December 2012 christmas puddings

[PrunellaDeVille]

over here, that came around suddenly

Bubless my bag wasn't packed with dd until the night before I had her!

In my maternity notice I just put:

Dear wanker boss,

Please accept this letter of confirmation that 2nd November 2012 will be my last working day before taking maternity leave.

Regards,

SpottyTeackes

ps I hate you

Bubbless I imagine my hospital bag packing will be as badly planned as any other packing I've ever done and happen while I'm in labour. I imagine a written notice of ML would be:
Dear Mr/Ms boss, As I have previously advised I am expecting a baby on X Dec. I intend to start my ML week starting X/X/X which will be my X week of pregnancy. I intend to take X weeks/months, but would like to fully discuss my return to work at a later date to finalise those details. Bubbless
I've written a lot of resignation letters I can't imagine they'd be much different.
Apparently having a sick note doesn't make everything okay because I'm supposed to be in work and I'm not. They'd probably see it differently if I was a long standing member of staff, but I started early June and by the end of this week will have had 4 weeks off sick. I imagine they've done a lot of consulting over this one since they're a massive national company that get enough bad press without firing the pregnant girl.

emilyeggs i only felt it because i was in bed laying down looking around and i thought WTF.

You will feel movements soon, i was worried too.

itsmynutella he seems a tad excited over it all, i bet you got a few looks

Bubbless I just feel like times running away with me and as I won't be having any ML before tadpole arrives I think it's worth me sorting things slowly and surely.

Still getting braxton hicks but no back pain now so hoping my body is just being a pain lol!

emily this is dc 3 for me and i felt nothing until last week at 19+ 2 now all ofa suddwn feels like ive got a spin cycle going on in there

thanks for the letter advice, does this mean i actually have to make a decision!!
anyone here work in an environment where your in a hot room on your feet for 9 hours a day?! when are you starting ML?!

i love being organised, was planning on having the bag ready for the start of november.. maybe il leave it a bit!!

daydreaam reminds me of a post i read a while back about a lady who jumped in the shower during early labour to shave her fandingo before she went to hospital!!
thats horrible, maybe try and read up on what your rights are before you go back?

bubless the direct gov website has a letter you can copy and fill in your details notify of ML, it goes like this:

Dear employer/HR gremlin/etc

I am writing to let you know that I am pregnant and to notify you of when I want to start my maternity leave and begin receiving Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) if I am eligible for it. If the company offers its own maternity benefits scheme, please tell me the details of this scheme.
My baby is due in the week beginning due date and my MATB1 certificate, or other document signed by my doctor or midwife, which confirms this, will be forwarded as soon as possible.

I enclose a leaflet that sets out the key things you need to know about both of our rights and responsibilities and tells you where you can find more information. I qualify for 52 weeks' maternity leave, made up of 26 weeks Ordinary Maternity Leave and a further 26 weeks Additional Maternity Leave. I would like to start my maternity leave (and pay) on date. If I wish to change this date I will give you at least 28 days notice.

If I qualify for SMP I understand that the actual payment will be made in the same way as you usually pay my wages, so I will be paid on the day I am usually paid on. You will be able to recover most or all of the SMP from the government. Please confirm this and what amounts I will receive.

As my leave starts on date, my ordinary maternity leave will finish on date (and if I take it, my additional maternity leave will finish on date) and I am therefore due back to work on the next working day after this. However, you are required to write to me to confirm the date I am due back. If I want to change the date I am coming back to work, I must give you at least eight weeks notice.

If I am unable to return, for example because I am sick, the normal rules for my job will apply. If I decide that I do not intend to return to work I must give at least the notice period required by my contract of employment. It would be helpful to talk to you about whether there are any health and safety issues we need to address while I am pregnant, as well as how to plan my maternity leave, how we will both keep in touch during my leave and my return to work.

I look forward to hearing back from you.
Yours faithfully,

Hope that helps! (don't write that last line obviously.. )

Hello all & welcome to xmas (great name btw!)

Good 'licks' from me & puppy too for scans coming up!

Nutella I am blaming you for fact that my weight gain is not entirely baby & is quite alot to do with the jar of nutella I have polished off plus trucks of maltesers, minstrels etc

I am not packing my maternity bag until I have found the perfect nightie / Jim jams (oh and something nice for the baby too, of course) Hoping they might be a present from my mother as usually get a new pair every Christmas!

Aaargh, MORE Olympic related nail-biting as team showjumping jump off for gold about to start. It's like a penalty shoot out for horses (but hopefully we'll be better at this!!) and it's GB vs Netherlands for gold.

Bubbless if you click on this link then you answer the questions and get the letter that Utopian pasted generated for you.

I did it this morning and meant I didn't have to work out the dates myself curse my pregnancy addled brain

Baby & I going crazy for the gold! Yippee!

Arghhh need a moan think dm has probably fallen out with me :( she just dropped the dd's off after 5 nights away and dd1 has come home with a new pair of jeans and new school shoes and dd2 nothing :( it makes me really sad so i have text and asked why. I have prob put her nose out of joint

Oh ellie does she have a history of favouritism? Or could she have thought oh DGC1 needs these it will help DD out and completely not realised it might cause upset?

utopian99 I am an HR gremlin. Love it. . Unlike my fellow gremlin peers, If I can help please let me know.

Thanks for all the lovely messages everyone. Scan went really well - she got a perfect view of the spine straight away, and it all looks good. She also checked the measurements again which were exactly 23 weeks, as I will be tomorrow.

LO did have legs crossed though so despite last minute waver, we are firmly on team yellow .

Nutella - congrats on your scan news too.

Daydream - sorry to hear about work, sounds like an awful situation.

Xmasevebundle - welcome!

Pru - hope appt went well.

*Spotty - I'm addicted to Mexicana cheese too! Craving it now, but had some at lunch. Oh well, at least there's calcium in it!

Oh Ellie how mean even if inadvertent its pretty thoughtless!

xmasevebundle - should have said earlier, hi!

mummycox oops did not mean gremlin in a bad way (one of my friends is too, that's how she describes them..) I may well need to ask you for advice later as my practice has no HR at all, and all decisions are down to the directors, who would have happily fired me on the spot once they found out except it was too late for them by then because I'd put it in writing!!

Thanks for the reassurance ladies, feel "normal" now. On another note, DH and I have just come back from our holiday with his two kids, dd keeps saying she thinks it's a boy (she wants a sister) maybe she's has some kind sixth sense ! She can't be too disappointed as she keeps kissing my belly, bless. X

Hello everyone think id be here for least 10 mins saying hello to everyone

bubbless while a early labour bath is in my birth plan, quick pre-birth fanjo shave certainly isn't. I imagine I'll have bigger things on my mind.
ellie that's awful, poor DD2. My mum always works so hard to make sure my step dads grand kids are treated all the same, she'd never buy for one and not the other unless it was a special occasion.

I've been talking to my DP and we've decided that I go hand my notice in and try applying as a temp for a company I worked with a few years ago so I can be working shorter hours, travelling less and not have a dismissal for gross misconduct on my employment history since I hear that's quite a bad thing!

ellie it does sound abit unkind but might be worth delving into.

I remember a few shopping trips when my little sis & I were younger and they could be tantrum riddled & quite stressful!
Might be that your DD2 had a meltdown and your DM is abit cross about it, especially if she was trying to be generous.

Not that your daughters are anywhere near as much of a nightmare as my sister was we were!!

I now feel terrible :( dm has got back to me and said she would never purposely treat one of them and not the other but wanted to help me and dh out with the expense of school shoes when we have all baby stuff to get too andshe did know dd1 needed new jeans too i knew she was only helping us out and also dd2 is only 2 so doesnt really realise and dm did say when she seea something for dd2 or knows she needs something she will get her it argggg im such a bad daughter :(

99 I quite like being a gremlin though! No offence taken in the slightest. Do mail
me if I can help.

xmas Welcome and hello.

ellie don't think you're a bad daughter for asking why. That's showing you're a good mum.

Does anyone else think that the NZ shot putter looks like the headteacher from Matilda?

Lol mummycox totally

Aaah, that's sweet of your DM. Send her a little note to say thanks & sure she'll be fine about it.

I agree about NZ shot putter... Feel bad for saying it tho!
Denise Lewis was saying how female competitors get judged on looks but I judge the men too... & honestly some of the male shot putters looked like beer monsters.
I'm sure they're all very lovely people who work incredibly hard [adds hastily emoticon]

Ohhhh shotputters... I used to work with a large strapping lady, she was really lovely but because of her size (big and strong not flabby, and crazy red hair....) there were a lot of shotputt comments.... Gosh I wish I had BBC!

Fortunately I'm not sure that many germans know what "willy" is in English since it is a perfectly normal abbreviation here for William.

Am really P*ed off at DP tonight but I'm not actually sure why... I think it's more to do with Dr telling me I'm gaining weight too fast (thats a long grumble about the different nurse I had today who weighed me heavy and bloody rounded up to the nearest kilo!) Also DP keeps slinking off to his computer and not talking to me...

Thanks Queen and Ispy it was nice to see very blurry baby.

Daydream do you have a union or federation that you can contact for advice and have with you at the hearing? Often, even if you're not a paid up member, you can seek advice from them.

Bubbless I can't help thinking that a pre-delivery bit of lady gardening is more than a bit tricky, because I suspect you can't actually see what you're doing