Due in Nov 05 - Part IIII!

[rodeo1]

Here we go -

Hpoefully in this one we'll all get to feel those kicks and turns if we haven't already, some of us will go for our 20 week scans, and we might get to look preg instead of looking like we've eaten too many cream cakes!

No more scares in this one though please!

x x x x x x x x x x x xx x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x xx x x

Hiya all

ChaCha - so sorry that you were so ill, but glad you are feeling a bit better now. Hopefully the drop in temperature will help a little.

Hiya Bebejam - it is my first baby too.

Cor finding it hard to keep up with the messages at the mo, so sorry if I don't mention anything you have posted about!

Am glad all scans have gone well, I am having mine a week Tuesday and can't wait, don't think I am going to find out the sex. From what I have read are we mainly having boys???

I don't know about anyone else but I am quite glad we have now got rain, I had a funny turn at work on Thursday as my classroom went past 100o and I started seeing stars and couldn't focus. Luckily another teacher laid me down in the staffroom and gave me ice packs whilst she dealt with my class.

We are going to Essex this weekend to start our search for areas to live. We are staying away in a nice hotel tonight and I can't wait for some time with just me DH and me.

I have sorted out my maternity pay now and get paid up until March next year which is great. ChaCha are you sure you don't get maternity pay? At work I actually start my maternity leave whilst under contract from the school (cos in a year our contract lasts from Ausgust to August!) So I go on maternity leave on the 21st August and my contract ends on the 31st. Do your dates fit with this as it says in the paperwork that even teachers who are not returning get maternity pay.

My Dad is a lot better now, the hospitals out there think he has sleep apnia, which is where you stop breathing in your sleep for a few seconds. He is going into hospital again on Tuesday to be monitored in his sleep.

I have been able to feel bubs move quite a lot now, but mainly in the evenings. Got quite worried that I hadn't felt him since the Thursday incident but my Mum said it may be because I was hot, had a cool bath lat night and relaxed and soon enough I had some quite strong kicks.

Everything else is going ok, work is a bit of a nightmare, but only 4 weeks left so I can't really complain.

Hope everyone else is well.

Me

Very glad you posted Enthusia, was worried!
Have a lovely weekend away with DH and hope all goes well. Thanks for maternity leave info, i will have to do my homework, and quickly!

Tessasmum - nothing like an excuse for 2nd breakfast eh?

Okay, am going to be thick!!!
I work it out that my contract should end in August thus i'd be entitled. How do they work that out then? I know i'm entitled to the £106.00 per week but what do work offer? Is it a percentage of actual wage?
I have just emailed the bursar...hope he can shed some light.

Bebejam, I know just how you feel. When I was pregnant with DS we were living in Tokyo and, though we had a great group of friends, I felt really homesick at times. I think when you're pregnant you really want familiarity and your home comforts and I know the food I craved was the food that I grew up with. Silly things like cinnamon toast, but the bread in Japan was so different! I'm finding it a bit easier this time around now that we're back in England and I just came back from three weeks in Texas. Do CAT me anytime and let me know if I can help with the settling in process in London. You know, all the important stuff - where to get decent dill pickles, buy Kraft Mac & Cheese, etc, etc. The stuff that really matters.

Enthusia, good to hear from you and glad your father is doing well.

Tessa, I'm sitting here having TimTams for 'breakfast' but I know I'll eat a whole meal when DH and DS get back from Tumble Tots. The joys of pregnancy!

Chacha, I've got all the windows open to enjoy this fresh air while it lasts. So nice waking up in a nice cool room this morning.

OK, going to finish my TimTams and jump in the shower. Hope you guys have a good Saturday.

Tex111 - 20 weeks 5 days

Tex, one of my closest friends is from Houston, Texas, I met a lot of Americans when i lived abroad as we were all teaching in the same school. She had a real thing about a drink that you have over there..wish i could remember the name..it will come to me! Think it was some kind of DIY drink...hmmmm!

Morning all,

Hooray it's really cloudy here! Cor girls I'm feeling very under travelled listening to you lot, I've never been further than the Dominican Republic and that was only for two weeks when we got married there Note to self travel more at every opportunity!

Enthusia glad your dad is on the mend, they can treat sleep apnia fairly easily can't they? I know my cousin is being treated at the moment for the same thing. It's fairly common apparently, but must be very frightening.

Chacha easy day today, taking ds to the school fete then he's going to drama and I think we'll treat ourselves to dinner out.
Then tomorrow as long as it isn't raining we're definitiley going on the open top bus as Ben is fascinated by any vehicle "that's forgotten it's roof" at the moment. Dh will no doubt stroll back into London at lunchtime tomorrow with a massive hangover which Ben will have absolutely no respect for and I'll have no sympathy

Welcome aboard Bebejam

Will post info on Statutory Maternity Pay after this. Hope you're all well and having a good weekend, will talk to you all later when I can't stand the chatter of a 3 year old any more Beks 19+6

Right just to prove to myself that I can still use my brain with regard to Personnel matters even though I've been out of the business for 3 years - here goes.

Statutory maternity Pay (SMP)

SMP is paid for a maximum of 26 weeks.

To qualify for payment you need to be employed by the same employer for at least 26 weeks into the 15th week before your baby is due. To check if you are eligible take the Sunday of the week your baby is due (i.e. if you baby is due on Monday you go to the Sunday of that week not the day before) and count back 15 weeks.

You need to be earning before tax an average of £79 per week.

The earliest SMP payments can be made to you is from the 11th week before the week your baby is due.

You will receive: 6 weeks @ 90% of your average weekly earnings, then 20 weeks @ £106.00.

You do not need to repay SMP if you do not return to work. Obviously some companies may give you increased payment over and above this like my company did at the time but if you only get the basic payment then this is what you can expect.

If you want further information try Googling Statutory Maternity Pay - uk pages only and you will see a link for DWP (Dept Work & Pensions) and that has lots of information.

Hooray the brain hasn't completely gone to mush!!!

Well done Beks! Your brain is still intact - how've you managed that?!

I was at work last night so laid in til 10ish, what are we going to do when all our babes are here! I'm so glad I'll have you guys to moan at! (I mean share it with )

Enthusia I think we're down the middle on the boy/girl stakes (2 of each so far I think) Glad to hear from you too, was wondering where you where, you've got a lot to cope with at the mo - with your dad and all - hope he'll be on the mend soon

Bebejam - a warm welcome to you! Sorry you're feeling homesick, I'm sure you'll be feeling better soon, you're raging hormones won't be helping matters!

I'm not doing much today, I'm still lazing in my dressing gown, dp is at work and children are watching The Lion King. Feeling far too emotional at the mo, don't want to watch it with them or I'll be in tears at all the sad bits.

Can't stop calling my bump 'she'. I'll be in for a big shock if it comes out with bits! Haven't told anyone about the sex, I've told them all we didn't ask, didn't see much point as the sonographer couldn't say for definite (not that they can say for definite at the scan) so they're all in for a surprise anyway. That's as long as they stay from this thread!

Well I'm rambling now, time for a cup of tea I think!

21+3 x x x

I go away for two days and there's so much to catch up on. I went to spend some time with my dad and grandparents on thursday, and to watch a show my old drama teacher was putting on in my home town (southampton). Then on my way back to London i stopped off to visit a friend in Romsey who is due to have a baby in 4 weeks. Just when i was starting to get proud of my neat little bump, it seemed soooo small compared to hers! She took me to a fab baby stuff shop, as we've got a strange shaped car and was desperate to find a car seat to fit it so DH didn't have to give it up. We've got a limited edition jaguar that does have back seats but they are very small. Thankfully the place managed to find a car bed that fitted, which is apparently better for baby anyway as they can lay flat. So i've ordered a bebe confort 'windoo' which also doubles as a moses basket. It can also clip onto the pushchair system that i've ordered which is a bebe confort 'loola'. The Quinny system that someone mentioned is also very good as that what my friend has ordered. I've also ordered all the nursery furniture. It's such a fab design as it can all be rebuilt to go from a cot/changing platform/cupboards to a bed/bookshelf/desk. I also got a grobag which is HEAVEN! I'm going to go back in sept. to buy all my other bits from there as they were sooo helpful. Also had a very long conversation about re-usable nappies, as i've been a bit 50/50 about whether to use them, but i've been convinced. Also my friend is going to be using them before me so i'll get her verdict before i have to invest. It was so difficult not to just buy everything now.

anyway, the excitment has gone and am officially grumpy today as DH woke me up in the middle of the night coming to bed, pulled all the covers off me, then left me with no hot water for a shower this morning - grr.

welcome bebejam, which part of london are you in?

Hiya all

Thanks for the messages.

Well done Becks for the maternity info. It is slightly different for teachers but not much. I think it is the same for all areas but here is what happens in my LEA.

The first 4 weeks are paid at full salary, the next two weeks are paid at 90% and then the next 20 weeks are paid at the SMP rate which is £106 a week at the mo!

Thanks for all the info guys! What happens if you give birth early though? No need for replies..just wondering. Probably makes no difference.
Rodeo - you're still drinking tea?? I'm so jealous, i really miss a cuppa..haven't been drinking tea since PG, makes me ill, coffee is okay though but in moderation, sometimes it agrees with me and sometimes not. I am a massive coke fan - it's terrible, has to be on ice!!

Airports are great..really wish i was going somewhere..i also find myself looking at people with their kids and deciding who they take after..very strange interest indeed! Our baby's grandparents are all different races/colours so will be interesting to see what we get. As for languages...will have to start reading up on it.

Hope everyone's having a lovely day..on my second roll now and about to make a third..I am sooooo hungry all the time.

Evening girls had a really nice day with ds today, he has been such a good boy.
Took him to his school fete, where he won two teddies and promptly asked if he could give one to his best friend Molly, how sweet is that?!

Decided to take him to Pizza Hut for tea as he wanted pizza and salad, but the service was atrocious and after an hour and many confused conversations with a poor waiter who hadn't taken our original order we ended up walking out - poor ds was upset and without prompting said "that man was an idiot, he didn't make my pizza" lol, I then had to take him to McDonalds because it was getting so late and we had to wait ages, fast food my a**e, and then there was a big shouting match between some of the customers (not me I hasten to add) as someone pushed in - so much for a dinner time treat!!!

Lets hope the trip on a sightseeing bus will be a bit less hassle tomorrow.

Just waiting for dh to ring as he has gone to Manchester on a lads day/night out, he was just about coherent when he phoned at 7:30 to say goodnight to Ben so hate to think what he'll sound like by closing time .

Hope you're all having a good weekend, speak to you tomorrow. Beks 19+6

Its VERY quiet on here!! Hope everyone is having a lovely w/e.

We are in the throes of potty training so have spent most of the w/e pottering about the house and garden so someone can have a bare bottom. Even having pants on seems to confuse the issue at the moment but its very early days and without pants things are going great guns.

very excited as we're booked in for our birth classes which start at the end of August, then go through 6 weeks until beginning of October and then it's only 4 weeks - not that i'm wishing this time away, but i'm finding pg very long and boring, i just want the baby now!

Hello all,

Have had a lovely day in the sun, been to the river and then strawb picking, then back home to get sunday dinner on while children played in the paddling pool. They're in bed now and dp is off to the pictures (after he's washed the pots!) so I'm going to watch the last 2 episodes of my favorite 24! How am I going to cope without it!!!

Nova - I used reusables with my ds and intend to use them again, I found them really easy to use, and cheap too. I breastfed too so I hardly had to spend any money on ds in those first 6 months!

Right I'm off, will speak again tomorrow - don't want to miss any of Jack Bauer!!

21+4 x x x

what re-usables did you use rodeo? my friend said she was using tots bots, and they looked pretty good. DH isn't convinced about them, seems to think it will be messier/more difficult but all he has to do is put them in a nappy bin and i'll do all the washing.

Very interesting topic! Shed some light on the whole nappy thing for me pls, am very interested. Do you have to pin those kinds? I need a short idiots guide if ayone cares

Glad the Sunday posters are all well

ChaCha - how short is short?!!

We have been using reusables since Tessa was born and will do the same with the new baby. No pins or anything needed on the ones we use, you just fold them over into a pad, add a disposable nappy liner (that holds the poo most of the time and you then flush it all away) and put it all into a wrap that velcros round the baby. It takes a little practice but Tessa can virtually make them up herself now, a skill that I intend to use to the full when the new baby turns up!

I knew I wanted to use them before she was born but wasn't sure how it would work out so went for a laundry service to start with. They provide most of what you need, take a huge bag of dirty nappies away once a week and leave a nice bag of clean ones. It costs about as much a week as disposibles plus a sign on fee of about 20 (sorry no pound sign!)

Once we had thought through how it would work for us I bought everything from ebay in dribs and drabs. I have bought new wraps occasionally but again from ebay shops.

We will be using the laundry service again for the first 3 or 4 months this time round. Partly because everything will be mad and having someone to wash nappies will be great and partly because little babies grow so quickly and we would need lots of little nappies and wraps that we haven't got and which I would be selling on within weeks of buying the damn things! Once Tessa got to about 4 months she went into the medium size nappy and wrap and we only needed a larger size wrap by her 2nd birthday.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask any other questions you want, it looks like a bit of a minefield but well, well worth it.

Good Morning all,
Well it looks like another red hot day here(this weather is not normal!)had a nice day yeaterday laying around in the garden and having a BQ. Back to the grind now though The next few weeks are mad both school and nursery have so much stuff going on i dont know how im going to fit it all in. Work seems never ending I can't wait for maternity leave to begin prob end september.Im really excited about my scan next Mon, well had beter go and walk kids to school
have a good day
twinkle
18+4

Tessasmum - great info there, thank you Do you use 'wet wipes' as well or just water and cotton wool? I'm looking for the best possible natural ways of looking after baby iyswim. Any suggestions on that?
I'm going to start looking into those nappies you mentioned, i like the idea and DH is pushing for it too...delivery man here gotta go x

I have the ones like tessasmum, prefolds which you fold into 3 (really easy!) and pop into a waterproof outer with a liner in. Mine were cheap from a company called Yummies I think

Have a lovely day everyone - off to do some online banking

21+5 x x x

Morning all, had a great day yesterday, took Ben on a sightseeing bus round London and his best friend & her parents decided to come along too! We got off at the London Eye which Ben really wanted to go on, but the queues were horrendous, so we persuaded him that we'd go on it another day - not sure I'll be joining him

Another hot day here but it's supposed to rain again tomorrow isn't it - I'll keep doing my rain dance

Dh came back from Manchester and said he had a great time but has no idea what time he went to bed as he doesn't think he left the pub till 1:30am then went for the obligatory kebab and then had further drinks in the hotel!!! Amazingly he didn't look too bad when he joined us in London, how he does it I'll never know - I'm only jealous though 'cos I'm so out of practice.

Hope you all have a good day and I'll speak to you later
Beks 20 + 1(hooray only another 138 days to go!!!)

Hiya Beks, glad you had a great day out, sounds like a lot of fun.
Twinkle - still not too long till your maternity leave...I have only 3 weeks to go, plan a week away with DH and then spending August/Sep/Oct at home..not sure what i'll be doing with myself but it's been a while since i've done anything constructive at home - I tell myself that i DO need the break

Hope you're all well. Still eating for 4 here!
Chacha 18+2

ChaCha - used cotton wool and water till about 5 months then went on to wet wipes. Was pretty cautious as my skin is quite sensitive so didn't use anything on Tessa'a for ages. When I did I went for unperfumed ones. Don't bother buying big rolls of cotton wool though as it just disintegrates all over your fingers, the floor, etc. The cotton wools balls are dearer but worth it.

Hi guys, I've started a request for girl names if anyone wants to take a look. There have been some great suggestions! It's in the pregnancy section.