With the joys of pregnancy come inevitable arduous changes. From the first trimester onward, your baby is making itself felt in your energy level, your eating and sleeping habits, your waistline and, at times, your job performance. Your body and mind are preparing you for the baby, and those needs may or may not coincide with your preparations for the morning’s big meeting.

So how do you balance fluctuating hormones with your job’s demands? Here are some tips from women in the trenches about how to maintain a healthy pregnancy and professional life.

Make a plan

“I think it’s important to educate yourself and learn as much as you can about what’s coming, so you can come up with a realistic plan,” says Nancy Peske, mother of a five-year-old and co-author of Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Integration Issues. “Talk to your doctor, read books and learn about how you’re going to feel, and then ask yourself some honest questions. Can you deal with morning sickness or lack of sleep and still maintain your full load at work? Then make a plan that reflects your answers, and don’t be afraid to be flexible and make adjustments as you go along.”

Consider options

Your new lifestyle must accommodate the long-term needs of a new baby in the house. Ask yourself: Do you want to spend more time at home once the baby is born?

Can you afford to go without income for 12 weeks or more? What about options like flexi-time, job-sharing, compression time or telecommuting? Or do you want to return full-time to the office as soon as possible?

Many women say that finding a way to work at home, for at least part of the work week, makes pregnancy, parenting and job performance easier to negotiate.

“With my type of job, I truly believe you can have it all,” says Angela Donaldson, an investigator for the department of defence in St Louis and mother of two. “I worked all the way up until the day before I had both babies and did not have any problems. Of course, I was very lucky and had no complications with either of my pregnancies.”

A freelance lifestyle could be a better choice. “I could work around things like feeling the need to nap late in the afternoon during the first trimester or having to go to my doctor,” says Peske.

“People were very respectful of my pregnancy. About a week before my due date, I had a meeting that was supposed to be held about an hour out of town, and five people came into Manhattan so that they could meet me. A client was so happy that I’d worked four 12-hour days during my last trimester to make an impossible deadline that she gave me a gift certificate to a day spa.”

Know your rights

While the law guards against termination of pregnancy, you can be fired for performance. And some jobs may actually be hazardous to your health.

“Prepare yourself before you inform your boss about your pregnancy,” says Dana Bilboa, a Los Angeles-based production accountant for Judging Amy and mother of two. “I had a boss who didn’t renew my contract, because I was too close to my delivery date and would have been out for a portion of production. That’s legitimate. But I’ve encountered the feeling that a pregnant woman is an inconvenience in the workplace. So, it’s important to know your rights.”

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