May 2017 #5 - 20 week scans and pram buying plans

[Adventuregame]

Almost half way through ladies.........

Nursery fees for us went down as they got older. It was more expensive in the baby room as the raids were higher. From aged 3 we got the 'free' hours included and that reduced the cost a lot. I am technically self employed so am looking forward to the new scheme next year! I usually use nursery 2 days a week and grandparents do 1 day a week but not sure of a plan yet for this baby.

My recollection when I was an employed person was that as nursery vouchers are a salary sacrifice scheme they would not count towards your maternity pay entitlement. It was recommended you stop them 3 months before you went on mat leave with subsequent babies as if you continued you would receive less maternity pay.

Ooooh tea, do us self employed peeps get a helping hand in new scheme then? As far as I could see I'm only eligible for maternity allowance, no child tax credits (other half self employed too & we collectively earn less than £40k, esp as my main job came to an abrupt stop in Dec ) or anything else. Very pleased to get MA though of course!

Great news on scan rise

Will have to look into the vouchers. Always sounds so complicated!

My exercise/pregnancy/birthing ball just arrived, hoping that will help lower back pain. It's actually the right height for me to sit on if I work from home which is really good.

hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.
I have my 20 week scan at 2 today,looking forward to it.

I have had a lot of pain in my lower back,bum and the top of my thighs the last few days. Have looked online and it sounds exactly like posterier pelvic pain, it feels like I have done too much exercise when infact I have done hardly any! I was in agony last night,a hot bath seemed to help a bit

Anyone have any advice on how to relieve some of the pain? I am starting a yoga class next week and I got a voucher for a pregnancy masssge for xmas so I will book that in. Is a birthing ball good to sit on?
I have the dream genii pillow and am using that to sleep on my side with my knees together and that does help too.

hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.
I have my 20 week scan at 2 today,looking forward to it.

I have had a lot of pain in my lower back,bum and the top of my thighs the last few days. Have looked online and it sounds exactly like posterier pelvic pain, it feels like I have done too much exercise when infact I have done hardly any! I was in agony last night,a hot bath seemed to help a bit

Anyone have any advice on how to relieve some of the pain? I am starting a yoga class next week and I got a voucher for a pregnancy masssge for xmas so I will book that in. Is a birthing ball good to sit on?
I have the dream genii pillow and am using that to sleep on my side with my knees together and that does help too.

Ratio not raid!

Yes I believe so badger.

MissMoo can you get an antenatal physio appointment?

I'm going to ask a silly rookie question! Those of you that sit on big exercise/birthing balls, how do you manage to do it without falling off? When I think about me using one I picture something similar to bambi on ice! Is there a knack to it or am I just a clumsy fool?!

Rabbity if you get one the right size for your height, your feet should touch the ground!

Please can I join due 25th May baby #1 currently in a panic over the immense amount of choice in the car seat and pram world who knew there was so much stuff x

Welcome and congratulations winchester! I'm due 26th but reckon she might turn out to be a June baby Can't help with prams etc as I've only looked at a couple of joggers on eBay so far but the others are all over it so you'll get plenty of help :)

Thanks tea I'll have another look into it then.

Hope the scan went well missmoomoo.

Am in the same boat Winston! Just paid my first visit to Mothercare and it's bewildering!! Really like a system from Egg, but not heard of it/them and no one here seems to have mentioned yet.

Don't know if too early to be getting Tommee Tippee sterilisers etc too. I love a sale and don't want to miss out on good prices.... BUT.... don't know if the "sale" prices are actually that or whether it's still a bit too early..? (Am also 1st timer at 20w+4).

Just bought my travel system! Oyster pram, carry cot and colour packs and maxicosi seat with i-size regs isofix base all for under £730! It's all finally starting to feel real.

Well done Barnes - still prevaricating!! Where did you get your deal? And was it an Oyster 2?

Teaspoon - yes an Oyster 2 - Love how light it is and how compact it is when folded. Got it from a store in Manchester (Lesters nursery world in Cheetham Hill). It was worth the 30 min drive each way...

I saw the Egg system in the window of our local baby store and fell in love although that could have been the mention of prosecco?? teaspoon
I made the mistake of having a wander down the bottle aisle in boots who knew there were so many. This sounds amazing barnes first timer question is it the iso-fix base that makes it I-size compliant? We were looking at the Maxi-Cosi Pebble Plus but struggling to find it as part of a deal with it being new.

Winston - not all isofix bases and seats are i-size compliant. As far as I understand, from 2018 all car seats made will have to be i-size compliant, so we thought we may as well buy one now as when we have to buy the next car seat size it may not be possible to buy one which works with non-i-size isofix base and we don't want to have to fork out for a different base then. I think the difference is something to do with roll bars... not 100% sure though. I just know the i-size base is bigger than the regular isofix. I only learnt all this from the sales lady yesterday....

Winston - we've got the maxi cosi cabrio with the 2 way I-size base which will work with the pebble too which is what we'll prob get for the next size up.

Aaaargh!! So, we now have 3(4) options!!

BabiesRUs have a Cossatto Giggle in Treet with free car seat +bassinet, travel bag, pushchair for £399. I like, but have been warned against tree wheelers.

Mothercare have the Egg pushchair alone for £699 (extra for bassinet (£179) and car seat).

Mothercare also have iCandy Peach 3 with height adapters and free car seat for £755 (extra &185 for bassinet).

I like the Oyster 2 but feels a little low.

Can anyone help me out??

Ohhh I think it's going to be the icandy for me tea! I just love it and think it looks great.

Ohhhh what's the negatives with a 3 wheeler? I know nothing lol

Tea - did you try the Oyster with the height raisers on it? We got them (about £8 extra for us) and it works for me at 5ft 4 and DH at 6ft. Just to confuse you even more...

Evening all, been away for weeks and weeks but here I am back! Due 24th may. 20w scan next week. Have stopped anti sick drugs and generally feel much better than I did with baby 1 so that's good.

Think I can help a bit on the childcare voucher questions as I run the scheme at my work. You could register and collect CC vouchers whilst on mat leave (depending on the provider your work uses) once you are on SMP there is little point, the point of CCV is it comes out your pre tax income, on SMP weekly rate that's well below the tax threshold so you wouldn't actually be saving any money. Obviously if you have an amazing mat pay package then that would be different in which case talk to your HR about registering to take advantage or getting some CC vouchers in the bank, they usually last 18months so as long as your only off a year you'll use them up in time. I get full pay for 12 wks so will buy vouchers for those months and then stop when I drop to SMP. My husband started buying them as soon as we had the baby with our first as made the most sense to save as much tax as we can. Nursery costs are horrendous, we recently moved our son purely as it had gone up £5 a session in under 9 months at the first nursery.
Anyone buying a bigger car for growing family? That's our job for Jan.

No need for a bigger car for us but I need a double buggy/pram! Dd will be 14 months old when new baby comes so she will very much still need to be in the buggy. We have a lovely silver cross travel system at the moment which will do when out with just one child but completely clueless for the double ones! Any thoughts?

Thanks barnes we were thinking the same that better to have i size compliant base now. I think we need to push a few prams around to see which we like

I've got a uppababy Vista which is really lovely to push and has a huge basket, would really recommend it and the new version makes a lovely double, my age gap will be 2.4 but If we had a smaller gap I would 100% have bought a new version vista. I plan to get a buggy board and hope he doesn't jump off!