How to Work from Home During Pregnancy

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It's absolutely safe for you to carry on working during your pregnancy if you're like most expectant mothers. Just being pregnant, however, can present challenges. From sickness and fatigue to back pain and swollen feet - the effects of pregnancy coupled with the demands of your job can easily wear you out. Fatigue is the body's way of telling you to slow down, but this can be tough during the workday.

Mood swings and heightened sensitivity to certain smells and/or food along with frequent trips to the bathroom all add to the challenge of continuing work during pregnancy. Fortunately, now there's a solution. Advances in technology have meant that people working from their own home offices can just as easily undertake many jobs that, up until now, were tied to office buildings.

It's usually agreed that "teleworking" means using modern technology to help you work from home, although there's no official definition. With the advent of the Mobile/Pocket PC, you can work from anywhere!  No set patterns define the working relationship between employer and employees. The benefits to the employer include:

§         Savings on office space

§         Some surveys suggest that people working from home are up to 30 percent more efficient than their office-based colleagues

§         There's no need to train a new staff member just because you're having a baby

Besides expectant mothers and mothers of small children, teleworking benefits other marginalized groups such as the handicapped and people living in remote areas. Telecommuting provides employee flexibility, eases the working parent's burden, increases employee productivity, and reduces absenteeism. On the downside, there may be too many distractions at home, and the teleworker can become socially isolated.

There are many ways you can become self-employed at home as well. The first and best way is to use a skill you have. You can make cards, teach piano, or design websites (when your work is on the web, you can check on the status of projects using your smart phone while playing at Disneyland with your family!). Another way is by selling stuff, either on Ebay or through a direct sales company. In your search, beware of get-rich-quick-scams.

How does working from home differ from working in an office setting? With all the interruptions, family obligations, and job pressures it is very hard at times to keep sane and to get enough rest. On the plus side, there's a lot of flexibility, you can take a day off during the week and make it up on a weekend.