Feb 2019 babies thread 7! Growing bumps and gender reveals!

[maxiflump1]

Thread 7 ladies......!!

Eurgh, boobs. Mine just won't. stop. growing. Going through bras quicker than I can make money at the moment!

I was a B Pre pregnancy with my first, went to a F and when feeding they were up under my chin! Haha! I looked like I had had a boob job overnight when my milk came in! They go to a D/DD between pregnancies so have stayed bugger which is fab! Although I was a size 8/10 Pre first child and am now a comfortable 12! So that could have something to do with it lol!

Is anyone thinking about maternity and when they are thinking of leaving yet? I was hoping to stay until 35 weeks as I want as much time as possible after but wondering if that's realistic! I work in a Pre school albeit only 3 3 hour sessions a week so not much but after I come home I literally ache the whole way up my legs and bum like I've done too many squats! It's really hard not to overdo it bending down picking things up and sitting at the tiny child size tables. Today is my first full week back after the holidays and I literally napped for 2 hours after the school run and I feel dreadful!! I left at 33 weeks with first due to redundancy and then 29 weeks with the other two as I just wanted to be out and I knew I wouldn't go back to the same job but hoping to go back and reduce down to two mornings for the first year after taking a year maternity off this time round as it fits with the kids and gets me out the house!

Brought our first clothes today! How many babygros do you think you need for each age group? I was thinking 12 but do you think that's enough? 12 babygros, 14 bodysuits, a jumper and the all in one coat and some hats! Am I missing anything? Bibs and muslins also!

@sickmumma I'm thinking of going end of Nov at about 29 weeks. I'm a police officer working in a child protection team and the work it stressful and I've just had enough!! Planning on taking at least a years career break after my maternity leave. Looking forward to spending time with DS over the xmas lead up before baby arrives. I'm having a planned c section to baby will be born at around 39 weeks so nice to know i won't be waiting and waiting....

I’m hoping to work till the end of January.. I’m due on the 14th February so I’ll be 38 weeks then.

I’d rather stay active tbh, I work part time anyway, around 30 hours a week, it’s a desk job but up and down two flights of stairs several times every day.
Also need to get back to the gym now I’m feeling more human!

I had planned to finish up 31/1 so begin maternity leave on 4/2 but saw midwife today and she said maybe ELCS likely booked for that week so may need to finish up a week earlier!

I worked to 39 weeks with both DDs and would hope to do the same this time. I want all my leave post-baby and have lots of flexibility to work from home etc.

I'm aiming to finish last week of Jan when I'll be 37 weeks. I finished at 37 weeks with DS and he came at 39 (I had a sweep at 38+5). Hope I get a couple of weeks before the baby comes but equally I hope he's not overdue! I'll then go back the week before Christmas as I don't want to have to take any unpaid time (will just take 9 months maternity and then some annual leave).

Undecided. Wanted to go back for a week or two after Christmas and then take leave - c section will be week 39 so first week of feb. But I suspect I won’t make it back after Christmas so will be annual leave until mid Jan and then mat leave starting at around 36 weeks. But seeing as baby will be born at 39 that’s not too bad. I also struggled massively last time - a v long commute and hideous swelling. I’ll see how I feel after Christmas!

Oh my word check out the gorgeous hungry caterpillar baby stuff in Sainsbury's. Going to have to go and buy something this weekend.

@MrsY87 and @Baby160P thank you for the reassurance, that's made me feel much better. I'll stay away from google! It didn't give any useful information anyway, and I'm not sure what I was expecting.

Hope your scan goes well next week @MrsY87, something about it being a week away always makes it seem quite imminent to me.
I'm sure it will go well, but I can imagine feeling more uneasy if you've been through a difficult scan before.

@maxiflump1 I love the hungry caterpillar! I'm definitely going to check it out, thanks for the heads up.

@maxiflump1

Literally picked up all of this on Tuesday. I love it 😍😍😍

I’m working on supply as a teacher so may have to make my mat leave decision nearer the time, but i’m hoping to be able to work in January for the money more than anything. I’ll only get maternity allowance once I leave (which isn’t very much) but if I don’t get much work in January it would be better to take the maternity allowance money. I’ll stay off work with baby until September as i’m hoping to get a permanent post then (really couldn’t cope financially on supply with him).
Is anybody else in the position of not getting maternity pay?

@maxiflump1 and @Alicejj8x omg those clothes are adorable! Love them!!

Also, though, is it just me being incredible immature or does anyone else think this is very bad positioning of the caterpillar on this outfit? I can’t stop laughing at it.

Realised for some reason the photo didn’t attach. This is the one I meant.

@Surprisedmom I should get maternity allowance but not mat pay as I resigned from my job when I found out I was pregnant (long back story I won't bore you all with!) seemed a bit ridiculous but if this pregnancy doesn't work out for any reason I didn't want to be in a job I hated and I'd have been stuck there for a year due to conditions of my previous mat pay. So I'm currently getting used to budgeting which despite being an accountant I'm not very good at! But maternity allowance is better than nothing!!

@surprisedmom I will only Be getting mat allowance due to part time hours so I don't earn enough to qualify for mat pay from employer.

I will be starting mat leave on 22nd Jan (I'm not due until 25th Feb) but I am on my feet all day with a v physical job. Prior to that I will be taking my 4 weeks annual leave so I won't work after Xmas.
Then I'll be taking another 4 weeks AL after my mat leave so won't go back until Feb 2020

@Surprisedmom: I'm also laughing at the caterpillar placement on that outfit! Hadn't noticed before. Going to Sainsbury's later but don't think I'll be buying that particular outfit!!

Maternity leave wise I am hoping to go as close to my due date as possible ( Thursday 21st Feb)
Maybe leave Friday 15th.

I'm a nanny for a living and work full time in the school holidays and half term starts 18th February so will miss that.

I work 6 hours per day out of school holidays to do the before and after school and hoping I can cope with that as I can nap during the day in between so I'm quite fortunate.

I'm also off over Christmas on holiday! Hoping not to go into labour then!!

I used to work in HR but I worked somewhere with very generous maternity leave so it is very different to the situation I’m in now. I only work 2 days per week (paid) - the rest of the time I’m at uni and doing my counselling placements so I’m out of the house and travelling 5 days per week in term time!

I’ll finish uni in December, although might have a bit of work to finish off, all of that is stressing me out much more than my work to be honest. Far too complicated to go into but I’ll be finishing year 2 of 4 and I need to decide whether to exit or continue and they make it SO complicated and unnecessarily stressful. I know it will sort itself out some way or another but I’d rather not have loose ends.

With work my contract at present finishes in March 2019 so it’s whether they decide to renew it or risk a discrimination charge, as they will be definitely renewing some contracts in my team as the project runs in some capacity, but probably with less funding, until 2020. The council can take ages to decide how much money to provide and so it means staff are left in limbo. I hope they just renew it so the mat leave is less complicated.

I’ve told my counselling managers my last intake of clients will probably be in October due to Christmas and New Year. I don’t want to risk leaving any of them in the lurch so will finish up at Christmas.

With work I’m less sure, I really like my job and think I would be lonely with all of Jan off so will hopefully stay until mid Jan then take a break with holiday pay maybe. Again as I work part time and husband works at home I might be able to go back to work earlier than some with a bit of child minding. I have no idea if I’ll want to though!

@powkin I had my last 2 babies whilst I was at uni and took a full year out with each of them no bother!
I am again at uni however I'm a distance learner so aside from dissertation deadline looming I am hoping it will be a bit easier!

@DragonFlew there are different options after year 2 - I was doing a professional doctorate - so academic work, clinical practice and now dissertation, but I was very fed up even before I was pregnant. There are lots of barriers between year 2 and 3 and they changed the goal posts for my cohort which had led to a lot of confusion. I want to move onto the clinical only pathway and not do my doctorate right now, but they won’t let me do this until I’ve completed a masters dissertarion. It’s annoying for me as I’ve already completed a Masters and I do want to go back to the doctorate later. I’ll have the PGDip so the only difference is the dissertation. My colleague didn’t have to do it at another uni which makes it more frustrating. There are so many different hoops to jump through with clinical hours, supervision hours, therapy hours, essays etc so I’m burnt out!!

@powkin that does sound far more complicated. Have you got an academic advisor or similar who could help you talk through it and decide?
They should have things in place to support students - fingers crossed it works our for you. Try not to get too stressed out - as difficult as it may seem! Look at the bigger picture and everything you have to look forward too x

I'm about to go into my final year of uni, so won't be getting any maternity pay, due mid feb so going to attend up until I'm due then take a few weeks out and just power through and finish up and finally graduate! Will be able to do a lot at home though. With DD I worked to 38 weeks and spent 2 weeks very bored and impatient, so I wouldn't be doing that again, I much prefer to keep busy and on the go.

I'm planning two weeks off at Christmas, back to work for two weeks on AL then it's due date! Is anyone else looking at shared parental leave? OH's shared leave policy is better than mine so it makes financial sense for him to take over from me after 4 months so we'd be back up to two full wages rather than one and statutory. Then hoping to have little one in nursery full time from 6 months.

Urgh that didn't make sense! I'm planning two weeks off at Christmas, back to work for two weeks then another two weeks on AL then it's due date...