October 2013: Almost halfway!

[cherrycherry41]

Thread 8 of 1,000

Hairy belly here too!

tucking I am also scanning on may 24th. At 12.20pm I think quite a few of us r. Shout if your scanning may 24th :-)

Morning ladies, another hairy tummy here, is still blonde but definitely hairier. On a positive note hormones seem to be helping the hair on my head grow super quick and it actually looks healthy. maybe worth a hairy tummy...

Good Luck to soup and textbook and anyone else scanning today.

DH has let me go back to bed as hes got the day off for scan but Im too awake, nervous and excited to go back to sleep!

I'm definitely getting a hairy line down from my belly button too.

Re. maternity leave, I'm in a bit of a quandary. I got the job I went for on Tuesday and now have a massively kick-ass job title shoehorned into my smart dress with a scarf. I don't think they could tell because I was sat behind a desk for the interview itself. I now have the pleasure of telling them I can only start in January not September (teaching job). Legally there's nothing they can do but I'd still like to get off on the right foot. Argh, how to break the news?!

OMG!! I was just googling about hairy bellies last night lol
Yes I've got a much hairier belly...mainly blonde, with the odd scarily dark hair!!!!

Ooh that's difficult Cuille. Maybe someone here has had to do something similar? Just remember that you were morally (as well as legally/technically) entitled to apply for the job even though you knew you were pregnant. And that if they were in your position, they would probably have done exactly the same thing!

No noticeable hair here (maybe because I'm already hairy...) but definitely can spot the beginning of the linea negra.

Congrats on everyone for the good news yesterday, and good luck for scannees today!

cuiller congrats on the job! At least you weren't due to start until Sept...I was wondering how you were going to tell them you could start next year if they wanted you now :) Jan though? Are you not taking much maternity leave? As you say there is nothing they can do so just be honest. I wouldn't be apologetic about it...just act like it's great news and you have recently found out :)

I have a meeting today 2 hours away from work. It's stressing me out as I hate being miles away from the nursery in case I'm needed and also they think it's from 1.30- 4.30? I'm going to have to break it to them that I will need to leave by 3 to be back for the nursery pick up. It's hard to go from working when required to having to leave at 5 on the dot...but what can I do? The last thing I need is to be stressed and stuck in traffic.

Hairy belly here too...disgusts me. I shaved it last time and now I look like I have belly stubble

Good luck soup and textbook for scans today.

Ours is tmw and I'm nervous but exciting. Thrilled with your news moN..must be such a relief after all that stress

Oh yes, hairy tummy here too. And my tummy button has never been the same since DD!

We've picked names! We need 4 as we are not finding out sexes... DD is Matilda (outer if you know me!). We like:

Hugo
Ralph
Valentina (we used to live in Italy, both DH and me)
Isabel

Bonne chance with the scans!

legally I've just said all combinations of those aloud and they all work imo!! I like them!!
good luck everyone scanning today xx

warlin I know how it feels... so stressful. I always have a problem with it as I work a lot with the US, West Coast, so most of my calls with them are scheduled for 5/6pm when they wake up... But I have to leave around 5pm to pick up DS from nursery / afterschool club... Had to rely a lot on DP over the last years but he also has a lot of work dinners and travels so not always possible. So I end up doing calls with the US at 8 / 9 or even 10pm to make up for leaving early but don't think anyone sees / appreciates it... also my company is very young and ambitious, most people don't have children yet and are all focused on their careers and I regularly feel horrible, like a slacker for leaving at 5pm approx. 3 times per week... they stay in the office until 7pm...

I'm also really upset today... we had our quarterly appraisals yesterday and my ratings went down from "exceeds expectations" (for the last 7 quarters...) to "meets expectations" last quarter. I should be up for promotion now but this effectively sets me back and disqualifies me. I was given no reason why they went down when I challenged it (simply "you are doing a great job but it got harder to get good ratings") and it strangely coincides with my pregnancy... they did it to me, in exactly the same way, when I was pregnant with DS five years ago and I had to come back from my maternity leave and work my ass off to get back on track... and now again... I feel so down about it... DP keeps reminding me that it doesn't matter as we've already decided I wouldn't be going back after maternity and stay at home for a couple of years but it's a pride thing and still hurts... my director is gay and my VP has a stay at home wife. Perhaps they simply don't think it's a place for a woman with family... I get this feeling a lot. One of my friends (with a child) left our team a year ago telling me exactly this - she felt she became invisible and not worth investing in once she had a child. So she went to a different team

Sorry for this moan but I feel really upset about it today. I know I should focus on more important things - having a great and supportive DP, beautiful DS and another little one on the way. Much more important...

legally I also like all the names . Especially Hugo and Ralph go so nicely together!

The only thing I would say about Isabel - there are so many of them these days... Isabel, Isabella etc... or perhaps it's just a coincidence that I'm surrounded by them!

clap I feel your pain. It's so hard to manage a career as once you have kids they do normally right you off a bit. I used to work for PwC as a management consultant and spent most of my time travelling Mon- Fri. I loved the job but the lifestyle wasn't compatable with family life and they made no allowances. My friend there came back from maternity on a Monday and was sent to London (we are NI) on the Thur and is still there a year and a half later. She gets home at weekends but there is no way I would do that. So I left and am now Head of Bus Development for a big charity. It is good as the culture is much more pro family (I still feel bad that I am having my second maternity leave already and haven't even been here 2 years) but at least I know I won't have to travel. The job is still demanding though and I would love to be asking for more pay etc but feel I can't. I do miss my old place though but it's just not right for me at the moment.

Your priorities are different though...before DS I was all about my career and now I'd love to find something 3 days a week or with term time working! I guess although it's hard, employers do view you differently, rightly or wrongly. At least if youre not going back it won't be as difficult. You just need to develop a thick skin and not take it personally.

shooting hope you dog gets better. At least he got home ok.

thanks so much warlin xx
you are right - it's so difficult to balance it, we want to be the best mums and prioritise our families but we still want to use our brains and it's hard to let go of ambition and something we've worked for for years... I will try to work on growing my thick sink. Something I haven't been able to achieve in all these years :-)

I'm also planning to retrain and do something totally different in the future. I'm doing Corporate Comms / PR right now and am so over this career... what on earth made me choose it years ago...

Thanks for the luck messages - my scan's not until 4:25 so I will update later (hopefully with good news)! Thinking of my fellow scanees soup and pinkbuttons and anyone else scanning today, and keeping fingers crossed for good news all round.

Hairy belly here also - I look like a man

Thanks Clapham. I know Isabel is popular (although funnily, not really that classic spelling of it). Our next runner was Grace - even more popular. It doesn't bother me. I sometimes think people go too far the other way!

Re work - I know what this feels like and how frustrating it us. It, and the lifestyle, was why I left a big city law firm (and in fact, left London altogether!).

I don't have the magic answer .. My situation is a bit different in that I am the breadwinner, so did with DD and will again go back full time with DH at home (he used to be a banker, retrained as a teacher and us now a weekend kids rugby coach and has an internet business!)... But, I left because the hours required to progress and be respected at my old firm were to me not compatible with being a parent (average day was 8.30am - 10pm...). Its a mans world sadly.

Hi ladies, just back from our scan so thought Id leave a quick message to say scan went well and were having a girl!! very excited and relieved.

relieved that all is ok not that were having a girl although am very excited at the prospect of girly shopping.

Claphammama I can see why your VP stayed on the phone during contractions now. That's a pretty horrible work environment. Maybe it's just the company and not the job that's the problem? I was sick of my job working for my last company and really regretted not doing something else until I moved companies then I loved my job again. Mind you, not terribly impressed with the company that's bought us over so far but I'm hoping it won't change too much.

Yay for the girl pink, congrats.

I'd love to leave work and set up an animal sanctuary but unfortunately that wouldn't pay the bills . It's def a man's world...not fair that we have all the burden of telling work our news and but have to take the negative consequences whilst men don't have to do anything!

So on the name front, we are now moving towards Edward. DH is very conservative in that he wants something that won't date. I do quite like Eddie and Ed when he's older but dh doesn't really like Eddie...the debate continues!

Can't remember who mentioned Raffael but I think it's nice too. My friend called her wee boy Rafferty which I thought was awful at first but has grown on me. He gets Raffie which is nice.

Congratulations pinkbuttons, another girl on the thread...these boys are taking over :-) lovely news xx

wow - congratulations pinkbuttons! So exciting! Are we entering the girls phase now? :-) Go and overdose on shopping for little dresses and all the girlie things!

thanks for your note legally. I have a few friends who are lawyers working for big city firms and they work crazy hours... sometimes until 1am or saturdays / sundays. They regularly have dinner delivered to the office. The money is amazing but the price you pay for earning them is in proportion... So I totally understand your choice. I also understand how it is to be a breadwinner. Until very recently I was one, earning three times more and with a massive mortgage. So had no choice but to leave my little baby in the nursery until 6pm every day when he was only a few months old. All the emotions and feeling torn that comes with it... Things changed completely recently though and, because of my past life, I really appreciate having options and less pressure now. Don't think I would appreciate it that much otherwise.

sparkeleigh my company is amazing in many ways, I have to be fair to them. My team is not. So it's not the company but my team and my team's management. Having a VP (she is now SVP and moved to the US) who almost gives birth during a conference calls filters down and dictates the culture of the team as she's hired people who are similar to her for all senior roles. She almost never sees her two little children (2 and 5), having a day nanny, night nanny and an emergency nanny in case one gets sick. Two of my friends (both with children) moved to other teams and are really happy. So it's not the entire company.

warlin really like Edward and all the abbreviations. Was on my shortlist for DS

MoN Soup and Jelly so pleased about your good news yesterday.

Good Luck to those today

Clapham, I di find it very hard being the breadwinner... But actually, although I miss DD lots, I get great comfort from her being at home with Daddy full time! I get teary and i know she misses me, but it is easier knowing she's with a parent....

Just going to moan ladies so feel free to ignore, I am really sad that i have an anterior placenta when i had DS i could feel kicks by now and this time i only feel flutters and kicks on my bladder, even then i can go days without feeling her I know i should not worry but i do

I'm with u there falcon anterior placenta over here too