Due in Dec 07 - Feel them kick!!

[buzzybee]

Hi, thought I'd start a new thread. Hope ou find this OK!

Just been shopping downtown and bought a fab paid of maternity pants for work.

Also bought "The Baby Name Wizard" as Borders were having 20% off everything. Feel free anyone to ask me a question about names now!! The book categorises them into the following "style families" (chances are if you like one name in the family, you'll like a number of others - e.g. I tend to go for "Antique Charm" names for girls which include Abigail, Adeline, AMelia, Anna. Annabel, Annalise, Ava, Bella, Clara, Daisy, Eleanor, Emma, Eva, Georgia, Grace, Hannah and Isabel):
African, Androgynous, Antique Charm, Bell tones, Biblical, Brisk and Breezy, Celtic, Charms and Graces, Country and Western, English, The -ens, Exotic Traditionals, Fanciful, French, German, Greek, Guys and Dolls, Italian, Jewish, Lacy and Lissome, Ladies and Gentlemen, Last Names First, Latino, Little Darlings, Long Gone, Mid-Century, Modern Meanings, Muslim, Mythological, Namesakes, New Classics, Nickname-Proof, Place-Names, Porch-Sitters, Saints, Scandanavian, '70s and '80s, Shakespearean, Slavic, Solid Citizens, Surfer Sixties, Timeless and Why Not?

and now i look patronizing! or am i hormonal and over worrying?? hmm well no offence was meant at all... time to turn pc off i think!

DONT buy anything fromn mothercare until you have checked out Kiddicare - has lots of things far cheaper!

WE have used them several times and found their services to be excellent. They are good for things like pushchairs, cots, etc etc.

cazzy, i second your suggestion.

i mentioned earlier on the cot, mattress, bumper and quilt for £79.99 - cant get that in mothercare!

Fab service too - love them!

none taken, and i totally understand what you are saying, i am looking forward to doing it on my own THIS time. won't have to worry about my sex life or looking knackered!
Will be living with family for a while, so plenty of adult stuff and cute dogs to pat.

have a good evening everyone

Hi all, god this being back at work is a drag, it's seriously spoiling my mumsnet time!

I've said I'll work till end of Nov, due 12th Dec - I think I'll be dead on my feet by then but financially it needs to be done...groan...I fully sympathise with whoever said they'd have a £800 shortfall, we're looking at about the same - how do people do it?!!!!!

OK have to go and do planning, marking, etc etc....yuck. I am feeling bump-guilt already as haven't been noticing every little kick etc, when I was on hols I was patting it and chatting everytime it moved - now it gets ignored! Goodness knows how I feel when I have to go back to work and leave a real live baby...!

Mimicakey - my dh reckons he is getting 2 weeks full pay as well. Hope he is right!

Hi everyone

I was looking at my calendar at work today trying to work out when it would be best to start on maternity leave. Part of me would LOVE to start at 29wks (the earliest!) but financially I have to leave it til as late as possible so I'm also going to finish the last wk of November, with a wks holiday then start Mat leave 1 wk before due date. I'm lucky that I get fully pay for 18 wks and DH gets 2 wks full pay but as I experienced with DD, that soon disappears and to be honest we only just cover everything at the moment. I'm trying to tighten the belts at the moment to save some for those months of getting the £106 or whatever it is but find that I am thinking I need to be buying Christmas presents!

JARM - it seems really close when you say you're due in 13.5wks etc!

Yikes I'm not stopping till 37 weeks but really want as much time after - I went back when DD was 4 months old and it was horrendous am still scarred by it now....I only work 3 days mostly sat down but 2 of those are 10 hour days....getting bit nervy now as am so very tired...though work is understanding they are not the most flexible and am expected to pull my weight

I will get 18 weeks on full pay and 8 half....but more worried about our bonuses which we get twice a year (jan and july) they can sometimes make up half my annual salary (and are not included in my monthly payments for maternity pay)...haven't been brave enough to discuss it with my partners yet as it is very complicated

Here in New Zealand SMP is for 14 weeks. Its not means tested which is good but it is also not paid unless you have been in employment for the full 6 months before it is taken. Many employers choose not to top up but those who do (like mine) generally only do so for 14 weeks and then all payment stop so its a bit like dropping off a cliff! Since I have no other income to support me I have been working out how best to eek out maternity pay plus using my accrued annual leave.

ATM am thinking I will take the 14 weeks, then use 2 days per week of my annual leave thereafter and work 3 days per week which will take me roughly through to 6 months old (so will be getting full pay throughout but only working 3 days per week after the first 14 weeks).

Its really quite scary considering I have a sizeable mortgage and other committed outgoings which in total add up to about 40% my current take home pay BEFORE even considering "discretionary" items like food and petrol! I put aside a fair chunk of my last bonus as a fallback to see me through so just hope that works - considering mortgage rates are on the rise

MotherofZ what did you decide? I figure you've got nothing to loose really if it sounds like your ideal job? There's a very tight labout market in NZ so employers are generally willing to look at options to fit around the perfect candidate. At worst its always good experience to brush up your CV and job interview skills!

I'm hoping that i will be allowed to use 10 of my 15 days holiday owed so i can finish beginning of decenber. So have the first 2 working weeks as holiday and then maternity leave. So it'd start 16th dec, it starts on a sunday yeah?
I'm taking 5 days at the end of oct cos we're having a new boiler fitted and radiators. Landlord wants to be here to oversee but i don't want him here alone iyswim?
Hoping manager goes along with my plan. As i see it, why lose my for a week per month (sept,oct,nov) when i may as well get it out of the way.
If he says no i will bring my leaving date forward as i really want all of december off. I won't be working on stocking up ths=e shop as i guess i'll be big, so he's said i'll be doing the till. But that measns standing for 8+ hour. (i work 9-5.00 with 1/2 hr break,them extra money to clean the 2 toilet area's
Didn't mean for that to be such a long post. )

Hello everyone, hope you are okay!
Well spotted Kerioke I had my scan on Tuesday, Turtle is fine (and still bouncing!), but don't know sex. Sonographer, thought she saw dangly bits, but zoomed in closer and said she thinks she was mistaken and she couldn't tell what it was (think it may have been a bit of the cord she'd seen, I reckon), pelvis was at an angle to scanner. She managed to get all the measurements, and s/he is doing great!.
Been in London, visiting mum, since Saturday, got back Monday night plus had PILs up since Tuesday hence not been here - boy did I have a lot of catching up to do!
Still stiff, sore with back pain and hip pain, but good news i can hear again!!! Went to ENT dept. at hospital and they sucked my ears out. I've been given some drops as well to keep it clear. At last!!!!

Morning all!
Hope you all are well and enjoying the rare sunshine this morning!! It's so beautiful here this morning....

Spoke to DH about things and decide I will apply for the job. I'd like to see how far I can get in the selection and interview process (even though they might be biased against me since I am pregnant), so it will be a bit of personnel development even if I don't get the job. And IF (which is a big IF) I do get the job, I am going to try and negotiate starting after my maternity leave with this employer - if they really want me they will they will wait and if not - then so be it! I think for me, knowing that I have tried will be good enough. Plus I believe things happen for a reason, so we will see.....

It's wierd - all this year I've been looking for that next step up the career ladder and it suddenly turns up when I least want it to and expect it to!

Anyway - been getting blinding headaches for the past couple of days and my eyes are becoming really sensitive - really looking forward to this long weekend of winding down..

Anyone got any exciting plans for over the bank holiday?

Talking about maternity leave, I've decided that my last day at work will be 7th Dec, A/L for the next 2 weeks, then my employer grants 1 weeks of paid concessionary/bank holidays 24-28th Dec, so will start my actual maternity leave on my due date (30th Dec)!

hijack alert!!!!!

jarm could you cat me again please or email me please

hi nbg

Morning everyone

The weathers lovely here today, nice and sunny. I hope it stays like this over the weekend as we are taking ds to Edinburgh Zoo for the day.
I was at the doctors yesterday and was given a sick note for 2 weeks coz i have Sacroiliac in my back but last night i couldnt sleep with the pain, it felt like someone was crushing my back.

It also wasnt helped by the late night party that ds2 was having in my tummy

MotherofZ - please get your headaches checked out. It can be sign of high BP/pre-eclasmpsia (however it is spelt). If you can't get to your doctors go to Boots and they will check it for you for free! Having said that I get terrible headaches because I don#'t seem to be able to drink enough (and no i don't have diabetes).

NBG ds - happy birthday!

I got a bottle of port. God I hate gettiing old when you only get 1 or maybe 2 presents. It is so depressing. I got a bottle of port (vintage my birthday year) and a flash gun (to arrive). And I am sat here feelign depressed - there is no-one I can phone up and say hey want to go for a drink. It is so tough to make friends when you are an adult.

And by the way fifisworld it is still bloody cold here and looking like it wil rain (still 29 in Paris on Sat and that will be too hot)...moan moan moan bar humbug.

Bum just wrote a long message and lost it!

The gist of it was happy birthday to Cazzybabs if it is your birthday? Port sounds like a nice present but not too sure what a flash gun is?!

I am glad motherofz you are going for the job - you might have regretted NOT going for it but you won't regret going for it. Good luck!

My DH gets 2 weeks full paternity pay - it depends where you work. I used to work for civil service and got 6 months full pay last time; had I still been there I would have got 9 months full pay this time! But the basic salary isn't great and it would have meant movig back to London where childcare is so expensive (we were overseas for a few years)...

I am off to Devon for a week from tomorrow, looks like the weather is cheering up just in time!

Flash gun is for my SLR camera to get better indoor shots. Don't worry its not a gun!

The port was quite sweet of DH - he bought it ages ago on a business trip to Portugal.

Happy birthday cazzy! (If it is). Talking about Port, we went to Porto, in Portugal and vitited the Port making houses - was so interesting to see how the mature the Port over years in special massive barrels and how they crush the grapes with thier bare feet during certain times of the year. Was quite funny, as they had a Port tasting session at the end of the tour and neither DH or I drink!

Thanks about the BP point - was thinking of going to in-laws later and using thier BP checking machine. Anyway I thought high BP/pre-eclampsia issues only started towards the end of your pregnancy??

Cheers claraq.

Tis my birthday!

I thought pre-eclampsia could start from about 24 weeks (I may be wrong). You could just have high BP on its own or you could just have a headache.

Happy Birthday Cazzy! You can always do what me and DH do on our birthdays. After becoming fed up with buying each other gifts that don't go down too well, we buy our own. You can then get a guilt free purchase and know you'll like it. I know its not very romantic but neither of us can really be bothered with birthdays anymore anyway.

Commiserations to all of you who have headaches and back pain.

Good luck with the job Motherofz!

Weather in london is awful. Can't wait until september when I'll hopefully be on a beach in sunny Italy for a week.

Thanks for the Kiddicare tip - it's way cheap!