June-ior middleweights - fighting on through the second trimester (Due June 2010)

[CantSleepWontSleep]

Here we go ladies - I'll C&P the stats in a tick. Don't forget to add the gender on if you find out at your scan

Hi everyone, beautiful sunny day here too. Really lovely to spend some time outside with DD for a change.

I'm planning to finish work at 33 weeks this time around. Last time I worked up until 36 weeks and DD was born a few days after I stopped. I found work really hard going at the end as my job is very physically active, so am definitely keen to finish sooner this time around.

You can get your MATB1 from your GP or midwife mampam. My midwife told me at booking appointment I could just text her to request it when I needed it, and then collect it from the surgery (although I ended up getting mine from hospital midwife instead) so it might be worth phoning your midwife to see if she'll do it for you to collect from somewhere.

I won't ever be starting mat leave. My job is for life .

Knackered and fed up here. We converted ds' cot to a bed yesterday, and he has taken hours to get to sleep every time since, and ended up going in with dh in the middle of the night last night after over an hour of us trying to settle him. He's only 16 months, so it is a little early, but it's still the same bloody bed, just without the bars!! I was struggling to lower him into the cot (he weighs a tonne) and it will only get harder as my bump expands, so wanted to sort it now before dh has to start working abroad again.

Congrats on car purchase GG. We are hoping that with the new reg out today that more used Discoveries of the right spec will come onto the market over the next couple of weeks, and we'll pick one up then. Am checking several websites daily for them!

You have also made me nervous with all this talk of long lead times on buggies, but I've just had a quick google and there are places with our strongest contender in stock, so I'm not going to panic yet. Still not sure whether it will be big enough for ds, but struggling to find viable alternatives.

Oh that's not good news CSWS. We were planning on moving DD to a bed this month to free up the cot for the baby. Had been hoping to hear lots of positive stories of how well she was going to sleep in her big girl's bed!

Wasn't it you who said that your dd likes to go to sleep though Greensnail? If so then you may not find it such a problem as us. Ds has never been especially easy to settle (though easier than dd was).

Yes, she likes to sleep in her cot, so hopefully she'll be ok in a bed too if we keep everything else the same, although she might look a bit funny in a grobag in a big bed! I'm looking forward to putting her bed in her room anyway as its got lovely big drawers underneath and I need the storage in there. Hope tonight's a little easier for you anyway.

Hmm....reading with interest re. moving from cot to cotbed. We are thinking of moving DD to a real bed when the twins are too big to share a cot (4 months?) so DD will be 23 months. Is that too young? I guess we would need to make her cot a cotbed before then. I can't imagine her going to sleep without the bars on....she settles very quickly but usually stands up and grumbles for 2 minutes before lying down and falling asleep. My guess is she would roll out of the bed several times first...hmm.

CSWS we are also on the Disco trail...like you, hoping to get a bargain now the new reg is out. Are you looking for a Mark 3 or 4 version?

MonkeyMargot DD will be going straight into a real bed as we don't have a cotbed. I plan to put a bed rail on it. She's only 14 months and not yet walking (which might be a good thing - maybe less likely to climb out??) so I wouldn't have thought 23 months was too young. I have a friend who put her DS into a double bed at that age as that was what they already had available. DD rarely stands in her cot at the moment though. Hmm, I suppose its hard to imagine how they're going to react until you actually bite the bullet and do it!

Mampam I'm up early every week day- one of the reasons I never seem to post, as it's far too early! Until this week 6.30 is the time I should have been leaving for work, not still sitting on the internet... but now I'm working from a different office, hopefully until I go on maternity leave, which is closer to home so I can leave later.

Monkeymargot, we moved ds into a 'real' bed at around 26 months and never noticed the difference. Going to be moving DD twice quite soon - first into a bed in 'her' room, then into DS' room pretty soon after.

DS got to help DH assemble his bed when we bought it from Ikea, which he still remembers, and it made him much more positive/excited about it as he felt a lot of pride in the finished product. Not sure if that's useful for anyone?

Just looked at my annual leave allowance and realised I might be going on mat leave/annual leave a bit sooner than expected...I can't carry more than 5 days into next year anyway, so it looks like I will have 3 (maybe 4 ) week paid leave to use up before my due date. What the hell am I going to do with all that time???!

Hello everyone, just catching up with the thread.

Had my 26 week appt today (am actually 27 weeks tomorrow), sun was shining and I only had to go round the corner to the GP's to see the midwife, so I was in a very upbeat mood. Which soon evaporated... MW was worried about my blood pressure, which is ok but quite a lot higher than when I booked at 12 weeks. Anyway, suspect it got quite a bit higher, as MW could not find a hearbeat, although she did keep saying she was getting a reading on her machine, and had felt the baby move. She then told me to get up to the hospital asap, where I saw a doctor who was very reassuring - immediately showed me the baby's heart beating on a machine, and also said he wasn't worried about my BP. So huge reief, but could do without that again. This baby does not feel like a great mover compared to DS three years ago, so guess I will just have to get used to her ways and react if I'm really worried.

Till then things were pretty much fine - have been having episodes of flashing lights which last for about 20 mins and then stop. I had them in my last pregnancy, never having really had headache and certainly not migraine before. They are happening a lot more often this time though. Hence the interest in my blood pressure from MW.

I'm planning to work till 36 weeks, same as last time. I'm having a planned c-section at 38 weeks, and figure 2 weeks at home before the birth will be ok. I will stop earlier if I need to. But I'm also starting a new job on 1 April, should have been ages sooner, but it has been a really slow recruitment process, so I am hoping to do a month in the new post before I finish. Already been told that a complete restructure will be starting soon and I will be having to apply for a different job when I get back. So depending on your point of view, it's either a good time to be on Mat Leave and away from all the jockeying for positions, or it's the worst time because I won't be around to look out for myself.

Hi Ladies.

Lovely sunny day here as well although didn't see much of it as stuck at my desk in a corridor with no windows nearby! Did manage to pop out for a few mins to get a Macdonalds for lunch though Too tempting having one just across the road from work!

I'm planning on starting my maternity leave at 38 weeks and having 2 weeks holiday before then. Went into labour with DD on her due date so hopefully this one will be similar!

whenwillisleepagain glad the Dr managed to reassure you that all ok.

whenwillisleepagain thank goodness everything turned out fine for you today,i bet you are shattered from the stress though.

I had a rubbish start to the day but didnt wantto moan post because everyone was so upbeat with the sunshine Supposed to have gone for my GTT test at 8.30 this morning but car wouldnt start,then DS put my mobile in a glass of water,great! Anyway,my wonderful sister came round and jump started my car and cheered me up over a cuppa,and,the crocuses have come up in the garden so alls well that ends well

We are going to be manouvering DS2 into a cotbed soon too,so any tips will be greatly appreciated,a smooth transition would be welcomed,but i doubt thats gonna happen

Hi Ladies

I'm new(ish) to this thread, added something ages ago before Xmas. But have a read now and then.

I am 24+4, all going OK, though I am still sick from time to time - so much for MS only in the 1st trimester!

Anyway I wanted to ask all you lovely ladies a quick question and noticing that a lot of you already have DC thought you might be able to give experienced advice (as this is my 1st).

Basically I am uncertain when to give up work, my boss is asking me and really don't know. I am not in a physical job BUT it is a highly emotional/stressful job and I have a 45 mins drive there and back. I was thinking of finishing 3 weeks before due date by just using my holiday, but wonder should I take a extra week using my maternity leave? So 4 weeks in total?

What are you planning? What did you do before if you've had DC and was it OK or not?

Thanks

PS Following on from comments about spring, I have daffs and crocuses coming up, can not wait to see some flowers, bring on spring proper

What a relief whenwillisleep. You really don't need that kind of stress.

Summerhols my advice would be work as late as you can providing you are having a normal pregnancy. I finished 12 days before my due date with DD1, and she was then 12 days overdue. I was actually bored at home by that stage to be honest. Only so much nesting you can do!

summerhols - finishing 3 weeks before sounds plenty to me, particularly as first babies are so often late, so you could be waiting for 5 weeks as it is.

Oh dear at cot/bed transition stories. We have just this weekend purchased a cotbed to move DD into (17 mths) and I was really hoping she wouldn't notice much difference. I mean, it will still be a cot effectively, just a bit bigger. She is a real 'stand up and shake the bars' type, so there's no hope of removing the sides for quite a while yet.

Because of my SPD, the plan is that we move her little cot into the downstairs study from now on so that I don't have to take her upstairs for her day time nap, but she will sleep nights in her room in the cotbed. The new mattress arrives tomorrow so I guess we'll find out soon if there's going to be trouble!

wwisa Really sorry about the panic from the midwife. Glad everything is OK.

I'll take the credit for all the lovely sunshine - following my plea on this thread at 10.45 last night! Thank you very much!!

Hi Summerhols - last pregnancy I took a month then ds was a week late. I'd kind of had enough by then! This time I'm taking a month as well - mainly because, being a teacher, I've got a pretty active job involving lots of standing, crouching, running around demonstrating tag rugby etc etc! .. just feel a bit cumbersome by 36 weeks. Your 3 weeks may well be enough but, hey, why not go for four and just clock up as much chill out time as possible.

HI everyone,

I'm not planning on taking off the sides from DD's cotbed for a good long time. She's not the most physically confident of children, so would get freaked by falling out plus she rotates in her cot about ten times a night and she'd get herself on a pickle. She also sleeps pretty well most of the time now - which she didn't for a long time - and I don't want to rock the boat.

I'm not taking maternity leave either . I don't think DD accepts the MAT-B1 form!

What I'm confused about with maternity leave is if I take annual leave from say 37 weeks - 40 weeks, and then maternity leave from 40 weeks onwards, what happens if the baby arrives at 38 weeks? I think (but my human resources are so useless they don't actually know) that maternity leave starts as soon as the baby is born so in the above scenario I would loose 2 weeks annual leave as maternity leave would override the annual leave and I can't carry it over to next year.

But who apart from me would tell them when the baby arrives? So I could just not tell them and use up the annual leave and maternity leave start as planned - but it would then actually be 2 weeks after the baby was born. Or will it filter through with tax credits and stuff from the baby's birthday?

I can drive myself mad thinking about all these things in the middle of the night!

My advice Summerhols would be to try and work as long as possible, but to take 1 or 2 days annual leave a week for the last couple of weeks so you have a chance to rest/shop/get your head round impending motherhood/pamper yourself. That way you don't get too bored stuck at home , but also get a chance to rest.

Sorry for such a long rambling post , - it's how my brain seems to work at the moment, all sorts of thoughts rushing around at once!

GibberingGinger that's why I'm finishing fairly early- I had 23 days AL left to use this year (our AL runs on a calander year).

My maternity leave officially finishes on Christmas day, with the last few days up until the new year made up of bank holidays and annual leave days.

I have been told that if I give birth early, my maternity leave will start on the 1st Sunday after giving birth (so I could be nearly a week early and it wouldn't have any effect), and everything would just shift back from there, with any extra annual leave moved to December.

I guess whether you can carry leave over will depend on your company's policies, but they should be able to tell you and agree something now. Can you raise it higher to get an answer- at least you would know where you stand?

GibberingGinger I gave birth to DD when I was officially on annual leave before maternity leave, we decided to change it to mat leave from the sunday before she was born but it was no problem for me to carry over the annual leave into the next year (I'm still using it up now!). Same thing happened to a friend I work with, but we had a less efficient person sorting out our leave at that time so nothing was said and she stayed on annual leave and started mat leave 2 weeks after her DS was born and this never caused any problems for her.

So I think if you didn't tell them when you give birth they wouldn't have any way of knowing and you'd probably get away with it, but would it be worth asking them whether you can carry annual leave over in that situation then you would know for certain that you're not going to lose out.

summerhols finishing 3 weeks before is probably ok as most 1st babies are late. If closer to the time you are struggling then I'm sure you could negotiate to finish sooner.

Thanks for that ladies, I will email HR again today and try and get some proper advice out of them. You'd think they'd never dealt with maternity leave before! And it isn't like they are a small family firm - its a university which has been around for 500 years and has thousands of employees!

MW appt this afternoon (24wks) just blood pressure and urine I think, but will be good to check everything is still on track. The one thing I need to ask her about it my size - I'm HUGE. Skin is beginning to break on my tummy I've expanded so rapidly. Anyone else have this?

Gibbering my MAT leave starts at 40 weeks, so it is extremely likely the twins will arrive whilst I'm on my months' annual leave directly before. I don't plan on telling them, as there are financial reasons (relating to end of year bonus) why I want my MAT leave to start as late as poss.

I am also huge and the skin on my tummy is really itchy (as it stretches I guess). I am using that Clarins body oil to try and prevent stretch-marks...all I've achieved is to divert the marks from my tum to my hips!!

wwisa how awful, glad all is okay now though - naughty baby for giving you a scare!!

summerhols my ds was 2 1/2 weeks early so i had only had one week of maternity leave before that & believe me it was enough! What i did do though as someone else suggested was start taking one or two days off a week about 6 weeks before my maternity leave started so i at least got a break from the journey & stress of work.

Can't be of any help on cot to bed transition as we are still struggling with grobag to duvet transition! I relented & put ds back in his grobag which was fine for a few nights but then he got sick so was waking a bit and is now waking a couple of times a night with nightmares we think. Does anyone know if vivid dreams start at around this age? I don't want to get into the habit of going in & comforting him back to sleep every time but feel terrible letting him cry too much if he's had a horrid dream!

Minimoo, night terrors can start any time from about 16 months onwards, although more frequently around the 2 year mark, and are very horrid. I find that I need to actively get my DD out of her cot and wake her (she'll be screaming, and seem to be awake, but actually still dreaming) - as soon as she wakes up, she is happy to be put back to bed and tends to go straight back to sleep. They don't tend to last for more than a few months, but I do think lots of reassurance is needed....even mean-mummy-filly will go running in for those awful screams!

Ponymum & LittleRobbo (waves to littlerobbo!), cot to cotbed, still with bars, shouldn't be such a big change, just more space...as LaT says, its the move to no bars on the side (with the risk of falling out/ability to get out) that is the big move...so try not to worry!

Summerhols, another vote here for working as long as you can physically/emotionally manage, although cutting down on hours or days towards the end can be a good plan. If you can carry your annual leave to next year you might even want to think about saving some of it for using when you return to work (for example, I went back full time but used 1 day a week as annual leave my first 10 weeks back after having DS, as I'd accumulated & carried over loads. Otherwise, I would have thought 3 weeks was plenty: there's a limit to what else you'll be able/want to do by then...you definitely wont be going on days out or shopping trips, and you will end up getting very bored waiting for your baby to put in an appearance. I finished at 39.5 weeks with DS and he was 2 weeks late...honestly, that was the hardest 2.5 weeks of the entire pregnancy!! I guess you just need to figute out whether you want more time at home with the baby after the birth or need time in advance to get ready!

WWISA, woah, that sounds like a deeply stresful day...glad all is ok now, but you had to deal with all of that...!

Physio at the hospital yesterday gave me the thumbs up - apparently the pilates is working So I don't need another appointment unless I have a massive flare up...hurrah!

Anyone seen gizmo this week? She's gone very quiet...hope everything is ok...

London Ladies...please come and join the meetup thread....there's only 5 of us hanging out there at the moment and we're provisionally thinking about dinner in Islington on 18th March. Come on!!!

OK, I must do some productive stuff (no, posting on MN doesn't count!!)