October 2013 - swollen hands, puffy feet and we all need a decent sleep

[roxvox]

Time to start thread #17!

Spreadsheet here

Smitten and Iheart... I am sure you will have checked it out but do double check you can start mat leave after baby is born. Not sure if its official gov rules re SMP or just my work, but at my current firm and my old firm, SMP (and therefore mat leave) automatically kicks in on the day baby arrives, so it is not possible to start may leave after that date, even with holiday still to take. The hols then has to be carried over. Prob not the case with you, but I tried to do this and it wasn't possible.

Eek legally you are having your babies TOMORROW! It's so exciting.

Well, just off to work for my last week. 37 weeks today. It's going to be weird being off. I've also got the teacher's first week back snotty nose. Happens every time!

Thanks for your kind wishes. I'm ok. Spoke to her yesterday, and decided to just go to bed as soon as dh came home. Going to see her this morning, but fairly sure all is well and I've just been over doing things...... trouble is i've got so much to do!

Smitten n I heart. I had same thought last night. But fell asleep before posting.
Mat leave has to start on day baby is born. So check with your employer as they may have got info wrong. If not. Get it in writing so they can't get out of it.

legally I think you're right and you have to officially start mat leave/smp/allowance the day the baby is born at the latest. I've got one week left 'on holiday' then my mat leave begins and I still haven't heard back from hr re:smp etc but I know im not entitled so will need to apply for maternity allowance once I do hear back so getting annoyed at them dragging their feet now!!
hope everyone slept well, sorry to those feeling under the weather. I told dp about the slight cramping pains and BH I've been getting last night and he went into overdrive making plans about what to do if I go into labour while he's at work, all verg sensible and sweet but I did try to explain that it doesn't mean baby is imminently going to arrive!! we have a trip to ikea to finally sort out baby's room this weekend then he may arrive after that hahah!!

I did ask work about mat leave kicking in the day I have the baby and they said that they can work around it as they're a small business.

I'll definitely double check today though. I guess if they made a mistake they'll still have to pay me those 14 days holiday, even if I don't physically take them.

Maternity pay begins automatically the day after your baby is born (if you're not already on it). Your employer is kidding themselves! Also, they don't pay SMP, the govt does, so they have no discretion or choice.

From Maternity Action:

What happens if my baby is born early?
If your baby is born early, your maternity leave and SMP or MA will start on the day after the birth. You should give your employer or the JobCentre Plus your MATB1 maternity certificate and evidence of your baby?s date of birth such as a birth certificate, within 21 days of the birth or as soon as reasonably practicable.

Urgh, they're so incompetent. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll talk to them now.

I got told this:

Start of SMP
Except where the start of an employee?s maternity leave is triggered early, it is up to the employee to decide when she would like her SMP to start. The earliest an employee can chose to start her SMP is 11 weeks before the EWC.

An employee may choose to start her SMP on the same day as her Statutory Maternity Leave.

From here www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/before-the-equality-act/guidance-for-employers-pre-october-10/guidance-on-managing-new-and-expectant-parents/managing-pregnant-women/maternity-leave-and-pay/

"Except where the start of an employee?s maternity leave is triggered early" - this is the key bit! You having the baby before SMP has begun is triggering it early. What reasons are they thinking of here?

In that link it's the section further down called 'premature birth'. Ignore the emotive 'premature', that just means before EDD.

God knows, I can't believe they don't know!! I'm the 5th person to have a baby here, you'd think they'd have an idea at least.

Gonna email our external HR company now!

Wondering about caz, falcon and was it nelly that was in slow labour? Hope everyone else is ok too!

My carpal tunnel has really flared up the last few days, even if I'm not in bed I have numb and/or sore hands and fingers :(
How are you Tarlia?

Just to confuse matters I know a colleague who twice has taken a substantial amount of hol before mat leave and baby has been born before her mat leave/pay has started, (work for Next so big company!) She has openly planned this, I did wonder if they would let it go through as on paperwork it must have said her expected due date then date for leave to start as afterwards! I presumed the "maternity pay will start on day baby is born" type statement is more if u are actually working when baby arrives and not on planned leave, to save people trying to take it as sick or other paid leave other than mat leave (feel free to ignore me!)

I'm off now Natalie at 34 weeks, but technically on holiday until end of next week so mat leave hasnt commenced yet. With hindsight, I could have put down a later finishing date, but I am glad to be off now as its just been so busy and my body can't take the 6am alarms and long days like it did before. Plus, talking about emotional/hormonal - EVERYONE at work the past little while has been getting punched in the face in my mind! Haha! Anyway, it's 'operation hospital bag' this week (and baking some lemon cupcakes!). Going to try and enjoy all the me time before life changes forever.
Good luck and best wishes for quick and safe deliveries to all those having babies in the next wee while. It's stepped up a gear on the thread now!

I'm on annual leave now and am until 38+3. DS was born at exactly 38 weeks. If he's born whilst I'm still on a/l then I'll let work know and they can decide how to deal with the holiday that I lose (as SMP will start then whether they or I like it or not).

HR have been emailed after our 'expert' has now said that she's unsure. Will let you know what they say (I suspect it will tally up with what you've all been saying).

Good job this got mentioned on here or I would not have been happy if I couldn't have taken those days as holiday before the SMP!

*she's born. I'm having a girl. I need to get used to that :o

I literally cannot get enough of lemonade ATM. Got me thinking, did any of us actually have a craving where we would happily have gone to tesco at 3am to get it right there and then like u always hear pregnsnt women get lol cos personally although I would say I had a draw towards certain foods it wasn't quite as severe as 3am shopping trips.

So glad I'm a SAHM this time, all that maternity pay stuff is such a headache

Also for those who already have 2dc or more what do I do with regards to child benefit when baby is born? Do I have to do a fresh application or just ring them up and add the baby on ?

I think a large part of it is that you are not allowed to work for 2 weeks after the baby is born. A/L is technically work I suppose (you're not protected eg from employers hassling you as you are whilst on ML) so they would be breaking the law.

smitten good you are double-checking it. I had the same conversation with my employer during my first pregnancy as I had 4 weeks of annual leave left and wanted to do what you were planning to do. I was told clearly that I can't and my maternity leave MUST start on my due date, as stated on MATB1, or on the day your baby is born - whichever comes first. Our company policy also means that you can carry over only 5 days of annual leave to the following year and they must be taken before 31st March of the following year. Otherwise you lose them. So, depending on your company policy, might be worth taking them now. They may have more wriggle room when it comes to annual leave though...

huffalump regular psycho bitch episodes here. And pseudo also sobbing on bed last night - was thinking of you as I sobbed. It all started with a massive spider in the lounge but then things quickly escalated to much wider relationships and existential issues! A long story...

Last week in the office! And, what a coincidence, our HR director from the US is in London this week. She emailed our team saying that she is available to meet people 1:2:1 this week so I grabbed a slot... She never comes over and is very senior so a rare opportunity... not sure how much and what I'm going to tell her right now... Will try to think about it with a cold head.

Also meant to say - tucking your company's behaviour is disgusting... hope they will pay you everything they owe you. Don't give up!

orange what little s....hope you can claim it from your insurance... car vandalism happens in our area a lot too, they target nice cars in particular so obviously malicious. Only last weekend our neighbour had her back window smashed.

Can't wait for nelly's news! I bet she is a bit busy right now...and caz, jelly, falcon - thinking of you too

I wonder if there are more babies!

With DS1 I remember reading antenatal thread (during labour) and they were all saying "gt is prob having baby cuddles" lol. I just didn't have energy to actually post

Right. Ds1 just fallen asleep so gota get started with my chores