Doctor's appointments and work...

[summergirl1211]

For those of you lovely ladies that are working with your RE's and doing a lot of testing, ultrasounds, etc. How do you handle your boss and all of your appointments? Do you give them a heads up that you'll be having quite a few ongoing appointments for the foreseeable future? Do you not mention it at all but just take time when you need it? My boss works in NYC and I'm in MN, and he doesn't know that we're trying to get pregnant. It really hasn't been an issue until now, when he asked me this morning if I could do a work trip to STL next month and it coincides with most likely some ultrasounds I'll need next cycle. For those of you who've said something to your bosses, what have you said? Have you been open about the process, or just generally said you'd have appointments coming up but not go into a lot of detail? Just wanted to see how everyone else is approaching this. 

Thanks!

[river]

My RE's office is an hour from my office and their earliest appointment time is my start time, so short of seeming like a flaky employee all of the sudden, I chose to tell her. Fortunately, she's discreet. I travel for work as well, and might have to take May's cycle off, assuming the next two cycles are unsuccessful. Your RE may surprise you, too - I asked about my trip and he said not to count taking the cycle off, as he may be able to work around it (I'd be out of town three days).

[beachdreamer]

Right now I'm a SAHM. It's hard enough trying to time appts so my husband can watch my son. When I did work, I tried to time appointments either first or last part of the day, or right around lunch. It depends on your relationship with your boss. My last boss, I would have been comfortable giving her a heads up. The boss before that....no way. Are the ultrasounds or work travel flexible in any way? Sorry I don't have any good suggestions. I hope you can figure it out without much stress.

[summergirl1211]

Mar 24, 2016 12:58:48 GMT -5 beachdreamer said:

Right now I'm a SAHM. It's hard enough trying to time appts so my husband can watch my son. When I did work, I tried to time appointments either first or last part of the day, or right around lunch. It depends on your relationship with your boss. My last boss, I would have been comfortable giving her a heads up. The boss before that....no way. Are the ultrasounds or work travel flexible in any way? Sorry I don't have any good suggestions. I hope you can figure it out without much stress.

Thanks beachdreamer. The ultrasounds really aren't flexible right now. I have to go on CD3 and CD10 for sure, and then possibly more will be involved for IUI so insemination can be timed (I'm assuming anyway). This last cycle I had 3 ultrasounds and luckily two of them fell on Sundays so I didn't have to miss much work, but I don't think I'll be as "lucky" this next cycle. So regardless, I'll have to miss at least an hour for each ultrasound, and some of them may only be 2-3 days apart. Work trips are few and far between, luckily. It's just hard not being able to make many plans because I have no idea when I'll need to go in for an appointment. 

My boss and I have a decent relationship, and I'm sure he would understand. I'll guess I'll just play it by ear and see how many appointments I have this month. I'm sure he'll ask too if he gets concerned. 

[wannabmama]

I think your approach is a good one summergirl1211 to feel it out. I had to keep it all under wraps and it was really stressful. So I think it depends a lot on your workplace and relationship with your boss. The key is to do whatever you can to reduce your stress, I think. Good luck!

[hammysmommy]

I was having such a hard time with my diagnosis back in 2011/2012 that I was in tears often at work. I realized I should probably tell my boss, and as her daughter had had recurrent miscarriages and conceiving, she was familiar with the process/appointment needs.

But if I hadn't worked with her for as long as I had, or hadn't known about her daughter's issues, I might not have told her.

Sorry, that's probably not helpful.

[vh2014]

At first I told my boss that I had to go in to have some stuff checked. Once I knew for sure I just told him. I get along great with my boss though so we've gone into some pretty detailed discussions... when they found the cyst I explained to him exactly how ovulation works and what a "functional cyst" was and told him he could go home and impress the wife. LOL. He's been really good and even let me work from home on the days things were a little tough...

[Tiger]

I think my boss would handle the details well, but I've decided that if I needed to ask for time off, that I would just say that I have a medical appointment. She doesn't ask questions, and I've been there for 3+ years, so I trust that she would not give me a hard time about it.

For my HSG, it was scheduled at 10:30a (and is an hour away). I ended up coming into work early, blocking off my calendar from 9:30a-12p and was back before lunch was over. Hopefully that same strategy will work for my IVF monitoring appointments.

[summergirl1211]

Thanks ladies! I've been lucky and able to get in my appointments early enough in the day that I just have been going in a little later and staying later. I figure if he's concerned he'll ask, or if I for some reason have several appointments back to back where I need to ask for sick time, I will just say something and keep it vague.