October 2013 - High Five! The babies are coming!!

[PseudoBadger]

New thread :)

I have a horrible feeling your DP may not actually qualify for paternity leave anyway, if he is only on a 6 month contract, MoN - I know this, because even though DH is on a permanent contract, he doesn't qualify either as had not been working with the company long enough by the time I was 25 weeks:
The leave entitlement only applies if they have worked for their employer continuously for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.

Warlin the ECV is more uncomfortable rather than painful, well that's what I found anyway. You have an injection first to relax your stomach muscles etc then they'll attempt to turn. They don't even get that far with some, the consultant took one look at my friend and decided there was nothing they would be able to do - she had a tiny bump but I believe it's the same for too much amniotic fluid also.

Good luck, hope it works, but don't get stressed about it x

Checking in

SC almost 35 weeks.

to all who had crap Christmases last year.

Will post properly later

Wow - I missed most of the last thread and here we are waiting to find out about Legally's babies! Incredible.

I've FINALLY added myself to the spreadsheet. It's a struggle to wrestle the laptop from DS1 these days so I'm taking my chance while he's at school.

SC at 34+6. Feeling good though. I think baby pops in and out of being engaged. Some days my back feels sore, and it feels like I have a bowling ball between my hips, but other days baby feels much higher up. I jave polyhydramios and a HUGE bump so baby has a lot of room to swim around in!

Favellio (sp?!) - have you got/had excess fluid too?

Last Wednesday I was measuring 39 weeks, and I've started to see new stretchmarks, my first for this pregancy. Baby feels like such a long way away, but the stretchmarks signal the start of the end. I'm glad to be nearly meeting baby, but (selfishly and irrationally) I'm worried about what it may cost to get there. Isn't that silly?!

Here's to a much happier Christmas for us all

Checking in...

Exciting day- baby cuddles awaiting the new arrivals
Seems weird cos at 34+5 DDay feels a loooooooong way off still.

MoN to your DH

Am now proud owner of new buggy! And our fresh new highchair seat pad also arrived today (a couple of architects had to have a Bloom! at least it's getting used a 2nd time) Taking all your wise advice and shall try to put buggy together tomorrow in case anything is amiss.

Off out tonight at last work 'do' at top of the Gherkin. Not sure which 'tent' to wear...need emergency tights to cover unsightly vari-veins.
And also excited cos i just got a special invite to see Michael Rosen at DS's school tomorrow- a privilege of being core PTA.

Oh- and taken first step towards al your £-saving advice and managed to get Virgin to halve my mobile bill. Mention maternity leave and they're really helpful!!

Thank you for the new thread.

Sorry to hear that a lot if you had such a rubbish Christmas last year.

According to this you can have small amounts if alcohol, ideally after breast feeding. No need to pump and dump as it doesn't make the alcohol disperse any faster.

Can't remember who asked but there are 2tabs on the spreadsheet.......one for who is due and when, the other tab for births.

Can't wait to find out the gender of the new babies.

Hayle I definitely feel like I've been pregnant ALL YEAR. Can you tell I'm getting tired of it yet

Refreshed this page too many times to count! Can't wait for an update from legally, im betting one of each

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one in the benign neglect school of parenting - it doesn't seem to have done me any harm :)

I think legally is having 2 girls!!

Hayle I feel like I've been pregnant all year can't wait to get this baby out.

I'm not a strict rule person during pregnancy either I haven't drunk alcohol but I'm not really a drinker anyway so I haven't really made a conscious effort. I don't really eat any of the restricted foods so that hasn't been a problem. I do like a lucozade though and have still had them and coke (caffeine type) lol I have still had too.

cherry I too have lost count of the amount of refreshes I've done too!

Sorry to all those that had a hard time over last Christmas

MoN your dp place doesn't sound like a very nice place to work anyway especially when they can't even do their best to support him at a difficult time even if it isn't there legal responsibility u would think that the woman in charge of AL would have some kind of conscience too give him the leave he requires like u say its not like she hasn't had enough notice!

Roofio I'm going for one of each....

I'm v jealous of the sushi eating! I would have had my beloved salmon sashimi throughout pregnancy, but DP would have been very anxious (he's more anxiety-ridden about risks than I am). Didn't want to torture the poor man. Have had plenty of other 'naughty' things to keep me happy!

Bridget, I love my bed nest! It looked uglier online and in John Lewis than it does in real life. Maybe I'm influenced by the fact that I like practical things, and it is so solid feeling, well-designed and easy to assemble/fold up. I returned the awful John Lewis Moses basket (like yours, the hood didn't stay up and it was all wonky all over) and ordered one from another shop.

All these selfish new mums wanting to spend time with their new families and recovering from operations and labours and not thinking about us!! Ridiculous is all I have to say ;);) hope all has gone smoothly :)

We knew he wasn't really entitled to paternity leave shire but dp let his boss know I was pregnant straight away and she promised she would allow him the leave but now seems to have had a change of heart. It seems that she's looking for an excuse not to keep him on once his 6 months is up.
They're a very strange organisation. Dp has several clients a day who require and pay for 1-2 hours support in there homes but as the boss who makes up the timetables doesn't factor in travel time he often only has 30 mins with each client. When dp complains they tell him not to worry, that the time will be made up at some other point. It's not really fair on these vulnerable people who are paying for this support.

I need some baby news to cheer me up.

AnythingNotEverything - yeah, I've had a lot of excess fluid. Been measuring big since 20 weeks, so today has been my 3rd extra scan. At first scan the fluid was over 10cm deep but has now reduced to 8.2cm which is apparently the high side of normal, so they are a lot happier with me now. Have you had the same problem?x

Hello!

35+1 today. C section at 39+ weeks and will hopefully find out the date tomorrow. Keen meaning to add myself to the spreadsheet, but never seem to remember when I'm on the computer...

My DH has just been offered a new job (horray!) but giving a months notice at his current work would mean he starts the week the baby will arrive. Hopefully he'll be able to work something out, though not sure if he will be paid for it. Hopefully they will be slow giving him a formal job offer and sorting out HR stuff and he can delay giving his notice for a couple of weeks.

Thanks for all the mat leave advice on the last thread. Think I'm goin to be caught out as well as I was planning to start mat leave on my EDD and have 2 weeks of AL before that, but think my mat leave will kick in at 39 weeks due to my section. Will wait til tomorrow when I find out the definite date and then speak to work. Think they will prob prefer me to carry holidays than finish earlier!

Good luck to all the labouring and sectioning women. :-)

Shire I feel your pain - DH just found out this afternoon that he's not eligible for any paternity (unless unpaid). He just hasn't been at his current job for long enough but we were hoping they could use some discretion and give him something at least. He's pretty frustrated by it, especially as all I qualify for is maternity allowance so we're having a fun-filled night tonight, working out how much unpaid time off we can afford for him to take, then he will supplement the rest with his holiday.

You should've seen his face, he was absolutely gutted - I do think it's unfair that men don't have a paternity allowance option.

Just back from MW appointment, measurements and heartbeat all good and baby's head has started to engage here too Flyer. She didn't tell me if it was still back to back (I think she's worried that I'm obsessing about it a bit!).

I'm so annoyed at mothercare! They delivered the buggy and britax car seat and maxi cosi isofix so I rung them up to say they have delivered the wrong isofix and she said no its the one I ordered when I asked her to make sense of why someone would order a britax seat but a maxi cosi base she couldn't really answer me and as they apparently no longer sell the britax bases they r giving me a maxi cosi pebble seat at no extra cost... But then that will require me spending £30 on adapters to make it fit my buggy but fortunately I moaned about that too and they have offered me a £10 voucher towards the cost of adapters! Just imagen if I had had this all delivered at 38 weeks like they suggested instead of 35 weeks!

I'm not sure what I think legallys combination will be but I think there will be at least one girl in the mix. Come on legally update us!!! The suspense will send someone into labour at this rate lol

Mon that's crap about dp and the job! What a bunch of unsympathetic wank$@s I'd be well pissed off especially given your circumstances. They know this isn't a normal pregnancy/birth you'd think they would have some sympathy and understanding over the situation. It does sound like they are been awkward intentionally to manage him out so to speak! Can he speak to anyone higher up or seek external advice?

Paternity leave is rubbish anyway, you only get paid statutory. DH is having to take his as holiday as we can't afford to lose 2 week's wages. Depressing. Luckily he has a month's annual leave saved up.

DH wanted to take his as holiday, as his company have offered him two weeks unpaid with him not qualifying for official paternity leave. But as I will still be on the higher amount for my mat pay, I thought taking unpaid was better - I'd rather we have the option of him taking paid holiday later, when things are more settled, and we could have quality time as a family.

He says he's going to go to HR but his manager will more than likely just say that she'd never promised him the leave to begin with. It speaks volumes that the manager has no children herself. He sounded like he was on the verge of tears on the phone. An organisation he does some relief work for said they'd give him a job but without a contract. He would love to work for them but the no contract thing is holding him back as he wouldn't be entitled to any leave if he needed it for Eliana's operations etc.

MoN your DPs company haven't been very supportive at all throughout have they? Why do some companies make everything so bloody difficult?

My DH is self employed so not entitled to any paternity leave either. I think that it's so unfair that self employed people are really screwed over with maternity and paternity rights and leave.