Jan 2016 #3 - booking in for ginger tea vs frankfurters + rapidly expanding boobs

[Blackandwhitecat3]

New thread for the January babies

Are there any other self employed people out there? (sole traders rather than aa companywho can provide PAYE maternity pay) The government maternity allowance for self employed is shocking - don't I think it matches what they provide for PAYE workers even! With DS DH and I were going to alternate days working through the week so we wouldn't pay for child care (we never got to test it though so whether it works), but now he had more work than me so it might not be viable. We're both self employed so don't benefit from the new paternity either. Desperately saving...

Hello Haquoi! I'm in your camp as well as the teacher camp, as I teach half the week and am self employed the other half of the week. My boyfriend is entirely self employed. I agree the prospects don't look great. I need to find out if I can claim maternity from teaching AND SMP (or .5 of SMP) for my freelance bits and pieces but I'm not sure I can.

haquoi I'm self employed too. Pregnant two months earlier and I'd have had full employment protections but as it is no dice. It's shockingly poor what you get from the govt if you're self employed

Morning all

MissMartin i'm not a teacher either but i work for the Council so its just as bad lol! i also get incredibly confused when i see your name on the threads as Miss Martin is my maiden name

Well, i am 8wk today and i have no idea whether its physchological or not given everything i've read from you guys about how your nausea ramped up around 8 weeks but flaming hell do i feel sick this morning!!!!

The way we do shared leave means that DH doesn't get anything from his employer. Last time as I only took 6 months he got the 6-9 month SMP. This time as I'm taking 8 months, he'll get 1 month SMP and 3 months with no pay.

Hi marvalette and manatee! The worst bit is that you can't do any work alongside it whereas PAYE can do freelance work while taking their mat leave! It's so stupid.

Also meant to mention, teachers, that I work a lot in schools and you guys are definitely undervalued for the amazing stuff you do!

sleepy, I feel for you, that sounds horrendous. And it's not psychological! Don't waste energy trying to convince yourself it's in your mind, it's not! Your petit pois is growing big and strong and screwing over mama the meantime (in the nicest possible way)

Morning all- welcome newbies :)
On subject of mat leave- I'm planning on starting in Dec with holiday for 2/3 weeks then start my actual mat leave start jan- like some of you only 6 weeks pay them smp. However my place v v flexible about returning to work and have already told me to start yo think about what I want my hours to be! Oh yesterday I started KNITTING! wish me luck....Have a friend coming over today sho just started her mat leave...going to tell her my news and get some helpful tips...I'll pass these on!
Morning sickness definitely subsided in last couple days feel much steadier buy could be thanks to sea bands!!

Morning all. I'm also 8 weeks today and work for the council sleepy , in a school though so I was also have the term things to work out.
I plan to go on holiday on the 23rd Dec until the 5th Jan and then go on mat leave on the 6th jan....9 days before edd but I reckon I'll go over again.

Thanks haquoi i'm drinking water like my life depends on it as its seemingly helping.

Luckily i'm in the office on my own today (my junior is on a course thankfully!!) but i seem to be having an aversion to aftershave lol! my poor DH wondered how he had offended me this morning when i couldn't go near him and i'm trying to come up with a way of calling off a meeting i need to hold at 10am with 6 blokes...... do not fancy that!!!!

At least its a good thing to be screwed over for/by

Hi Brickie do you know, i must be thick, i've never even thought of taking my leave before the mat leave kicks in, i was thinking of tagging it on to the end of it but it'll be the new fiscal year which would be a pain because of the carry over.... i might have to look at taking my leave beforehand instead!

Morning ladies! I'm self-employed too which means no mat leave so not ideal at all. We've worked out though that I don't earn enough to make it worthwhile for me to go back to work and pay for child care afterwards so looks like I'll be giving work up after Christmas. Or at least the sums are very close and I'd rather give it up as I work from home and I would hate the idea that my baby could be downstairs with someone else.

Yesterday has been my worst day so far symptoms wise - still no actual sickness though thankfully. I think I actually feel pregnant now which is a nice feeling even though I feel shocking! Weird isn't it?

Oh and is anyone finding sleeping an issue? I'm so tired but just can't seem to have a good nights sleep at all!

Morning ladies. Wow I feel shit this morning. Started coming down with the lurg last night and have woken up to headache, sore throat, sinus pain, and general fluey-cold yuckiness. Have taken some paracetamol and drinking loads of water but feeling very sorry for myself. My temp is ok at the mo, but am armed with my thermometer just in case. As long as temp stays down i will just take the paracetamol and rest, but go to GP if i feel worse. Supposed to be working from home today but decided to rest this morning and see how i feel later. I feel such a wuss but it has knocked me for six. Luckily not much nausea this morning but cannot stomach any food so i bet i'll feel rough later. Apologies for the pity party!

Yes I wake up super early every day.

I might need to start wearing a sports bra all the time. Boobs hurt just walking around. Also last night I ate some salad and it tasted different, sort of bitter.

I don't think I've had a good nights sleep in about 3 weeks moonshine. I keep waking at 5:45

On the subject of mat leave I'll probably finish on 23rd December (office closes for Christmas break) take annual leave for 28th-31st and then start my mat leave on the 4th Jan. I may even take annual leave up until 10th Jan (my due date) depending on how much I have left.

On a brighter note, dh and I were talking about mat leave last night and he suggested not going back until September, as then we don't have to stress about childcare for the boys. He's currently in talks for a new job and would be earning loads more so reckons it would be worth it. At the moment i earn double what he does, so i had assumed i'd need to go back asap, and also worried about missing out on big projects. But he pointed out that i was looking to move jobs anyway, so worse case i'd tread water whilst looking. So now quite excited about having over eight months off and actually spending some quality time with my boys too

moonshine i am struggling with sleep too - wake up at 4am every day. And last night also woke up at 1am to wee. Grrr.

My alarm clock is stuck on 5.30am. He is 11 months old and does not have a snooze button.

Hope you feel better soon kep! I hate feeling that way, you have my sympathies!

Ha loveyoulots that'd be fine for me its when my work alarm goes off anyway lol!

Kep i think we have synchronised night wees, 1am seems to be my 'thing' at the mo!!

Manatee thanks so much for your comment about self employed maternity pay as I didn't even know it existed and it looks like I can get much more than I thought so pleased with that. Just need to be organised and have a check on my class 2 NI conts and all should be ok.

Really feel for you kep, the pregnancy symptoms are bad enough without coming down with something else! Good news about having longer of work though!!!

Oh and thanks to you to haquoi!

Morning all and welcome to the new ladies, I'll get you added to the stats.

Re mat leave, I'm not due til end of Jan/start of Feb so planning on working right up until Christmas Eve and possibly go back for a week in Jan depending on how I'm feeling. I'll then take 9 months (6 weeks at 90% pay then 33 weeks SMP for me too) then I plan on using 4 weeks holiday on the end of my mat leave so probably looking at mid/end of Oct for returning back to work. That's IF I return to my current employer.

My friend has just had a baby and she decided to split her maternity pay up into 39 equal weeks instead of 6 weeks at 90% and 33 weeks SMP which sounds much better for us, so will be doing that. I still can't believe that you get taxed on it!

I'm also the bread winner so we have started looking at where we can save for the next 8 months. Got a few things to sell and managing to skim some money off the bills by changing suppliers recently so that will be going in to the savings every month. I also bought one of those clay baby savings jars that you have to smash to get the money out (otherwise it's too tempting) so we are putting all our £2 coins into (it holds £2000 worth!) so hoping to fill that up. Doesn't seem much but it all adds up!

Yesterday also my worst day moonshine, felt sick from about 11am no matter what I did or ate, right up until I went to bed. It's no fun is it?! So today I've cracked open the sea bands (I also got black ones) and so far, so good. Even if my OH thinks they look hilarious and mocks me at any given opportunity. "Cool bands, are you playing tennis today?" Lol.

Moonshine and Kep I also keep waking at 4am and can't get back to sleep. No idea how I'm making it through the day just now.

Oh and sorry you're feeling poorly Kep hope you feel better soon! x

sleepy hahaa, good name i get 5months paid maternity then it goes to 4 month smp and then final 3 months unpaid if i wish to take it, so were saving up now so that i can hopefully

I have a 3 day work event I'm organising come then end of September, which I'll probably need to attend. It'll be 3 long days on my feet, being overly polite and helpful, stopping in a hotel. I'll be 25 weeks. I'm a first timer so have no idea what this will be like. I'm guessing I'll be showing, which is probably a blessing as people might cut me some slack. I just hope I'm not too knackered!