May 2017 #7....... Final months, rapidly growing bumps

[RasperryInAMelon]

We are a chatty bunch!...

For those newbies who are joining or want to update your details on the spread sheet of EDD's...

May 2017

Also a link to the last thread Thread6

Took a bump photo this morning and realised its time for new bras again! Ones I have are still comfortable but they definitely don't fit properly with a little overspill. Boobs are getting massive!

I would love to do SPL but I almost certainly won't be ready to go back to work before 9 months but that's when the money runs out. How are you guys working it so your menfolk have time off at the beginning? Other than the 2 weeks paternity leave?

I'm having to give myself a good talking to this morning, woke up in the middle of the night (again) and for some reason got the panicked thought in my head why wasn't the baby kicking. The baby does not normally kick in the middle of the night so why I suddenly thought that it should be I have no idea .... resulting in the next hour of trying to concentrate on something else until the baby kicked. It did and I eventually went back to sleep but I'm now stuck with the panic in the back of my head. So have spent most of the morning waiting for the baby to kick - a challenge as again doesn't normally because I'm wandering around getting ready for work. Baby has kicked a few times but as usual not lots. I know in my rational head that it's fine but that 2am panic won't go away so I can't concentrate on anything else I'm seeing the midwife this afternoon which I think will help. I just need something to distract me to stop irrationally worrying!

Jugoo28
I'm in my Molke bra already. It's the only thing that I feel comfortable in - and it's supportive. I couldn't bear to put an underwire date bra on!!

Oh rise it's scary isn't it. For some reason when I was getting ready for bed last night I decided I hadn't felt the baby move all day, despite the fact that I clearly had because I'd mentioned it to my husband and I'd been sitting in work with my hand on my bump feeling baby have a kick around. So I've got my count the kicks wristband back on today so that when I decide later that I haven't felt the baby all day, I can look and see actually I have felt them X amount of times.

Still waiting for my boobs to grow...

Shini essentially I think the first 39 weeks are paid and then the final 13 are unpaid. This applies whoever takes the time off. So if you take 9 months and he takes the final three, the last three are unpaid. If you overlap and have time off at the same time, his stat pay will eat into the number of weeks you get stat pay. So I will have fewer paid weeks because DH is taking time off just after the baby comes.

Fox the downside is that I will have to go back after 9ish months. We are both using some annual leave to stretch it out a bit. We both get a relatively good package at work which helps financially.

Anyone who can get to in car safety centre I would recommend you do - they're not near me but I have heard good things about them. Advice from some high street chains seems to often be very poor unfortunately.

Re baby movements, sometimes I can feel them from outside rather than from inside (seems to be how I'm lying) - might be worth putting your hands on the outside of your bump (OH said he was being kicked the other night in bed, I couldn't feel most of those movements!). You can also try drinking something sugary and/or cold (never worked for me though). I always got movement from my first when I sat on the sofa (not sure if that was happiness or complaint but it was guaranteed!). If you can find something that usually works it may help set your mind at rest.

shini your work has to support you as a bf mother - you are supposed to be provided with an appropriate place to pump and (I think!) store the milk (otherwise a small cooler box with ice packs should do), but of course some places of employment this will be harder to fit in than others. I know women who have managed fine but seems a bit of a faff to me - if it is at all a consideration a double pump and a milking bra would be a good investment so you could get lots of milk in half the time. Nursery should be able to handle breastmilk just as easily as formula, but worth asking when you visit.

Is the option to do shared paternity leave a legal requirement or does it depend on DH's work co-operating? I know he had to get the first two weeks but I wasn't sure about extra (he will have changed job by that time but it's not really a question you ask at interviews )

Could be useful for him to have a few weeks later on, I'm going back after six months anyway so if we could it might be useful to use some more of the smp weeks for him.

Rise I think (but don't quote me on it) that as long as you're both entitled to statutory maternity/paternity leave then you're also both entitled to shared parental leave, nothing to do with whether your employer agrees or not.

Rise I think they have to. To qualify you have to have worked for an employer for a certain period of time, and you need to give enough notice. But basically I think they have to.

Hello again, I struggle to keep up with all the chat so have been lurking. I am also having movement anxieties. I am still having movements but they seem to have gone back to being early 'flutter' sensations and fewer in each cluster where they had been fairly definite kicks and moves for a week or so. I am torn between telling myself that I am only 24 weeks and the dr was happy with his heartrate at my general check (had to have 25wk check early) so he has probably just moved position, and thinking something might be wrong. This is my first baby and I don't seem to have developed any natural intuition!

powerofthree as you say it's most likely that baby has moved. Until after my 20w scan baby was clearly transverse as it was kicking bottom left of my pelvis and I had a hard sensation under my right ribs. Since then I've had completely different sensations, much more 'top/bottom' rather than 'side/side' and the kicks themselves feel different.

Power I've just decided I'm completely irrational today. I'm now getting my normal lunchtime kicks and I'm still worried that something is wrong

I think it's back to the none of us know what to expect the first time round and we're all different, I imagine you still have the same worries with additional pregnancies too since they're not necessary the same. Just when I think I have my head round the whole thing, hormones or new questions pop up!

Saw the midwife today, she has referred me to physio and also put me forward for my glucose tolerance test (so excited - not!!)
And got my Mat B1, so 3 things ticked off my to do list x

Thank you for the reassurance savagehk and Rise, it would be nice if every baby followed the same routine but I guess that would be too simple!

Rise, I think that I have the same irrationality. I have now felt a couple of larger kicks as well as the flutters but am still thinking that something could still be wrong because it is not exactly the same as a few days ago. I don't have any friends who are/have been pregnant who I can talk to either which doesn't help as it leaves me with the internet (sections of which can be a bit panic inducing!)

Power I keep trying to talk sense to myself, to the extent where I had a tape measure to show myself how small the baby is compared to the size of my bump so when it moves how could I possibly still feel it in the same place. I am usually the most level headed boring person with a logical explanation for everything but today I've broken myself

I've just had my midwife appointment at 24 weeks. They're so efficient, in and out in 10 minutes and now MatB1 form in hand. They tried to get my chosen name out of me but seeing as I've not told no one but DH, that was not going to happen!

I'm a second timer and was still lying awake at 3am last night wondering why the baby wasn't kicking. The irrationality is completely normal.

Finally got my whooping cough jab earlier. She asked me how many weeks and I had to admit I had no idea! The first time I knew exactly plus what fruit she was a similar size as!

Impressed you've got a name already peach. We are really struggling this time.

Rise getting a tape measure out seems an entirely logical way to reassure yourself so maybe not that irrational.
Esmes you have just reminded me that when I saw the GP yesterday she didn't say anything about when to get the whooping cough vaccine. Should I be having that about now (24 weeks)?
I am also impressed that peach has a name already, we are feeling very inspired.

power yes, my midwife mentioned it at my last appt and I'd just had the letter from the doctors telling me to book in the day before. If you're in England they start from 20 weeks, earlier in NI or Scotland. It was 28 weeks last pregnancy (they introduced it just as I hit 28 weeks).

So much great input, thanks MrsJw and Savage!!

Is anyone going for the ExCel baby show in London? I've just booked tickets, it's down from £20 to £10.75 on the made for mums website www.madeformums.com/school-and-family/save-more-than-45-on-tickets-for-the-baby-show/23332.html Hoping we can finally buy some baby stuff!

How can you both take leave at the same time though? Thought one of you had to go back to work?

Fox you can split the 52 weeks between you in a variety of ways, and you are allowed to take leave at the same time (I checked!).

Ah right, the way I read it it was one or the other. Extra confusing because I don't get smp but should be OK for MA.

It's not the clearest guidance but yes you can take it concurrently. What I'm confused about is whether I could take annual leave at the end of my mat leave at the same time as DH starts his portion of the shared leave? Or does one of you physically have to be at work all throughout?

Treated myself to a JoJo bump support band earlier. It's lovely. Really helps with the weight of the bump.