Morning Sickness and Your Home Based Business
Posted on Nov 30, 2011 | Blog Posts, Shared Experiences Category | | Print This Article
No matter where you work, dealing with morning sickness can be challenging. When you work out of your home, it presents a whole different set of challenges.
For starters, those of us with home based businesses don’t have the option of just calling in sick if the nausea gets to be too much. True, many of us have the luxury of being able to (usually) schedule our days around the morning sickness. Even still, there are some drawbacks to working from home while going through the first trimester. Here are some of the major ones and how to deal with them:
- Your home feels like it’s not your own. This is especially true if the nature of your home based business means you have customers or clients in your home. The best thing you can do for this is to set clear boundaries regarding which parts of the house are for business and which ones are strictly “home.” Make sure your clients know as well.
- Your schedule is dictated by the baby. Get used to this, because it will be when she’s born for a while, too. Once you have a good idea of how your body is reacting to your pregnancy and morning sickness, it becomes a lot easier to schedule your day. Don’t be afraid to tell clients you simply can’t meet during the times of day when nausea is most likely to affect you.
- Your roller coaster emotions make doing business tough. The first and second trimesters of pregnancy can be difficult emotionally. When you work from home, it can feel like you have nowhere to escape. Make sure you have a special place to relax, whether it’s in your room, out in the park, or even in your car.
- Your fatigue presents special challenges. Most expectant mothers feel fatigue. Truth be told, it would probably affect your job performance no matter where you work (understandably so). When you work for yourself, there’s no magical time clock that ensures you will get paid the same hourly wage regardless of how morning sickness affects your productivity.
The best way to get through morning sickness while working from home is to remind yourself that it won’t last forever. Most women only experience morning sickness for a month or two. There are also some benefits to working from home when you have morning sickness. If nothing else, your bathroom is always close at hand.
Whether you run a home based business, work outside the home, or are a stay at home mom, morning sickness presents plenty of challenges. What challenges have you faced with morning sickness?
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