TTC and a teacher?! Join me!

Hi all, final countdown to Easter hols now can't wait!!! I've had a v stressful term, staff feeling v unsupported and lots v demoralised... not going to go into details. I'm just keeping my head down and getting on with things. No BFP here yet. Awaiting AF in the next couple of days and am going to start using CBFM this cycle. Was furious yesterday with a couple of family members who booked flights to visit us without consulting us on dates first. Of course the dates they've picked are bang smack in the middle of ovulation time in May!! If I was a few years younger it wouldn't matter so much but every month counts at the moment... Now DH and I are trying to concoct plans as to how we will DTD while they are here aarrgghh!!

Hi Greencattis! Welcome!

Just checking in and saying hi to everyone else. Hope all is well with you. I've had a beast of a week and really glad it's over. Phew! Nothing else really to report re: TTC. Waiting for AF to slink away so I can get on with TTC!

Welcome greencattis. We've got similar issues. If I go on mat leave, there will be two mat leave teachers covering UKS2. Not great, but nothing I can do about that. We are a small school, so there will always be an issue with one person or another being off. Mostly female staff, too, and mostly of child-bearing age. That's just life. It's not as if we stay off forever or do this on purpose to make life difficult for the head.

I thought that. I started trying when it was general gossip that two others at school were trying. They were both recently married and had made no secret of wanting a family. I laughed at what would happen (it's only a small primary) if all three of us left for maternity. Only one of us is pregnant over a year later though, and she's only just announced it.

Hello! I'm also a teacher just starting ttc. DH is also a teacher. Really excited but also aware that if I get pregnant soon I will be the 5th maternity leave next academic year... don't think my head will be thrilled...

Thanks Ilove. You're right about the faith school thing. They can't do much and I don't really have to tell them. All they asked was that I support the ethos of the school, not that I would follow their religious rules to the letter. I do have holidays too for scheduling any major treatment I guess if needs be.

Thanks also for posting about the new person pg in your school ILove - that's the thing though isn't it? I stoopidly always thought you could plan these things until we started TTC and now realise what a fool I was, so in the past I probably would have been one of those people looking on disapprovingly I'm ashamed to say sparse sex ed and lack of detail about fertility when visiting doctorsin early twenties is partly to blame I would add However, I have eaten my words and know better now. It's good to hear that it does happen though and you're right - no one has died. Some perspective needed at times methinks. Thanks for sharing.

Bearface, really pleased that you got the referral - try not to worry about the faith school thing. You don't need to tell them too much, so you? Perhaps you can get things arranged for holidays etc.

Heard today that a teacher at school is pg. My immediate thought was whether I could cover her mat leave, as I seem to be more obsessive about jobs than ttc at the moment (more than likely due to it being cd 85 and no bfp). She has not announced it, so was told in a gossipy way. It made me think of our conversations about this, though. She joined the school in September as head of phase and is due in June, so must have got pg end of summer, or thereabouts. She must have had the same dilemmas as we have about changing schools and arriving pg due to having to apply so far in advance. It was really nice to hear. The gossip who told me said that the head was not pleased, but I don't know if this was true at all. I replied that these things can't be planned & she agreed. The teacher is 40 and it sounds as though she has been trying for ages, wanted to change jobs, did it and fell pg. No-one has died. She will get mat leave. Yes, it does seem that she's nervous about making an announcement, as they don't have a plan for cover. Perhaps she is worried about how it will look.

Just wanted to share that with you, as encouragement to change jobs if you want to and that it does happen that teachers arrive in a new job pg and everyone copes.

Thanks Thatsso - guess DH and I need to just take one step at a time. Grrrr about upduffed colleague. Of course you should be pleased for her and deep down you probably are, but you're allowed to be a bit . Just don't let her know!

Snow day today for me! Hurrah!

Bearface, well, I hope everything will go well.

Just found out that another member of staff is pregnant. Getting increasingly annoyed. Not fair. Shouldn't feel like this, but I do.

Had news today that we're being referred to fertility clinic and may end up needing IVF.

Not good when starting a new job at a faith school who would undoubtedly disapprove!

It's good we're being referred, but so wanted to have a natural conception. Sigh. Really don't want to go through IVF. I just wish it would happen naturally, but doesn't look like it's going to.

Hope the rest of you are okay. Enjoy your weekend. Not long til Easter.

Hee hee! I wish Goosey! No - not drinking ATM as DH isn't either as he's trying to improve his sperm, but we are going to have a lovely dinner at home tonight and go out tomorrow instead.

Huuuuuge congrats Bearface Hope you're out celebrating!

Thanks guys! Oh dear, I typed a long message and then somehow got timed out - it wasn't that long!!! I am really happy. I now haven't got time to type my message again, but I'll come back and do it later. Thanks for all your support and advice though - it really helped. Plus, I was up against two men in my interview and was convinced I wouldn't get it, but DID!!! Yay for the ladies!

Happy Friday everyone and Happy International Women's Day! Hurrah for us!

Well done bearface! Really great news! And am pleased about your class thatsso. Very gratifying.

Bearface Congratulations! That's great! Well done, you!
Well, I think it's with a possibility of turning into a permanent job, but possibly not, if I get pregnant straight away. But it's fine. It's a big school and they've got jobs coming up regularly.

The one I had applied to have advertised again. Might not have found anyone they liked. Oh well. They've missed out on me.
It's great to see my lot make progress, especially because they are such hard work. It slightly evens out all the worry and irritation I suffer on a daily basis.

Congratulations Bearface!!! I know someone who got a new job then pretty much immediately got pg. She went to see her new head who was actually very supportive, considering she was going to be working only one term before going on maternity.
I saw my dream job advertised this week but didn't go for it as it's just not a good time to move, as well as the job being very individual rather than just class teacher, and not easy to cover for maternity. Still wondering whether that was the right decision but think I need to do a couple more years where I am first.

Hello!

Thanks for the reassurance Barking. Yes, Thatsso - I got the job!!! so I'm really pleased. I really liked the school and I think I'l fit in well. I hope so anyway. Not really sure where this leaves me with TTC, but as we have practically zero likelihood of it happening, I think we will just carry on and if it happens, I'll deal with it then.

Glad you're making progress with your class Thatsso - it's satisfying when all your hard work begins to pay off. Do you have any idea why the school is only offering a one year temp contract? Maybe it might be worth finding out if they might be thinking about permanent after?

Have you heard anything, yet, Bearface?

Waiting for ov again, which should be next week. And then waiting again...(goodness, I'm not a patient person at the best of times).

No jobs for me at the moment. Well, there's one at an independent school, which I'd like (it's the school I'd love to send my own future and as yet unborn kids to, if I can ever afford it), but it's initially a one-year temp contract. Not really a great idea when ttc, I think. It's come a few years early, tbh. Oh well.
On the positive side, my class have made amazing progress in Maths (have just put them through optionals). So proud of them. They are still annoying, but at least we seem to be getting somewhere.

I think it's all about personalities when it comes to schools and recruitment. This is my theory on the huge turnover of staff that can occur when headteachers leave. The head recruits staff that fit with the school ethos and they can work with. The new head has their own agenda, their own personality, and generally wants to recruit their own staff.
I remember going for one job interview years ago where the head kept asking questions about what was essentially paperwork. Not one question about children and how to motivate them etc, it was all about the planning, the targets, the ticked boxes. I knew immediately that wasn't the school for me! I accept the paperwork needs doing, but it shouldn't be more important that what you can do in a classroom!!!
Once you've got to the interview stage and proved your competence, I think it's all about whether you would fit well in that school with what they need. I'd agree with your DH!

Oh yes, I think of that too Barking and Thatsso - definitely a teacher thing, but as you life revolves around routine, I think it's perfectly reasonable!

Good to hear you're armed for the consultation Barking - best of luck with it!

I got an interview in the end and went for it today. I still don't know whether I got it though. I really would like the job and think I did as well as I could do, but I felt there was at least one other strong candidate. DH said that it probably comes down to what they are looking for in order to fit into the department/school as opposed to assessing me per se. Everything went really well I thought. Obviously there's always things I'd like to change or have done differently, but hindsight is such a wonderful thing, isn't it? I fear I may be pipped at the post by one of the other candidates.

How's everyone else's job hunting coming along? Any TTC news? I'm mid-ovulation at the mo, so knowing my luck everything will arrive at once! I'd be happy if it did though!

Hope you're all well, ladies.

Yeah, I know, barking. It's a bit strange, I do that, too, to see whether it would fit in any way,...but I do like to plan ahead. Considering whether I could change jobs during mat leave.
I know I really don't want to take my class up to the next year (I believe I deserve a nice class, I really do...but then wouldn't want to leave them half way through)...but the ones, who'd be moving up to me are difficult, too. However, don't know whether I'm staying with my year group anyway,...

Must be a teacher thing Thatssofunny - I do that as well! Every cycle I not only calculate the due date according to whether they'd be the oldest in the class or a dreaded "summer born", I work out which term I'd be able to work up to and whether I would still start in September with a new class and when in the school year I'd be back after maternity.... So sad really to be thinking so far ahead when 15 cycles later I haven't even got a BFP yet so really don't need to be even considering all that stuff yet!!!

Thanks, ladies. It probably was a good thing. Just need to plan my next move now. More ttc!!
Good luck to job seekers.

Sorry to hear that ILove. I haven't heard anything either, so guess it's a "no, thank you". Oh well, their loss.

The witch arrived this morning. So gutted. Also annoyed, because it means I'll have to start with a new class in September now...even, if I get pregnant in the next few months. Had hoped for a long maternity leave, without causing too much disruption.

Bearface I have plenty of proof, have been charting since cycle 5 and now backing up charts with CBFM... I will be taking them plenty of shiny graphs and apps to look at! I even log my data into two different apps in case one of them fails me...