have a due date of 21st January. I wanted to tell you as soon as I was out of the first trimester as I think we’ll have to plan getting a maternity cover rather sooner than later to make sure that there is someone else who has a good understanding of the project and can manage the implementation of it.

It’s still a little early, but in the moment I’d like to keep all my holiday until the end of the year and start maternity leave in January. So I’d probably be working until beginning of December and can make sure the project gets to a stage were it can be handed over safely.”

Or maybe from a different angle? Not sure if the penny would drop though.

“Do you remember that you complained that I haven’t used much of my holiday entitlement yet? Well, I can now tell you why. I would like to take the whole of December off so I only need to take maternity leave from January. That would mean I can focus on my project for the rest of the year.”