Teachers: Telling Your Principal?...

[babydust1516]

Hi guys...for those of you who are teachers (I am a first year teacher even though last year I was in the school district from Feb-June) how did you break the news to your principal? Was he or she upset? I am due at the end of May so I would only be missing the last month of school. I am going to try and hold out until last minute (if all goes as planned) to go out on leave. I am going to try and save up my vacation days and sick days also so I can try and get full pay for some of the time that I am out.

How soon did you tell your principal? Were you nervous? Or if you haven't told your principal yet, when are you going to in comparison to when you are due?

This is making my head spin lol

 

[Daisypetals]

Congrats on your pregnancy Babydust...I hope you have a happy and healthy nine months. I had to tell my principal right away because my pregnancy is high risk, I was already bleeding and my Dr. told me to stay off my feet as much as possible. That's hard to do when you teach kindergarten. My principal was fine with it... She just told me to check and let our benefits/ human resources person know whenever I was comfortable with telling everyone else so that they could arrange a long term sub well in advanced. If I was not high risk, and needing to sit down a lot during the day, I would have waited until sometime in the second trimester to tell my principal. It's awesome that you are due in May! That means you get the summer to spend with your baby! I think most principals are pretty understanding with pregnancies- what are you going to do-- you're pregnant!

 

[RebeccaR19]

I am not teaching this time, but I was when I was pregnant with my son. I just told the principal very early on because I had to make some appointments and I had to explain why I needed to be out some. He wasn't upset. I have moved around a lot and worked at 6 different schools. From my experience (even with friends I know), principals expect these things. Most are fine with it. He/she will probably congratulate you and then ask you if you want it to remain a secret or if/when you want the rest of the staff to know.
It's better to tell ahead of time because usually principals like to be prepared. That's their chief concern.

 

[babydust1516]

You girls just made me feel SO much better about it! My principal has a few kids himself so I'm thinking that he will be more understanding due to that as well. I think I'm going to tell him at the end of the first trimester which will be mid November. Do you think that's enough time?

 

[CanadianMaple]

I almost told mine last week because I had a scare and they thought I could have been miscarrying. Now I am going to wait. My friend on staff knows, so if anything happens to me at work, I know she would tell the paramedics or whatever. lol

My principal would be more worried about next year's staffing than worrying about me missing the last 2 months of school. I'm not too worried about her reaction. I do have two violent students and if I get put on restrictions, she will get upset then...

 

[RebeccaR19]

I think waiting until the end of your first trimester would be fine. That 8 plenty of time for your principal to prepare.

 

[babydust1516]

That's what's I'm thinking. Unless I start massively showing and canthe hide it anymore lol. We aren't really telling anyone until the end of the first trimester. I also have one person at work who knows just in case something happens to me at work that way she can tell EMTs as well.

 

[amy8686]

I told my principal right away, in case anything happened that I wouldn't want to have to explain in the moment. And I'm very glad I did. Since then, I had a bleeding scare at work and I just had to say "I'm having an emergency, I need to leave" and he understood and was extremely tactful in the days following. I would not have wanted to break the news in the middle of that ordeal.

Even for smaller things like sitting often, or quickly leaving a hot room because I was about to puke, it feels so much easier to not be hiding it.

He was not upset at all. He congratulated me and said we should get together to talk about maternity leave once school settled down.

 

[babydust1516]

That's awesome! How long have you been teaching there? I'm sorry you've had bleeding though!

 

[MrsA22]

Im 9w3d and plan on telling him after 12 weeks. Im on my 8th year of teaching.

 

[hmmohrma]

I am 5 weeks, and I do not plan on telling my principal until November. That will be right before Thanksgiving (when we plan to tell the extended family over the holiday after safely making it to the second trimester.) I think half of the school year is more than enough time. I am just happy I will make it through the end of year testing and not have to leave that to a sub (willing everything is happy and healthy.) Lots of luck to us both! It looks like we are in a very similar boat. BTW, I teach first grade, and this is my seventh year of teaching.

 

[babydust1516]

I teach first grade also! I'm planning on telling everyone around the same time and I think that's when I will tell my principal also. This is my first year with this school but the district knows me from last year when I worked for them for half the year. My principal seems very understanding with every thing so I'm hoping he will with this too. Plus, God willing, I'll only be out the last month.

 

[hmmohrma]

I hope we both make it to May! I actually ended up telling my nurse and principal last week. I thought about what Amy said and decided they should know incase something happens. I am feeling very positive this time around.

 

[Tattoo]

My first pregnancy I'd only been at the school about six months. I told the headteacher when I was 8 weeks. This time I told her at five weeks. She was fine with it both times, I think if you hire women in their 20s/30s you have to expect the news sooner or later!

 

[babydust1516]

I hope we both make it to May! I actually ended up telling my nurse and principal last week. I thought about what Amy said and decided they should know incase something happens. I am feeling very positive this time around.

I wish I had the guts to tell him already! Haha I am hoping he is just as ok with it. Like I said, one of the other teachers already knows so she can at least let them know if something serious happens that I can't tell them. I hope we both make it to May also. When is your EDD again?

 

[babydust1516]

My first pregnancy I'd only been at the school about six months. I told the headteacher when I was 8 weeks. This time I told her at five weeks. She was fine with it both times, I think if you hire women in their 20s/30s you have to expect the news sooner or later!

This is very true! I never really thought of it that way, but it is such a good point! I worked in the district for five months last year and then got rehired in September. So, I have four months in from last year and then I plan on trying to stay there until the week before I am due (as long as everything goes as planned and I am healthy) which means I will be there for another 9 months. I would only be out the last month of school. That is nice too because then I have June, July, and August off without having to work and worry about going right back.

 

[Mintastic]

I have been at my school almost four years and I don't plan to tell the director (private school) until 12 weeks, unless I start showing too much before that.
I have a number of medical issues already so they are already used to me taking off for appointments.

 

[hmmohrma]

My first pregnancy I'd only been at the school about six months. I told the headteacher when I was 8 weeks. This time I told her at five weeks. She was fine with it both times, I think if you hire women in their 20s/30s you have to expect the news sooner or later!

This is very true! I never really thought of it that way, but it is such a good point! I worked in the district for five months last year and then got rehired in September. So, I have four months in from last year and then I plan on trying to stay there until the week before I am due (as long as everything goes as planned and I am healthy) which means I will be there for another 9 months. I would only be out the last month of school. That is nice too because then I have June, July, and August off without having to work and worry about going right back.

edd is May 22! I ended up telling my two first grade team mates at the end of last week because I started crying during lunch after watching one of my students dance in a way I found a bit inappropriate. I had to tell them because I was worried they would think I am turning nuts.

 

[babydust1516]

Omg that's crazy! And that was my EDD. Unfortunately, it looks like I probably just miscarried on Saturday. It all happened so fast and I had no pain. Just a lot of blood (sorry TMI). I will get a final result tomorrow when my blood work comes back, but I am pretty certain that it is what happened on Saturday. My hubby and I now have a little angel watching over us and we are more ready than ever to try again.

 

[hmmohrma]

Oh no...I'm so sorry to hear. My DH and I had an a mc at 4w2d two cycles ago, and it makes me very nervous right now. I hope you guys get your dust and sticky bean very soon. Never TMI on here.