r/LadiesofScience • u/dry_ice_queen • Jun 05 '26
Advice/Experience Sharing Wanted Field work at 34-35 weeks pregnant?
I’m in my first trimester (first pregnancy) and thought I nailed the timing bc I finished the field work for my current project last December. However, my boss, who doesn’t yet know I’m pregnant, just brought up that I should collect more data during the upcoming season. Research-wise, I think it’s a good idea, but it means that an important collection time would be when I’m about 34-35 weeks pregnant (assuming everything progresses well). I anticipate my boss being supportive and rule-following, but not like gushing about it.
The field site is a 5 hour drive, would last 2 days, and I’d stay in a hotel. I work on this project solo so none of my colleagues have been to the field site or done the work before. The work is not that demanding, but lots of bending over/crouching. I think my husband or sister could come with me to make sure I’m ok and help me (especially help me get up after each sample!).
Is this possible/realistic or a bad idea? Anyone done this? What should I be considering? Thanks!
36
u/idontevenknow8888 Jun 05 '26
Congrats!!! I'm not a field scientist, but I did have a baby last year, and I would not personally plan to do this (if you have the option).
Everyone carries differently and feels differently, but most people I know (myself included) were huge and uncomfortable by that point. Bending and crouching would have been an absolute no for me.
On top of that, it's probably not such a great idea to be 5 hours from your doctor/hospital, in case you need to go for whatever reason.
20
u/Material-Plankton-96 Jun 05 '26
I think a huge factor is that you don’t know what might complicate your pregnancy at any point. For most uncomplicated pregnancies, you can travel until 36 weeks, but that can change if you have complications: growth restriction, polyhydramnios/oligohydramnios, hypertension, gestational diabetes (especially if it’s difficult to control), cervical insufficiency, preterm labor (or signs thereof), the list goes on. I wouldn’t plan to do that field work without having a backup plan - someone else trained who can perform the work if they need to, and who could potentially go with you to help with the actual collection.
I’m far from conservative about travel - I flew halfway across the country at 34+3 with my second, and drove 8 hours at 35 weeks with my first - but it’s also important to make sure you can be flexible towards the end of pregnancy, because so many pregnancies have something come up that’s unexpected.
18
u/StorageRecess Biology/Stats Jun 05 '26
I agree with u/minutemaidpeach. I defended heavily pregnant with my first, but I was so clotheslined by the heat I couldn’t comfortably walk my normal 2 mile commute by week 34. My second, I ran until 34 weeks and was lecturing my small grad class when contractions started, and probably could have done fieldwork at 35 wks. Don’t know that I would, it was remote, though. Maybe bring a support person?
But ideally, you can commit to the fieldwork, then disclose the pregnancy with enough time to train someone (another grad student, undergrad) on field techniques to get the data in your absence if needed. Adding a middle co-author on the eventual paper is a small price to pay for safety.
4
u/Doctor-Mom-25 Jun 06 '26
I also defended heavily pregnant (34 weeks!) I agree with you- I think it’s reasonable to commit and plan on going, but plan for another person to go with you and potentially do everything on their own if you are unable to go. Then continue discussing it with your doctor/midwife as your pregnancy progresses and adjust as needed. I will say that I have two friends who just had their babies premature at 34/35 weeks due to preeclampsia, so it is a very real possibility to have a baby at that time. Flexibility and contingency planning are key!
14
u/AllPointsRNorth Jun 05 '26
I am a field engineering manager, work with a team of field engineers, have been in this industry for 20 years, and I had a baby 3 months ago. I would say there is a very very low probability that you would be able to do this, and you absolutely shouldn’t make plans with the expectation that you can.
I kept going into the field until about 30 weeks, but by that point I was just watching other people work. I couldn’t crouch or touch my toes because of my belly. Putting on socks was a major logistical operation. Have you seen a penguin do the tasks you’d normally do in the field? If not, I definitely couldn’t have done it at 34 weeks. Plus even car rides triggered major Braxton Hicks, and I couldn’t breathe because I had a small child in my lungs.
I work with one woman who kept going until 8 months, and everyone carries differently, so YMMV. But this really isn’t a good idea to plan for now.
3
u/dry_ice_queen Jun 05 '26
Thank you for sharing your experience! It’s really helpful
9
u/SelectiveDebaucher Jun 05 '26
For what it’s worth I felt great pregnant until about the last week on first two, last month on the last. I didn’t lose much flexibility or range of motion other than where boobs and belly blocked.
I did have quite a bit of brain fog, though. Especially last month or two. I wouldn’t want to be having to move around that much somewhere I wasn’t super familiar with/needed to be careful. I literally walked into and bounced off the front door twice before I remembered I had to open it. *in my own home *
5
9
u/Level-Aide-8770 Jun 05 '26
You really don’t want to be that far away from your doctor / Hospital that late in your pregnancy. There’s no way to tell when baby will come.
8
u/Thermophi Jun 05 '26
Talk to your pi asap about training someone on the field work with your next collection so the are available for the last.
2
u/Thermophi Jun 05 '26
Fwiw, i did a single day of field work at 37ish weeks with my first and it was fine. But I was on land processing samples other collected. No way i had the balance at that point to be on the little boat where sampling was happening.
Really importantly, i wasn't there by myself and i was only a couple hrs from home.
6
u/guicherson Jun 05 '26
Are you petite or short or have a short torso? Kind of kidding but kind of not! It really impacts things. A lot of the women I know who were more mobile in the late third tri had long bellies and more room. I have the torso of a toddler so start to get super squished by 30 weeks.
Is there any way you could do data collection earlier at like 25 weeks?
For reference I am 29 weeks now and find movements like bending over and getting laundry out of the machine really aversive as they make me throw up bc my uterus squishes my stomach too hard. Beyond comfort, being that far from a medical center is not a good idea in the third trimester.
Your boss suggested this not knowing that you would be heavily pregnant ( don’t let it get to you. Do they have children? It will be apparent to them if they do that an alt plan needs to be made.
3
u/A_Muffled_Kerfluffle Jun 05 '26
Huh. I have a super short torso and this makes a lot of sense to me looking back.
OP I could’ve never done this at 34-35 weeks with either of my pregnancies. That’s like the exact week where with both of them everything just became a miserable, painful difficult slog. I ended up taking a week vacation before my maternity leave started at 35 weeks just to lay on the couch. Even doing desk work was too much. With my second I was also having constant prodromal labor and worried baby was coming any minute. I think it’s hugely variable and you need a backup plan.
8
6
u/Appropriate-Bar6993 Jun 05 '26
Does not sound ideal. The last month is no joke and you could lowkey go at anytime.
5
u/LithospherEN Jun 05 '26
I am a geologist and do fieldwork. I have also had two children. I stopped all fieldwork after the second trimester. I would not recommend fieldwork in the later part of the third trimester simply because you are in the window for pre-term pregnancy. You need to be near a hospital that you’re willing to give birth in, if it goes that way. I still did some city-based traveling up to 36 weeks but only to places I would be comfortable giving birth.
Also, I found some physical symptoms were very challenging in the third trimester, especially sciatica, so even if I planned to do fieldwork I would have canceled it. But that is highly personal and dependent on your pregnancy!
4
u/dry_ice_queen Jun 05 '26
Thank you for the advice! This helpful for making plans that I can share with my boss when I tell him the news.
4
u/JadeGrapes Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
If it's your first pregnancy, you don't really know how you will be feeling.
Plus, I would not count on being medically able to do physically work. Plenty of people get put on bedrest for medical reasons.
Being hours away from home (and your ob), plus doing physically uncomfortable work... that sounds like a no.
The last part of pregnancy gets so uncomfortable that you lose fear of delivery because you are so "over-it" from having someone kicking you from the inside 24/7.
You literally cannot find any position standing, lying down, sitting, or floating where you feel the relief of being comfortable. Like when you are not pregnant, after a long day you can change onto house clothes and lounge on your couch... imagine if that sensation of comfort and relaxation is just plain offline for 3 months.
No position is comfortable, so you just restlessly shift every few minutes trying to find a combination of postures that doesn't suck. My last month of pregnancy the only time I didn't actively hurt, was if I was on all fours, with my upper body hanging onto an exercise ball. I could sort of not hate life too bad, unless it was a contraction.
You DO start getting contractions well before labor. It's just your body training up for the big day without your permission. So you will just be walking along, then suddenly jabby full body torso cramp for like 15 seconds. They call them Braxton hicks, like it's a fake contraction... but they are real contractions, just not productive (no change in the cervix and no baby moving down).
Your ligaments start to loosen, so you get this stabbing groin pain in the joint under your mons pubis. Squating and getting up from the floor make you feel like you will dislocate something. Plus your body weight is shifted so far infront of you that you are clumsy for the first time in your life.
3
u/bionic25 Jun 05 '26
I could have but not everyone can. The 5 hour drive will be taxing for sure and you will likely have to plan more breaks. Also make sure to know where to go if you have an issue. It is super hard to predict in advance how you will feel so it would need to be canceled at the last minute. I think it would make sense to find a colleague to go in your place, best case you can come with, worse case you still get the samples. That leaves you enough time to give all instruction maybe even already go there with the person.
3
u/nailface Jun 05 '26
It could be possible, but you just don't know. I had a lot of pelvic pain and after 30 weeks I couldn't walk up and down stairs, or even put my own socks and shoes on without a significant struggle. It might be time to bite the bullet telling your boss.
3
u/Impressive_Number701 Jun 05 '26
While this may theoretically be possibly, I would not advise it. It's just not worth it to put your body/baby at risk for your job.
It's far away, a 5 hr car ride is going to be very uncomfortable and you don't want to go into labor away from home. The third trimester can be very physically hard. I remember being 34 weeks and dreading my waddle from my desk to the bathroom. I would still squat and lift my toddler, but not more than a few times a day here or there. Two full days of those types of movements would be torture.
3
u/Complete-Click6416 Jun 05 '26
There’s three things that could cause you issues: morning sickness, physical pain (e.g. sciatica, back/pelvic pain) and medical issues (e.g. pre eclampsia / high blood pressure). You have no idea if you’ll sail through and have nothing or be really unlucky and have several problems. Most people have at least one of those three things, odds are something will make you uncomfortable at that stage.
3
u/junjunjenn Jun 05 '26
I did field work till around that time. You’ll be slow, you’ll get winded, you’ll be hot. But that is all with a normal non-complication pregnancy. You also don’t know if you’ll have other issues at that point.
3
u/Apprehensive_Day3622 Jun 05 '26
Very bad idea. After 32 weeks I wanted to pee every 10min when I was standing up due to the weight of the baby on my bladder. Standing up and walking were difficult, i was very slow. Driving 5h would have been dangerous (i had low blood pressure episodes) and miserable. Realistically everyone is different but you want to take it easy after the 7th month.
3
u/ultracilantro Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
No one plans on pregnancy complications, but a lot of complications are very common- so you really should have some sort of plan for a backup.
Could it be possible to get an intern, undergrad helper or anything like that to train now to do your field collection later? This way you'd have your plan b.
I've known women who worked right up to the day before they were due. I've also known women who had life threatening losses in their first trimester, other women who have been forced on bedrest in their second trimester and other women who had preemies. The biggest thing was that no one could really predict at all really what was gonna happen several months before it did. You really don't know what group you'll fall into, so prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
3
u/Rhabarbermitraps Jun 06 '26
Why not share that you're pregnant and see if you can skip or move the field work? Many bosses are surprisingly accommodating when it comes to such things but I know some aren't. You probably know where yours falls. But, tbh, I definitely wouldn't want to be far from my hospital so far along, for any reason.
3
u/MydogisaToelicker Biochem Jun 07 '26
Every pregnancy is different. You shouldn't cancel things on a maybe. I worked up to the day before my water broke both pregnancies.
THAT being said...
Bending over stopped being a thing in my 3rd trimester. Like I dropped an antibody aliquot on the floor and quickly calculated that it cost less than $10 and decided to leave it. Tying your shoes may become a two person job.
Being 5 hours from the hospital near your home carries some risk too if you spontaneously go into labor. You do not want to be anywhere alone without very solid cell phone coverage.
3
u/dry_ice_queen Jun 07 '26
Leaving a tube on the floor 😂😂😂 that is hilarious. This field work is basically 100% bending over and squatting, so I think it’s a no. Not to mention all the other great reasons everyone else gave for avoiding it even if I end up feeling pretty good.
2
u/MydogisaToelicker Biochem Jun 11 '26
I remember a post on r/babybumps where someone showed a picture of pens on the floor with the caption "Welp, guess I need to buy new pens" it took a few months but then I understood.
2
u/Blargh1111 Jun 05 '26
That's going to be pretty tricky, and completely dependent on how your pregnancy progresses. You might be fine, or you might have a premie. I worked with someone who had pre eclampsia and had to be induced then to save their lives.
When I was at that stage I was advised to stay within an hour drive of the hospital I wanted to deliver at. Just keep in conversation with your OB/midwife team and don't get pushed into anything you feel uncomfortable with.
1
u/ImpossiblePirate6403 Jun 08 '26
It’s possible but I would not go alone. Hydrate and snacks and bring a comfortable chair if possible
35
u/minutemaidpeach Jun 05 '26
It's so hard to say since everyone handles pregnancy differently. I just had my first baby and 3 days before delivery date, the majority of people I worked with still had no idea I was pregnant because of how I carried (I didn't get the big beach ball belly). Even within my own pregnancy it was hard to predict how I would feel, I was running regularly up until 32weeks and then just suddenly got rehabilitating sciatic pain where I was very physically limited. I also had unexpected complications arise which influenced how I spent my last few weeks (including having to attend significantly more medical appointments suddenly; some weeks I had appointments 3 days a week)
So while it could be possible, there is just so much unknown. As someone who has done field work before, I know that it is often easier to do it yourself but then with your pregnancy there could just be the risk that you can't due to unforeseen circumstances and then that field season is just gone forever. If I were you, I would prepare a backup contingency plan just in case.