Due March 2008-New thread as we all talk too much [smile]

[turtle23]

Not very original, but the thread WAS becoming ridiculously big.

Oooh - have a fabulous day timmy!

Happy wedding day timmy!

Hello ladies!
Haven't been on for a while and have just been catching up on all your news. Happy Wedding Day timmy!

Went for our final trip away last week to Vienna, which was beautiful and also the tea and cakes capital of the world as far as I could tell...yum!

Preggers - hope everything is going ok and the those little girls aren't too desperate to pop out before Christmas! It got me thinking though.....it really could be anytime from now on for any of us ! That just had not occurred to me before....

Hope everyone is feeling ok. I have been exhausted and not sleeping well (bad combo).
Also found out that my iron stores have gone from being really really good 4 months ago to being really low now so have just started taking those horrid iron tablets. The low iron thing has definitely had an effect on my energy levels. This enormous baby I'm growing is sapping me! I was last measured just before the 27 week stage and I was already 30cm! Had my GTT - all ok.

Going for some further scans in Jan so should know in a few weeks whether I have to have a caesarian or not. Until then I am also putting off thinking about labour, episiotomes, birth plans etc.....la la la la....

Hope everyone has a healthy and happy Christmas !!!!!!!

happy wedding day Timmy!

GTT results back within normal tolerance so woo !!!
HB at 11.something which i think is still fine, though had a spinach overload last night so may have boosted it again
Lodger has just left the house and won't be back until 30th, yay.
Parents arrived yesterday and apparently it was like watching a cat when cornered by a dog and the hackles go up. Spent the evening trying not to be too bitchy when faced with medieval parenting approach and a dad who TALKS VERY LOUDLY TO FRENCH WAITERS SO THEY CAN UNDERSTAND not realising it's his thick Belfast accent they have problems with as does the rest of the world.
Nice meal though

HAve a good one everyone, internet time now cut down due to having to be sociable with the man most likely to raise my blood pressure ever

Happy wedding day Timmy!

ROFL at FnF and the cornered cat feeling: hope it passes well!

Happy wedding day Timmy! Glad to hear the move went well.

Preggers - hope those little girlies are tucked up safe and warm inside you still and stay that way for a while yet.

Stay calm with the parents fitnforty - they do test our patience!

Just had my S-I-L call me and tell me I need to start looking at nurserys before LO is due - all the good ones get booked up - even though I'm not needing one till September! Better add that to the list of things to do early in New Year.....

Merry Christmas everyone & if I don't sign on till New Year - hope you all have a good one (I'm trying to think how to dress a bump in a toga!)

Off for some more choccies now - oh... is 9.30am too early to start... nah

Hi all,
Happy Wedding Day Timmy!!

It's my last day at work today, hurray!!! Sadly, not forever though.

Right better get back to ballsing up my annual leave again. Thought I'd taken all 126 hours from today but I have added it up wrong. Got 21 hours left. Off to HR to see if they can put back my officila maternity leave date. What a twonk!!!

Happy Wedding Day from me too Timmy!

Mum of Billy the Kid - I paid a deposit for a nursery place in October, and after I hadn't heard I chased it to be told I'm still unlikely to get a place before next October! So I would recommend looking.

Hope everyone gets spoilt rotten, as they deserve, over Christmas! I too am tired and am factoring in afternoon naps where I would normally be drinking champagne before a party!

Happy wedding day timmy!!

LO had its first bout of hiccups around 7am as I was dozing in bed. (First that I've noticed anyway)

It's a joke in DH's family about FILs cultural blunders- asked me the first time we met if we "have pets in Canada". And patiently waited for my answer.

Well, my lovely SIL (who is big sister to DH and bosses us all around in a nice way) has a slot on Saturday for the Next sale (the woman is a V.VIP Next customer) so I'm going to go round and put my order in for babygrows and such. Has anyone else noticed the lack of unisex baby clothes out there?

Happy Friday!!

hello all and happy wedding day timmy - what a lovely crisp day it is to be married!
NOt to make anyone jealous but i'm just rising myself, have done davina dvd and about to shower and get dressed. Work gave me today off suddenly which is total joy. Pottering about, wrapping and packing before we head away tomorrow to the in laws.
Sorry to all those having family troubles..I am very blessed with mine...seriously...(although I may say differently when 'm back on line on wednesday!
I might get on later today to say hello and stuff but in the mean time lots of love to all. I@m off to find a box to put the home made brownies in - managing not to eat them...the will power is intense although have a feeling that one wouldn't matter..would it?

Happy wedding day Timmy.

Imjin - Well I'm sure just the one brownie wouldn't be missed. Whenever I make cakes, I have to try at least one. Otherwise you don't know if it's any good.

e14mum - I have come to the conclusion that unisex baby clothes don't exist in the UK! Even though I'm having a boy, I don't want him just dressed in baby blue all the time but that seems like an impossible dream... Have discovered that Scandinavian companies make less gendered clothes, although they are more expensive than the high street - try here or else search for the brand names they stock on eBay. They come up occasionally - I have picked up quite a few cool things on eBay for just a few pounds and they are well made so absolutely fine second hand. Also there is a company called POP (Polarn o Pyret) which is Swedish - they have a shop at Brent Cross in north London, and may have other outlets.

I'm fully recovered today and back at work - only 3 of us in and imagine we'll have a long lunch then disappear by 3pm. Really really looking forward to Christmas now. DH has been working so hard in his new job that he has had lots of late nights and is exhausted - my plan is to pamper him for the next couple of weeks! We're at his parents this weekend then mine come to us on Sunday night for Christmas then we have our final holiday a deux in Egypt from Boxing Day. I can't wait!!!!

SandEMum - thanks for the advice - it will be very early in the New Year visits to nurserys then!

imjin - go on, have just one brownie - we won't tell!

HQ- glad you're better - have a fantastic holiday! Bet you won't miss this cold weather!

Keep meaning to ask - are you all using grobags or sheets/blankets for newborn? Can't decide....

popped back on for re-assurance - have not just had one brownie - had 3 - small ones...in honor of timmy's wedding day. Delicious, gooey and very moorish (hence 3) now they are carefully wrapped so I can't eat more!

Love the nordic kids website. Forgot you were off to egypt - where you going? Feels like forever ago we were there but only a month or so - bliss bliss bliss - how exciting for you.

off to deliver some christmas presents now - wearing really cosy clothes, as a result look like the size of a small house but i don't care -what a perfect feeling!

HQ- thanks for the link. The scandinavian stuff is gorgeous, I've had a look at some of it before. It's not hard to make baby stuff unisex! I totally know what you mean about not wanting your boy in baby blue all the time. Or a baby girl in pink. Not that it's bad, you just wish there was a bit more choice, eh?

MOBTK- I have heard so many good things about grobags that I'm definitely going for them. And swaddling for when its newborn. Anyway, that's my plan.

I bought a couple of grobags and got another one from my friend. They seem the most practical thing. Though not sure you can use them on newborns.

Also bought a swaddling blanket to see if baby likes that.

MOBTK - I think we'll go with sheets/blankets/swaddling type stuff for when new and then grobags for when they start wriggling and hence are more likely to wriggle out of the blankets and get cold.

Imjin - we're off to Sharm el Sheikh for a week. We went a few years ago to learn to dive, staying in a fairly cheap place, and spotted a really nice hotel right by a great reef and have decided to treat ourselves to a week there. Obviously I can't dive this year but fortunately the snorkelling is fabulous in the Red Sea so I'll still be able to visit all the fabulous fish! The rest of the time I'll be on a lounger enjoying, for the last time in at least 18 years, the bliss of 6 hours solid sunbathing without being interrupted by a small person...

What a terrifying thought, no peace for 18 years. I'm hoping that's what Grandparents are for. Shame one-set is in SA!

HQ- just as you come back we'll be off! We're going to Taba for a week on the 5th of January...can't wait!

hello all

been unable to get on for four days as have had mil visiting, she left this afternoon tho

she is lovely, but four days is quite enough......... cant complain too much tho as she bought some bits that we need for the baby, blankets, changing mat, breast pump, muslin cloths, carrycot sheets and mattress etc as well as new shoes for ds1 and ds3

just about sorted for xmas now, a little bit of shopping still to do, but have everything we need for the boys, who are hugely excited, as is ds3 as its his bday on the 23rd

cant believe i am 30wks now had check with midwife and all good, baby very wriggly and kicked at the doppler when she tried to listen in oh she managed to get my blood out, i have crap veins and normally end up having to go to the hospital for a specialist, but this time she tried the back of my hand and eventually managed to get it out.

have to see here again in 4 wks and then after that every two weeks, so its all getting scarily real now....

PREGGARS hope thos twins stay put for a little longer, best wishes to you all and good luck xxxx

Hello all,

As well as being given a gorgeous hatbox of Lush products as a leaving present I was also told that my job will cease to exist from March 31st due to lack of funding. It's a temporary post but I've been in it over 2 years and been employed by the council since 1998 so theoretically they have to treat me as a permanent employee. However, HR are saying -no job, no maternity pay They've got it wrong, I'm sure, and I have Unison on the case but I'm gutted. I really loved my job and now I'm just waiting for more info. I'm a bit shell shocked.

Oh Glam - what bastards to do that to you today! BIG BIG HUG. I'm going through a whole redundancy thing at the moment and it's really not what we need while we're dealing with hormones and tiredness and focusing on babies. So I can empathise hugely.

On a more practical level, here are a few thoughts from what I've gathered over the last couple of months.

1. I think if you have started maternity leave when job becomes at risk then they have to be really bloody careful about what they do with you. If there is any question of any other suitable job being available then my understanding is that they have to give it to you (a woman on mat leave is the only situation where positive discrimination can apply I believe). Having said that, not sure if it is the same for temp jobs. And I think a lot would depend on the exact dates of when you are officially informed (by letter) and when you officially started mat leave. There are definitely threads on MN about all of this as I found some when I was undergoing the initial shock of potential redundancy, some including comment from employment lawyers so you should definitely search on redundancy and see what you can find.

2. Do you get just statutory pay from the council or do you get enhanced mat bens? If I'm redundant then my company will pay the enhanced bens until my termination date because I am still an employee and still entitled to those benefits and then will pay statutory for the rest of my mat leave - they won't just completely leave me in the lurch. Not sure if they are legally obliged to, but I would imagine they are. Can't see how they can force somebody to switch from SMP to maternity allowance part way through maternity leave... But if they did then you would definitely be eligible for maternity allowance as you have been employed for long enough so you would still hav ethe same money.

3. In my experience, HR people are really really crap and don't know any of the stuff they're supposed to plus always remember that their role is not to be nice to you, but to cover the employer's backside. So they will only find out the right answer when you push them and try and fob you off otherwise - so if you can face being a stroppy bitch with them (in the politest possible way!) then do so. I found that the approach of "Based on my understanding of council policy/maternity rights/employment law/whatever, I believe this is what should happen [saying whatever is most favourable for me] and will assume as such unless you inform me otherwise" was a great way of getting them to actually sort out the policy and give you a proper response.

4. Make sure you cc your manager and union rep in on every communication you have with them, and do it all via email/letter so you have it all in writing.

5. Don't be afraid to rais ethe discrimination word - are there any people in similar positions to you who could also have been made redundant but they chose your role instead? You may want to ask HR difficult questions like this if this is the case to make it very clear to them (without yet saying as much) that you are prepared to play the discrimination card if you believe you are being unfairly treated relative to other employees. Any half-way competent HR person would bend over backwards to then do their absolute best by you for fear of being sued.

But I would suggest for now that you go and have an evening with your DP, DD and those Lush products and leave the job situation until after Christmas.

BIG HUG AGAIN

HQ xx

haven't read any posts pasts glammama's 'yer fired' one.

keep breathing. not only is that so wrong you WILL get mat pay, but you have a sound case for compensation for di(stress) caused.

unbelievable.

will read more now.

please post what has happened to you inthe employment thread glam. i have seen people get reallys pot on advice there.

i am just furious for you.

HQ! I'm so touched that you took the time to write such a long reply to me. I'm sorry you are going through this too. My fantastic Union head rep has been on to the phone and in the New Year will get back to me after seeking some legal advice. They will have to try and deploy me where possible. She was concerned though that any interviews would take place around the same time as I'm due to give birth. My performance at those meetings may not be gold standard!!! I'm just going to enjoy Christmas and worry about this in the New Year. I believe things happen for a reason, and usually the reason is good, even though it might be hard to see it at the time. So, I'm going to put it on the backburner and instead worry about my throat which has suddenly got all sore and tickly. Vitamin C here I come....
Once again, thanks HQ for your advice and hugs.