July 2019 (thread 8): pram choices, 20-week scans, and the morning gag

[RooKangaroo]

New thread!

Sorry, don't know if someone else was planning to do this. Just noticed how close we were to being cut off on the last thread.

@TheScaredyKat yeah, that is what I was thinking.

I’m due the 24th and hoping to keep working till the 19th..!

Checking in.

I’m finishing 6 weeks before birth, result! X

I've been panicking about my mat leave pay this week too. I get 6 weeks 90%, 6 weeks half pay +SMP then SMP for the remainder until 39 weeks. When I'm on SMP it's going to be about a quarter of my usual earnings 😭 some people I know get full pay for 6 months and half pay for another 6 months! I'd already started saving a lot more last year when we started TTC and since being pregnant but (luckily) we conceived in our 2nd month so my savings aren't as much as I hoped really. Husband does have a good income which will cover our household bills but I just worry that I'll be wanting to spend more money while off, going for coffees, baby classes etc. Especially if other people have more generous maternity packages ☹️ and babies are expensive with all the things we need to buy before they arrive too. It will just be a change in lifestyle I guess, I know I am very lucky really.

Place marking xx

@thedust I don’t know any other pregnant people so I’ll be sat in the house spending nothing 😂

God knows how I will cope on Mat pay, I just get the bare minimum. Sort of not thinking about it but also having the attitude that I earn minimum wage anyway, already had my hours cut by a day, so this is just another thing we will have to manage some how. Like my sister keeps saying, it always works out in the end!

BeckyButterfly I'll be pretending I don't! Especially when I'm on my last 3 months of no pay. It's so unfair the vast differences between different what different employers give. I guess we should be glad we get any at all unlike on America. But then you hear of amazing policies like in Sweden and ours seems unfair!

@HchyScott I’m doing the same thing 😂 when it happens, we’ll just have to manage!

@thedust I hate seeing all those things about other European countries and their mat leave! But you are right about the USA. At least we don’t have to pay to give birth to our babies in a hospital!

My mat pay isn't the worst, 8 weeks full, 18 weeks half plus SMP, and 13 weeks SMP only. I haven't actually worked out how that translates in real money yet to compare to my salary though. But I'm planning on taking 13 weeks unpaid as well though, as we should manage on DHs wage for a while. Then if I time going off right I'll be going back just before the summer break,and will have another 2 months when I'll be officially back to work so will be getting paid!

We are in a much better position this time round - with DS1 I was a student and went back to uni 5 weeks later, and DH was earning a lot less than he does now.
Your sister is right @HchyScott it does all work out in the end!

I have the exact same pay as you @SnailorSwift, planning on using 8 weeks annual leave (carrying over most of this years) to tack on the end so it's only a few weeks with no pay! Due early July and planning on working until the last week of June at the moment, but will depend on how I'm feeling closer to the time!

Congratulations on your scan @HchyScott a little girl, so lush!

Checking in! Can't believe we're on thread 8 already 😂 what a chatty bunch .

@HchyScott congrats on your baby girl news ! So lovely you had a positive experience this time too.

Smp sucks. Both previous pregnancies I only got 6 weeks at 90% then straight down to smp. I'm not even working this time around so we will get absolute nada. I literally bring nothing to the house 😂

@ReginaPhalange89 yup, my pays exactly the same and to be honest, if we end up managing to survive okay on it then I might not go back to work, the cost of child care where we live is almost exactly what I earn so I could do two days a week when DH can have little lady and his mum has offered to do one day... we will just wing it lol!

Hope you’ve had a good positive day today after getting your results 😊

That's exactly why I didn't go back to work after #2 , I'd have been working for nothing! Childcare is ridiculous , there's literally no point working if you have to pay it, unless you're in a really high paid job (which I wasn't as a dental nurse!)

Thank you @htchyscott :) I went to visit my mum earlier and she's bought me a pile of baby boy bits already ! 😂 I'm sure you're in the fb group so you'll probably have seen my picture of it . So sweet, she's so excited after having 5 granddaughters lol

Also found out today that our local Mothercare is closing down ! I thought it had managed to avoid it after some of the others were closed. But there's 20% off everything apparently, so going to go down tomorrow see if i can find any bargains on bigger bits !

@Capybaras are you health service by any chance!?

I'm thinking of using my accrued annual leave to have a phased return! Hoping to drop my hours so if I can use A/L to work a 3 day week until I officially drop down that would be ideal!

The theatre sounds very civilised stargazydrifter - we haven't been since before my daughter was born - in fact we haven't been out anywhere just the two of us since she was born 😱 As for mat leave, I'll be taking the full year..plus my annual leave and bank holidays 😉

Love the name of the new thread 😂

Congrats on your girl @hchyscott

We’ve ordered the ocarro pram @capybaras, I absolutely love it!

I rang my midwife today about the back pain/sciatica I’m getting. She’s referred me to the physio, I’ve to ring and book an appointment on Wednesday

Have any of you got step-kids or older kids?

Checking in here also. Briefly. It's been a long week and I've finally got through the door. Night night!

I’m still at uni, I’m not sure how it’s all going to work yet..we just got ourselves good childcare for dd and now I’ll be starting from scratch again with a newborn. Dp (finally) has a good job though so that’s a bonus! Last time around he was unemployed and we were living with my mum. We bought our own house last year, so really it’s just university that’s the issue.

@Giraffe888 we have a dd that’s almost 6.

Placemarking

@Giraffe888 I have a 14 month old :)

Still team yellow for me. X

@Giraffe888 I am so jealous lol the occarro is amazing, definitely would’ve gone for that if we had the money!

@hchyscott we got it on Black Friday when it was on offer

I’ve got a 9 year old SS who we have every other weekend. He’s been asking for a sibling for about a year and was excited when we told him the news. We’ve told him tonight that baby is a boy. About an hour later he said he doesn’t want a brother (or sister!) as he wants to be an only child. His mum hasn’t anymore kids either. He’s said he’ll not be the favourite anymore! We’ve told him he’ll still be just as special and that he and new baby will both be just as important.

I’m guessing it’s quite normal for there to be a little jealousy, especially as he’s old enough to understand?

I’m jealous of people who get annual leave and holidays. I will start getting mat pay during my normal summer hols. So even though I would’ve been off anyway and getting paid as normal, my mat pay automatically begins when the baby is born. I’ve never complained about teacher holidays before, it was always one of the only perks of the job! 😂

@Giraffe888 totally normal, I had a friend with a 10 year old son when she found out she was expecting baby number two.. he was devistated, told her that she’d ruined his life, he didn’t want a brother or sister and if it was a girl he wanted to live with his Nan ect! Honestly it was awful, she was so worried, minute he was born, they were two peas in a pod 😊 really hope it’s the same for you, I think they just fear the change!