May 2015 - thread 6 - third trimester, here we come!

[Titsalinabumsquash]

New thread ladies

Wow longest I genuinely was naive to the costs of child care! Now I understand when people say they would be worse off financially going back to work!! Really makes me appreciate the fact that I have the option to stay at home a little longer!

yeah a decent nursery here five days a week would set us back 800 a month... but then they are feeding, changing and looking after your child, plus aiding theor development so can see why it costs so much even though it stings a bit

glad everything is ok scottish

leanne you have my sympathy with the indigestion

thanks for the maternity tights recommendations ladies, will check them out :)

Nursery wise I am in Northamptonshire :)

Just caught up with yesterday and today's goings on as I had parents evening so when I finally got home watched bit of tv and bed!

Kitty they advertised my job but so far no applications, deadline is Monday so fingers are crossed! As don't really want to leave my year 10's with supply (not had much luck with supply teachers in the past!!) as they are a lovely group, but at the mo that is what it is looking like....

apple that picture is soooo true! But am having days when it isn't that bad but that may be because I haven't drunk as much.

sweet welcome!!

turquoise I'm also a bit if a planner and have created a new esavings account to put whatever money I have left at end of month into it to try and cover when I have reduced/0 pay.

scottish glad ok, make sure you rest this weekend x

Ok am being dumb but what is a cellular blanket? Saw Asda had some baby stuff out when I quickly popped in this evening but didn't have chance to look.

Re childcare think we are going to do nursery, as a few nearby do term time only which would suit us obviously :) dunno when going to go look yet though....maybe Easter holidays to get a feel for them. Also don't know how long taking off work...think decision will depend on how cash flow goes etc so as far as work knows at the mo am taking the year but may come back before that etc - too many unknowns at the moment to give a definite answer. But I think I may start phoning some to find out re suggestions about putting name down, I know that some of them want a payment when put name down etc so will need to look into that too...arghhh so many things to think about!

Yeah I don't think they're necessarily making a killing when you think about all their overheads though you could make a decent living as a childminder Leanne because you're paying for a lot of the overheads already. I would look into it sooner rather than later though as it'll take a while to get your registration and training certificates etc sorted.

I am dreading having to pay two lots of nursery fees when I go back to work part time. Wow £100 a day for a childminder?!? I'm in the wrong profession

I'm sorry i hope i havn't pissed anyone off with my comments. I genuinely had no idea that is how much they cost, please excuse my naivety it is something i haven't ever looked into.
As i wasn't planning on using a nursery i just thought i could train as a childminder as i know a few family friends that do it! I wasn't planning on doing it for a year or so after she is born. I will look into it longest thank you!

Can't see why you would have pissed anyone off Leanne! I really think it's an area where the Gov could do more to help as no one is being unreasonable, it's just unaffordable for many to effectively employ someone out of their take home pay and pay for all the rest of life's expenses. Good luck with it if you decide to go down the childminder route.

I can fully appreciate that a childminder changing, say, £30 a day for caring for a child for 9 hours is reasonable and this can cost the parents £1200 a month. So its not an unreasonable price at all, but most wages barely cover this. You see all these programmes focusing on benefits and you have single mums of 3 saying that there is no way they can go to work and i can completely understand that they can not afford to enter full time employment with 3 children in a nursery. Surely the government could help out families struggling to get back into work? Surely offering to pay for all childcare for the first year so mums can ease back into work and save some money so that in the second year the pressure is off a bit?! This must cost less than paying someone job seekers, housing benefits and other benefits every year?! Oh i don't know lol!

Evening all - think this is my first post on this thread! Gosh i'm rubbish! hope you're all well? :)

I'm 23+1 today, have another private scan on Monday which i'm really looking forward to :) Baby moves an awful lot now which is lovely. Also have another appt on Weds to do with my protein s and the injections so hoping all is well on that front too. Going to take myself off to bed now and catch up with you lovely lot I think!

Hows everyone else at the back of the bus doing?

Yes, I agree Leanne. At the very least some sort of scheme that enabled people to spread the cost over their working lives would be good, rather than having to pay it all out over the few years you are actually using it. Or a higher max number of vouchers that enable you to pay out of your pre tax salary. At the moment even if you're a lower rate tax payer the max is £243 a month which doesn't go far if you have to pay for one full time place, never mind 2.

Belated hello to Scottish gal! And wave to fellow back of bus Kyz. 23 weeks tomorrow. I have started to feel tired again but it's nice to feel more regular kicks and time is passing quicker since my 20 week scan.

Hi ladies, hope your all glad it's Friday!

Love the pic apple

So as of Monday I'm no longer looking after my office I'm on lighter duties so basically will be covering any other offices who are short staffed and training new staff members up, which means no targets or outside appointments or stress/responsibility which I must admit I'm quite looking forward too! I seem to be possible starting with SPD so it a good thing it's happened now! Also have to take annual leave before I go so last day will be 31st march!!

Welcome sweetpea

Exciting to have an end date isn't it chooke?

Apologies for my random responses my phone didn't load so I've missed nearly a page somehow!!

Don't forget the new scheme that helps to pay for childcare as of October 2015. Government will pay 20pc of costs per child up to 10k a year. This would leave us worse off than with vouchers for one child, but better off with two:-)

I only work part time and for minimum wage so I've no idea how this maternity/work/nursery thing is going to work for me. leanne I've also been thinking of becoming a childminder.

I'm a stay at home mum and seeing the price of nursery really glad I can be. I know it's important to have good childcare but I never knew it was that expensive.
I realised this morning that in just 11 weeks I'll be classed as term eek that's scary.
This pregnancy seems to be speeding by.
My new midwife is fantastic. We have a consultant appointment that she's coming along to, to see if we can convince the consultant to let me birth in the MLU. She's very pro women's choice and thinks we should all be able to have the birth we want within reason. She thinks even though I had a section last time, they can monitor me well enough in the MLU to let me birth there. Although I've been looking at statistics and it seems there's a 1 in 4 chance I'll end up with a section anyway but I think the MLU offers me the best chance of a vbac.
Has anyone thought about pain relief or have any experience from previous labours?
I'm going to do my best to avoid an epidural but don't know much about other options.

Actually, thinking about it, I think there is more help through child tax credits if you're eligible for them.

Morning maysters. Happy Saturday!
Re: child care, we began to find out about rates from a friend in London who pays £1400 a month for full time. We were gobsmacked!! I'm only planning on going back for 3 days (with a years mat leave-I'm very lucky) bits it's still going to be a fortune. We definitely want to go down the nursery route and have already enquired round here. It's not quite as expensive in nottm as London but it seems I'll be going back to work for sanity as opposed to helping pay the bills!
Quick update on the heart/lung/clot thing. I lost sensation in my left ATM yesterday so straight back to a+e for me. Thankfully they seem to think it's inflamed muscles in a couple of places, which just requires rest and heat pads! They're confident there's no clots and that my heart is good and strong. Just an echo to go and then hopefully the all clear!! Yay!!
Hope everyone has a relaxing and symptom free wknd xx

That's arm not ATM!!

bazza leanne if you look on your local council website they might have a list of courses in childcare. I didn't mean to offend when I said that I'm in the wrong profession we all know how hard it is entertaining/educating children.

I can understand why so many struggle with the cost of living and childcare. I didn't think it would be this expensive with nursery fees when ds2 comes along it will be very hard.

On a lighter note hope you all have a great weekend xx

Congratulation Tori xx

Hi everyone. I'm terrible at keeping up. Thanks for the new thread Tits. Sounds like you've got a busy few weeks. 2 weeks IVs must be tough on you all, hope it goes ok.

Shiny poor you must be scary!! Take it easy and hope you are being looked after.

Kyz hello from the back of the bus! I'm 23 weeks now (I think). Feeling knackered and not at all glowing.

Childcare. We pay £44 a day for DS to go to a fantastic local nursery. I work 3 days so he does 2 days there and my mum does 1 day. I do different days every week and nursery aren't flexible with his days but somehow it seems to work out. Tori are you a nurse? Can you swap shifts with people and do you have a request book? That's pretty much how I manage it. Luckily when we start paying for 2 at nursery DS will get his 15 hours free. It's expensive but I'm happy to pay more knowing how well he's being looked after there.

Oh maternity bras! I bought some cheap ones from Primark and they are fantastic far better than the M&S and mothercare ones I had. They also do the breastfeeding vests you know with the drop down top for layering up and hiding post natal belly!