Working as a nurse while pregnant isn’t easy.
Battling nausea, swelling, working 12 hour shifts on your feet, and working through Braxton Hicks are just a few things you may face.
These 11 helpful tips can make working as a nurse while pregnant a lot more doable.
1. If you’re battling nausea your first trimester, try to never let your stomach get empty.
If you’re anything like me, that pregnancy nausea and vomiting can be no joke.
There’s several different remedies and medications you can implement to help combat nausea while pregnant.
But possibly my top tip for managing pregnancy nausea is to never let your stomach become empty if you can help it.
The term ”morning sickness“ is so misleading because nausea in pregnancy can hit any and every hour of the day.
But the term comes from the fact that typically pregnancy induced nausea is the worst when your stomach is empty.
And most people have gone the longest without eating when they wake up in the mornings.
When you’re working as a nurse while pregnant, eating enough can be surprisingly difficult.
Sometimes it’s hard to find time to take a break during our busy 24 hour shifts caring for others.
But even if it’s just eating a few saltine crackers every 3 hours or so, it’s better to put SOMETHING on your stomach than to let it get completely empty.
When you’re already nauseous and then you go several hours without eating, once you do finally eat, you’re more likely to vomit if your stomach has gotten empty.
Working when you’re pregnant and nauseous is hard enough. And then throwing up while you’re at work is even worse.
So really try as best as you can to “graze”throughout your shift to always maintain some consistent form of nutrition.
2. Pack healthy meals and snacks for your shifts working as a nurse while pregnant.
Related to the previous tip, it’s really helpful to have healthy snacks and meals on hand to eat throughout your shifts.
This will not only combat pregnancy nausea but it’ll also help to just prevent yourself from becoming hangry.
Also if you work night shift, the cafeteria at the hospital you work at may not be open or have many options during your shift.
And let’s be real, pregnancy aversions and cravings can make it to where very limited things sound tolerable to eat.
So it’s best to try to have on hand foods that you know you’ll actually eat and hopefully enjoy.
Best Snacks and Meals To Pack For Lunch When You’re Pregnant
- Protein bars
- Protein shakes
- Mixed nuts
- Trail Mix
- Fruit
- Cheese sticks or cheese cubes
- Soups and sandwiches
- Pastas
- Peanut butter and apples
- Yogurt and protein granola
- Cottage cheese and fruit
You also want to try to eat food high in protein and fiber to help keep you fuller longer.
3. You need good shoes when working as a nurse while pregnant.
Wearing good shoes is really important for all nurses.
But when you’re working as a nurse while pregnant, it becomes even more imperative to wear comfortable, supportive shoes.
Some of the best shoes for nurses are:
4. Wear good compression socks.
Just as it’s important to wear good shoes as a nurse, especially while pregnant, it’s also important to wear good compression socks.
Your body produces 50% more blood volume when you’re pregnant.
This increase in body fluid puts you at higher risk for swelling, varicose veins, and even blood clots.
Wearing compressions socks helps to prevent developing these issues when working long hours on your feet.
5. If you’re working 12 hour shifts as a nurse while pregnant, try to not work 3 in a row.
Many nurses really like to work all of their shifts in a row to get them out of the way and to be able to have more days off in a row.
However, once you’re working as a pregnant nurse, especially full time, you may find that splitting up your work schedule is better on your body.
Even with working night shifts, I like to split up my shifts and not work 3 in a row if I can help it.
This just helps allow for more rest and recovery in between long shifts which can be better for you both physically and mentally.
6. Try to rest as much as possible when working as a nurse while pregnant.
Pregnant women typically find themselves more tired and needing more sleep than they may usually need.
This can be especially true during the first and third trimesters.
With my third baby, I had such horrible nausea and exhaustion.
If I wasn’t at work taking care of other moms and babies as a pregnant nurse, I was at home in bed.
It’s important to give yourself and your growing baby the rest you need and deserve.
7. Get a good water cup and stay hydrated.
Staying hydrated when working long hours as a nurse is hard.
But staying hydrated when working as a nurse while pregnant is super important.
To prevent yourself from wasting a bunch of unnecessary money and plastic on buying water bottles in the cafeteria, I suggest getting yourself a good water cup to take to work with you.
If you’re battling nausea and find it hard to tolerate drinking large volumes of fluid at one time, try filling your cup with ice chips and sucking on a few tablespoons every hour or so.
8. Save up as much paid time off as possible.
As tempting as it may be to take call or even take an entire shift off when offered, really try to not use up your PTO if possible.
If you already have a ton of hours saved up in your PTO bank, then this may not be as much of an issue for you.
But for the majority of us who don’t already have hundreds of hours of PTO saved up, it’s important to save up as much as possible when you’re working as a pregnant nurse.
Not only will this help you be able to take off as much paid time off as possible for maternity leave, you may also end up having to take time off earlier in your pregnancy if any conpkications arise.
This was the situation I found myself in with my first baby.
At 30 weeks, my OB put me on bed rest for 2 months due to premature contractions that were effective enough to cause my cervix to start dilating.
Due to being in nursing school, I was already working part time as a nursing assistant.
I knew I was going to have to go back to nursing school with a baby and was trying to save up as much money as I could.
So this was obviously not an ideal situation, but we of course ended up making it work.
Lots of other things can happen that could cause you to be in a similar situation.
And if you’re needing to rely on PTO hours to help financially make up for that lost time at work as a nurse, you want to start saving up those hours ASAP.
I don’t say any of this to scare you, but rather to prepare you just in case something similar happens during your pregnancy.
9. If you’re on nights, switching to a day shift schedule may be helpful when working as a nurse while pregnant.
Sometimes it’s simply not possible to go to days due to hospital staffing or lack of childcare (been there).
But if you find yourself really struggling physically or mentally working nights as a pregnant nurse, it’s worth having a conversation with your nurse manager about the possibility of switching to day shift.
Some people have a harder time than others adjusting to nights.
And if you’re like me and normally do fine on nights, it may end up being a struggle once you’re pregnant.
I actually think working nights was a big contributing factor to me feeling so much worse with my second and third babies compared to my first.
Having a more consistent eating and sleeping routine that often accompanies working working dayshift can really make a big difference for some pregnant nurses.
10. See if working part time is a possibility for you.
Apart from switching to a day shift schedule, you may also want to look into if working part time as a nurse while pregnant is a possibility.
This can be super helpful in giving a better work life balance and is a really great option for alot of pregnant or postpartum nurse moms.
This is what I did with my first 2 babies when my husband was still working full time and it was a great option for our family.
You’ll want to make sure you can afford to work part time as a nurse first of course.
Also keep in mind that you may lose many of the benefits of working as a full time nurse such as health insurance and PTO.
But many hospitals also offer PRN or Per Diem nurses an extra pay incentive which can help make it more worth it.
11. Accept, ask for, or even hire help with housework and/or childcare.
Like I mentioned in another tip, during my first trimester with my first baby, I spent the majority of the time I wasn’t working full time nights as a nurse either sleeping or just laying in bed.
With a 2 toddler girls at home, this meant I really had to rely on my husband to pick up my slack with taking care of them and the house.
I’d be lying if I said this didn’t cause me an immense amount of guilt.
But my husband reassured me that he didn’t mind and that I had to take care of myself and our unborn baby by getting as much rest as I could.
Likewise, while also working full time nights as a nurse while pregnant with our second daughter, I also had to ask for, accept, and even hire help with childcare and housework from time to time.
That was before we’d made the transition to my husband coming home and staying with our girls full time.
I just simply had to come to terms with the fact that sometimes I needed help.
It’s important to give yourself grace and to realize that you’re only one person.
You can’t be everything to everyone, even as much as us nurse moms may try to be.
That’s almost a sure fire way to end up burned out and not able to be your best self for your family, yourself, and your patients.
I hope this post was helpful and gave you some useful tips for working as a nurse while pregnant!
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Leave a comment if you have any other tips for pregnant moms working as nurses!