November 2015 ladies! Time to feel the glow!

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Are you expecting a babe in November this year? If so, get ready to get glowing. Breaking out in spots, or tears, or both is part of the so called glow. Feeling sick, contemplating births and having the odd good day of eating well is also all glow.

Come on then. Wee in the corner to mark your spot. Have some or or . Then glow.

Goodness Toots and cupcake sounds overwhelming! My heart goes out to you. Toots I'm glad your back referral has been taken seriously considering your accident I would have thought it would have been an automatically monitored. Ironically they jumped on the mental health even though that was due to stress and depression because of your back- go figure! Who referred you doctor or midwife? I would have thought this is a happy time and maybe after a check would be good for baby blues but not now! Cupcake that is a lot of maybes thrown at you maybe a second opinion or another one even might be worth investigating. We are here for you girls! Prams- I'm glad the cosatto is so popular. I'm not getting mine till September and parents are buying it just glad I've persuaded OH to go with the colourful pixelate pattern. Sleep well preggers princesses

missscarlet I feel the same! I told them at 14 weeks coz I was beginning to show and felt like shit. My job advert had been written and sent for approval the following week. They don't even normally do mat cover in my place! I voiced my concerns about the early ness of if and was told they can pull it at any stage! Also providing all goes well they want a significant hand over due to my varied roles.
cish lovely news! Was everything else ok?
toots I think any mention of MH gets you a referral and don't believe it's anything to worry about.
It's a lovely day here - I hope it stays for the weekend!

Cupcake sorry for some reason I missed your post first time. My DS was prem and he's fine. It's not ideal obviously and it is a worry but medical teams are so good nowadays. The good news is they'll monitor you now and you'll get the best treatment. I know it's a worry but at least the hospital will check everything and make sure you and baby are safe, whereas if you didn't know about it it could be very different. And extra scans are lovely!

cupcake I have had worsening pelvic pain since 8 weeks so after i went to the GP (again) for the 4 th time, she took pity on me, the other GP said it was part of being pregnant, i was warned 2 weeks ago the referral could take a few months, but it seemed to have been looked at quickly.

I have a private physio but cannot afford it long term! ( not with the price of buggies and wotnot!)

Another one here with pelvic and back pain. I'm in agony on an evening and can't sleep much during the night because of the pain. My midwife didn't take me seriously and said it wouldn't be pregnancy related and to book GP app.... so anyway I have done for next week. Hopefully my GP will listen!

cish congrats on your little girl! Hope the scan went well too :)

cupcake sorry she gave you all of that to worry about and then just left you! I have recently found out that due to a disease I have we have to have growth scans in case the baby isn't growing right and is too small. It is very worrying! Hope you get some answers as that is a lot to deal with bless you x

Thanks everyone! I'm trying to get to speak to a midwife today for more info now it's all sunk in a bit! Feeling very emotional/sorry for myself/a bit crazy today!
Toots, that's great that they listened to you (eventually)! I'm starting to feel like that's a bit rare! X

I work for a small company of 6.. I am the office manager/book keeper/HR dept. There is no Maternity policy and it would be down to me to write one should we need one. My bosses reaction when telling him I was pregnant was "oh shit" then he said it would be possible to do some work from home once to baby was born. Then during another conversation decided he didn't want me doing any work from home. So I feel everything is a bit up in the air and its making me a bit worried for what will happen. I'm thinking my next step will be to put in writing how I think things will work after the baby and agree something so we are both completely clear on what's going to happen. There is no one to cover my work while I am away and I don't think he has any intention of finding anyone so I feel a bit under pressure and worried that whatever is agreed wont be stuck to and obviously I have a mortgage to pay so it's a bit of a worry.

Sorry a lot of you are having crap employers. Hopefully you won't need it but I found the maternity action website very useful. I work for a large company you'll have heard of, thousands of employees, and I still had to quite the law at them a few times. It's rubbish but unfortunately many are unaware or try it on
Http:www.maternityaction.org.uk/wp/
I'm going to wait until 25 weeks or until I get my mat b1 to tell work this time.

Wow, after reading about all the employment issues I'm kind of glad I'm self employed although it is leading to other questions. Like have I been paying nic 2 and 4, if I've only been paying one then I get a grand total of £30/week allowance! Can I earn while allowance to keep my business ticking over, I won't return to 24 hour work but could still do sleep and feeding consultations. Im looking to return to some nannying from when baby is quite young if all is well just to have income coming in.

Last night lying in bed and giving tummy a rub I'm pretty sure I felt a kick with my hand, well three of them, so surreal, I want more though. Really needed it after the stressful Monday.

Toots, I've it seem a mental health midwife but clients I've worked for have. They are lovely and there to support you if needed and I'm sure if you explain what happened they will give you support and not be pushing.

Cupcake, I'm consultant led for other reasons although one been pre eclampsia. I'm was prescribed baby aspirin as its meant to lower the risk. I also have extra scans booked in. Sounds like consultant was not very good at explaining things so your midwife should be able to be a good listening ear.

the scan was lovely. baby was rather uncoporative so had to go for a walk and have a can of coke then come back. sonographer was brilliant and explained everything.

Oh I'm glad everyone doesn't think I'm being unreasonable about being upset with work over this whole maternity cover issue. I'm still really upset about it today, and was awake at 5.30 thinking about it -usually I get over things pretty quickly so this has definitely hit a nerve.

I'm thinking of emailing HR this morning and telling them exactly how I feel. Last night I had messages from people in other companies within our industry asking if I'm pregnant as they'd seen the advert. I haven't 'annouced' that I'm pregnant in any way, just told people as and when I've seen them, and I wasn't planning to until after our 20 week scan. That may seem oversensitive, but it's my news and my right to do that - they've now essentially annouced it for me.

cupcake so sorry to hear about your horrible appointment. My experience with consultants has not been great so far, and I can imagine that recieving news like that must be terrifying and such a shock for you, especially if they didnt take the time to talk you through everything.

Welcome bella! Sorry, didn't notice your post before!

Congrats on the lovely scan and your girl Cish!

Cupcake, that sounds like a lot of information to be bombarded with! As others have said, I would ask your midwife for clarification and reassurance.

cish a girl! how lovely

I'm sorry so many employers are so difficult. Mine have been pretty ok, I work for a very large company in the city and I think they are fairly clued up - fx it stays that way. Never ceases to amaze me how badly some firms handle this though. terrible.

That's interesting re pain. I've got terrible lower back ache, I can barely turn over in bed and sometimes find it difficult to walk when it's really bad. My midwife was a bit dismissive but having read your posts I'm wondering if I should see my gp!

Congrats of the scans cish and feather, I'll bet it's beginning to feel pretty real now - very exciting!

a little I'm in a similar sized company to yours, with no written policy. They'll not be recruiting for mat cover for a variety of reasons, mostly because what I do is quite specialist. I just decided best approach was to lay out what I wanted to do, including how I would use my Keeping in Touch days, etc. I made it clear what the law requires, and also what they can/can't request, etc. At least it's provided a good starting point, though we'll probably fix some details (e.g. timings of going off and returning) much later.

amyy as much as i hate over egging the pain, i wish i had made more a deal of it earlier and to not let it get to the level it is at today, when your GP asks you, about the level of pain, describe it at its WORST not how you feel that day as they need to really understand how awful it is to get pushed into doing something sooner than later.
Sorry you are in pain :)

cish YAY girlie girlie girlie!!!

cupcake so sorry you had a rough time, Sounds like you need a proper care plan/plan of action/appts/monitoring rather than worrying things pointed out to you with no plan to give you some piece of mind. perhaps consider asking your midwife for a this along with the explanations, the more proactive approach helped a mate get her head round similar /not the same issues as she was able to feel more supported rather than poked and prodded.

MrsScarlett my mantra at the moment is 'My baby/Pregnancy, My terms of engagement with life' after being pushed about a little. ( not as much as you mind)

Good luck in your chosen course of action.

For those not in the loop as was ageeees ago in the threads, we have a Nov FB group and i am adoring the Bump pics and purchases!

( the shame... meant :( not :) in my post below about pain!)

might have had a coffee for the first time in ages and feeling the impact a little !!

Frescoed I'm glad it's not just me. I think I will do what you have, will spend a bit of time reading about the law etc and draft a letter or email so we both know where we stand.

I did not know about the facebook page... how do I find it?

We have decided today to book an early gender scan, I was quite happy to wait but my husband will be away for my 20 week scan with work so think it would be quite nice to find out together nothing to do with me being impatient AT ALL!!!

Thanks toots! I thought I might have to... I was shocked at my midwife to be honest, she is normally lovely but totally dismissed my pain. She actually told me there's no way it could be pregnancy pain at 17 weeks and I wouldn't have gained enough to cause pressure on the hips... didn't bother to look down at my huge bump that has developed! I am 99.9% sure it is SPD. I have all the symptoms! But I will make sure to express just how bad it is to GP.

Ohhh can I be added to the FB group? Who do I need to message?

Alittle I think that will be lovely to have your DH there to find out :) We have ours this Saturday at 18+3 and I am sooo excited! I don't know if you have a Babybond near you but would definitely recommend them :)

Have just been given the power .... To add ladies to the fb group- is. Secret group and will not appear at all on any other feeds.

Pm me your email or full name - however you like to be searched for.

So exciting everyone finding out what they are having! We are in camp team yellow, but it's nice to hear others' news

I've complained to HR. They have tried to fob me off and blame my boss, but I just keep reiterating that they are HR, they should be guiding this process and ensuring that everyone is communicated to about how it all works. Apparently my boss had told them that my intention was to go off in September, hence the urgency. Errr WTAF? I have not mentioned to ANYONE when I am thinking of going off, because I haven't yet had a conversation with HR about how it works (ie can I take holiday to start before my mat leave kicks in etc). I'm furious with her for saying that to them, and I'm also very angry with HR for just taking her word for it and not having a conversation with me.

My boss has just emailed me asking if we can have a meeting to discuss my maternity leave. WHAT A COINCIDENCE! I'm too upset and too furious to talk to anyone today, and luckily I have to leave early for an external meeting so I'm putting it off until tomorrow.

Sorry I keep going on about this, I'm just so upset and cross (as you may have noticed)

Scarlett I don't blame you I would be furious!! Sooo bad of them to say about September. Good thing you don't have to speak to your manager today I would want to throttle them after that!!

Toots have just PMd you about Facebook - would love to join.

Toots, I think I've pm'd you about Facebook! Not done it before so let's hope I'm not a complete techno-phobe lol x