Due in May- 2007 is officially here 01/01/07

[ShowOfHands]

We're having babies this year!

Morning everyone, good luck to all who have scans today. Mine is tomorrow and although I'm a little nervous, I can't wait to see bubs again.

Lupin, sciatica for me is like a sharp crampy pulling pain in my lower back, bum and back of my thighs. It is incredibly painful and sometimes stops me in my tracks. I had it last time but a lot later on. I've had it a little ever since having ds 2 years ago. My gp said mums are one of the commonest groups of sufferers becasue the action of pushing a buggy/trolley is a known cause.

So, lots of people are back at work today. It's tomorrow for me. I am a teacher and we're back at school tomorrow. I'm not going in straight away mind you as I have my scan at 9.30 so at least I get a later start. I'll probably still have to be up at the crack of dawn though as I have to drop ds off at the childminders early to avoid the traffic! I'm still totally torn about finding out the flavour. I have no idea what I'll decide when I get there.

Anyway, I'd better sign off now as in true Abby style I've left all mny school work until the last minute and I'm doing it now while dh has taken ds out to buy new light fittings - exciting!!!

Hi, can I join you?
Been posting on mumsnet for a while but not posted on an antenatal thread before.
I'm due on May 10th with my third DC. Have two DDs, one who'll be 4 next week and the other who's 2 and a half.We had our 20 week scan on 22nd Dec and all was well but we have decided not to find out whehter it's a boy or girl.
This pregnancy feels exactly like my previous two so suspect this is a girl also. I dont mind wither way, as long as it's healthy.
Suffering from SPD much earlier and more severe this time round. Only 21 weeks but have the pelvis of a 40 weeker.

Thanks abbeylou - will have to speak to mw tomorrow i think sounds like that may be what have, It is most painful when I am trying to turn over in bed or going up the stairs, seems to have eased a bit today well at the moment anyway will probably be back after i have tidied up, thought it was a trapped nerve or pulled muscle so sounds similar to what you are describing

Lisa xx

Hello and welcome LucyLouise, good to have you on board.

SPD from what I hear is horrendous. You have my sympathies.

Look forward to getting to know you!

Hello LucyLouise, nice to see some other newbies around like myself. I feel like I'm going to lose the plot with these threads when I go back to work. They seem to get so many posts each day and I can't use the computer for 'pleasure' whilst at work so all my posts will be in the evenings and at weekends.

Well dh is still out with ds and to be honest it is luurvely to have some peace and quiet after all the hustle and bustle of Christmas and new year. As I said I am meant to be working but keep getting distracted my emails and MN!

When is everyone finshing work for maternity leave. I have tried to time mine around school terms as it is easier all round for everyone. Last time I didn't finish work before ds was born as he was 3 1/2 weeks early and I still had 2 days left at work! This time I've got 6 weeks before due date so I am hoping that I will get some time to myself this time. I am due on 12th May and will finish on 30th March but officially on 16th April as the first 2 weeks of my leave will be the Easyer holidays so I am not including that in my time off!

Well, back to the planning and worksheets. Speak later, byeee!

Welcome LucyLouise! Gosh, we really do have tons of people now don't we?

Abby - Am also finishing on 30th March. I will be 34 weeks. Should have 2-3 weeks holiday to take at the start of my maternity leave, depending on how much I take in the next few weeks, so I expect my actual Mat leave will start around Easter also. Am tempted to leave even earlier but DH is telling me we need the money!

Hi everyone,
As of last July I became a SAHM so wont be taking any maternity leave. Worked part time after DD1 was born but with DH working ridiculously long hours I just found working and looking after the kids/house increasingly impossible. Disliked job (accountant) anyway so have no regrets but do miss adult conversation uninteruped by squabbling kids. But I think we're all happier now (although that's not to say that I haven't spent a few days in tears constantly in the last 5 months but that's probably more to do with the pregnancy hormones!)
Luckily both girls in nursery today (my one day off a week!) so this is the day I clean the house from top to bottom, do chores best done without young children in tow and do the grocery shop. Best get to it!
Mumsnet is not conducive to hard graft, is it?!?

No! Mumsnet is the reason I am most likely to get sacked. I am quite good at my job otherwise. It's dead here today anyway - most likely because everyone in the US is off today for Gerald Ford day of mourning.

Hopefully will be a SAHM once my maternity leave is over. I am really lucky with my maternity leave package and don't have to come back at the end. I mean, my company don't subject the occupational maternity pay to you returning or anything like that. Will ahve a few months on statutory pay and then a few on no pay, so a year off in all. Should give me a chance to see (a) if we can afford for me not to work and (b) to see if I'm bored out of my head. I have a feeling I'll be staying off!

I do get 24wks full pay, 12wks statutory and am very grateful for it. However, would love to be a SAHM afterwards, but the mortgage won't allow it- I have to go back full time. And after childcare I'll have no money left over. It's a PITA! Returning to work at 9 months when it all gets interesting. I am feeling so despondant that somebody else will hear the first word, see the first steps, comfort him/her when they fall. Actually quite upset about it all.

I'm the same as you ShowofHands, I get quite a good maternity package but can't afford not to work afterwards. I will only be taking 6 months off, the same as I did last time. One of the plus sides of my job is the holidays though. School is off for 13 weeks a year so those are precious weeks with my ds. He is so much fun now, I'm dreading him going back to the childminders tomorrow. However, I can rest in the knowledge that he is as happy there as he is at home and I'm sure I have the best childminder in the universe. She is absolutely brilliant and Charlie adores her so I'm very lucky. The only problem I have is that she has not got space for the new baby at all!! S/he is going to have to go to a different one who I also know very well and is highly regarded. I have no qualms about using her it's just the logistics of going to 2 places every morning and night. Even if I wanted to move ds, she doesn't have room for both either so it looks like our mornings are set to be incredibly chaotic!

Things might change with your current minder. One of her other (?) mindees might move on? Or does she only take one, full stop?

I have pretty much always worked or been at school since I had DD. I had 6 mths off when I moved in with DH and she was about 8. Shame. That's why I'm so looking forward to hopefully staying at home. Having a year at least is a bonus. I went back to school when DD was 4 mths. Wanted to take a year off but my mum put her foot down and said she wouldn't support me if I did. She was probably right. I might never have gone back if I had.

Crikey, at least I only have the one to worry about come May. My main problem with childcare is that DH is starting in the police force so he will potentially be doing 4 days on and 4 days off, therefore could help enormously with childcare. However, to secure a childminder or a nursery place I think I would have to pay for full time as I couldn't very well ask for two days one week, four the next, one the next, could I? So I would effectively be paying for a lot of childcare that I wouldn't use.

I am very lucky as I am an academic librarian in a university (why is it that I am back at work and the students are off until the 18th? Hmm..) so will never work evenings or weekends and have OKish opportunities for time off at Christmas (11 days paid), Easter (5 days paid) and Summer. Still, I might be as lucky as you and have a childminder who I like. I don't know how to get past the 'somebody else looking after my child' bit though. I'm sure it's just one thing on a long list of things I am going to worry about as a first-time mother.

LucyLouise, Welcome and Fill in your stats for us. So we can keep a record of all pertinent info.

jessinwa-05/12-not finding out--due April 26
skytvaddict - 08/12 - a boy - due April 27 (still secretly hoping for another girl though)
April/Snowymeadow-Girl- due 3rd May
Katybumps due 12 May
Abbylou - 3/1 - secretly hoping for a girl but not really bothered (honest) due 12th May
Lareginandtonic - boy -- due 13thmay
ShowOfHands- 3/01- hoping for a boy -- due May 17
anneme - 9/01 - don't really mind and don't think we will find out. Due 17 May
Frenchsmallfry scan 15th Jan, not finding out - don't mind, hoping for a baby - due May 25th on French dates, 18th on UK dates?
Peacemaker - 12/1 - hoping for a girl after 2 boys - due 19 May
Redkenendy - 11/1 - not finding out - due May 19th
twelve - 05/01 - don't mind, but one side of the family will be disappointed either way. DH won't let me tell anyone but you lot. - due 19 May also
pebblemum-2/01-hoping for a girl--due May 23
InTheseShoes - scan 9/1, not finding out, due 25 May
Jellybeans- due 26 May- girl
MKG-1/10-hoping for a girl--due May 26
BethnalBub-16/1-not finding out (unless its obvious!)--due May 26
JonahB ? 29/12 ? don?t mind as long as its SMALL (DS was 8lbs 8, I?m 5?)
Creena - 11/01 - already have one of each so don't really mind (although I am convinced that it will be a girl) - due 27 May
Pinkjenny - 8/1 - think its a boy - due May 27
Lwatkins ? scan 08/01, find out sex and let you know! ? due 27 May
Lupins - 7/01 - cute and healthy pls - due 29 may
Juicylucy - 16/1 - hoping for a girl, think its a boy! - due May 29
lilKel - 19 /1 - hoping & thinking it's a girl - due 3 June
lucyw19-boy

Everyone I'm really upset. My scan is next week and dh said that because someone quit at his job he can't go to the appointment with me. It's so sad. Oh well, maybe my mom will come with me, or maybe I'll go alone. HMMMM. Need to think.

SOH - you could advertise in the station when your DH joins up. You might find someone on his alternate shifts who is also looking for a CM/ Nanny share. It's not beyond the realms of possibility...

Does your university have not childcare for staff and students? Though I guess you would have already checked that.

Oh MKG is there no chance at all? Definitely take your Mum or a close friend otherwise but make sure DH has exhausted all possibilities. I would be gutted in your position. In fact DH couldn't come to our early scan- not as big as the 20wk one- but I was really upset nonetheless.

12YG the advertising in the station thing is a good idea. The university has a nursery and students get subsidised childcare but not staff. It's super duper, all veggie, very modern and creative with highly qualified staff. And it's a snip at £195 a week.

He could if I changed appointments, but my doctors has three offices and only one has the ultrasounds, which means that I am already driving from one office where the scan is, to the office where my doctor is.

I'll probably leave ds with my mom and go by myself. I would rather that dh and I knew before anyone else. That will also give me one of the first ds free days in a long time. I love him to bits, but sometimes I need to feel free to get stuff done.

Dh feel really bad about it, and his boss just told him, "Someone quit, you need to work 7 days next week".

Oh MKG. Poor you! Can you change the appt to suit one of his days off maybe? I know you'd have to wait a bit longer, but would it be possible?

Could you book an extra private scan for just the two of you? Here there are private companies that do the 4D scans and give you a dvd of the baby. Costs about £100 upwards here. It's worth checking on the internet. My friend in Ireland had one done around 24 weeks on a Saturday so her DH could go.

Like this sort of place. 4D scans NYC It says $325... Could you maybe do something like that?

DH's boss sounds like a frickin' twonk MKG.

I don't want anybody to know before me and DH either but with MIL and my DM coming to the scan, I haven't a clue how I'll handle it. Can I just ask them to get out when we ask the gender? I'm worried they'll see something obvious and know anyway.

Ask the sonographer to write it in your notes, but not actually say it to you. Hopefully they'll miss anything obviious!

Ooh will they do that? That could be the solution. Although MIL will nag and nag and nag until we tell her.

I'm not telling- she just wants to go and buy all pink or all blue and I will not give in to her demands.

Hey twelve, everything we do is private here. So that isn't an option for me, I could change the date, but I doubt I can get one for tomorrow on such short notice as the ultrasound tech keeps different hours than the doctors, and I don't want to push the appointment back. I have a video of ds' ultrasound i have to call and see if I can get one of this too.

Dh's boss isn't totally terrible. Dh makes more money than anyone else at his job, works the most hours, and is the most dependable. Working in a restaurant just means that there is a really high turnover in employment so people are constantly coming and going, and the regular workers are stuck filling the gap when there aren't enough people.

SOH, good luck with that idea. There is no way the two grandmothers are going to go to that scan and not find out there, what the baby is. You could ask the tech to write it down, as you want your dh to know first, it shouldn't be a problem. Or make sure it will go in your file, and at your next appoinment the two of you can go together and find out.

I meant as separate from your normal care, not covered by your insurance. Those 4D ones seem to be anyway as they do a DVD for you and stuff. It is pretty expensive though.

It's such a shame.

If I were to go outside of my insurance it would probably cost an arm and a leg.

I'm not too upset about the whole dh thing though. Just a little disappointed, but we can use the money from this extra day to buy a new stroller, so everything will work out.

MKG, my DH runs a bar/hotel/restaurant so can totally sympathise with the long, unsociable hours and high staff turnover. There seems to be a trend for people just not turning up to work anymore where he is, not even giving notice. DH regularly works 14/15hr days and if somebody isn't there he has no choice but to go in. Pays the bills though.

I really don't want MIL and DM to know at the same time as us. Was looking forward to having a secret (well obviously I'll tell you lot). We must be able to keep it from them.