First Pregnancies with Nov/Dec Due dates :)

[Emma198]

New thread ladies, first one nearly full ☺

I've asked as a generic question on the pregnancy board too, but just wondering when people plan to start Mat leave and how long you plan to have off and also, what sort of job you have as that obviously impacts on how late people choose to work?

I've applied for my mat leave (still waiting to hear back from personnel about how my time off has affected it...) and plan to start Mat leave 19/11 which is 10 days before my due date...

I then will decide a bit closer to the time how much annual leave I want to tag onto the front of that depending on how tired I get...

I think I've got the 5/11 in my head as a realistic date using 10 days of annual leave...

I then plan to take the whole year off, depending on the news from personnel and whether we can afford to...

We've started saving as much as we can to make it possible ...

Xx

I'm due on the 13th December, I just know she will be late, so you never know I could be giving birth on Christmas Day! We have joked about calling her Santa!

Therefore I doubt we will make any plans for Christmas this year, if she is early or on time I think we will just have to see how we feel if we go to family. All our family are several hours away so it's unlikely.

Planning on putting a turkey crown in the freezer a few weeks ahead if we need it for a quiet Christmas just the 3 of us!

@EL332 I'm planning on working till about 2 weeks before if I can. But will need to play it by ear till I get a bit closer I think.

I'm due to be induced at 38 weeks so am starting mat leave at 36 weeks (5/11) and then will have about 7-10 days annual leave to tag onto the beginning, subject to my heart not failing!

I will also be having my dog put to sleep before baby arrives (huge decision that absolutely breaks my heart but he has extensive behavioural issues, is 16 years old and would never, ever cope with the stress of it all and it just wouldn't be fair on him) so the plan is to use some of the pre-maternity leave time to have a week or so at home off work with him too.

That sounds perfect @shallen ... I do think maybe just staying in our little bubble might be quite nice this year...

@EL332 whether our family allow us to do that is another matter, but if they descend on us at least they will cook!

I'm due 13th Nov and starting mat leave on 22nd Oct. Just before the clocks change! I drive 10 miles each way to work and I don't think I will be able to do this after about 37 weeks - short legs, big bump! I have an office job which sounds like I should be able to carry on but 8 hours in an office chair already hurts my back, even with a back rest.

Our families are 200 miles away so we'll be having Christmas just the three of us. We'll likely have an M&S turkey joint and some ready-prepped veg. Plus wine and cheese! Anyone who does want to come and see us is welcome but we're not "hosting".

@Emma198 I've put on 2lb... my weight dropped a bit at the beginning though so have since regained... I have what feels like a big belly now but don't feel much slimmer elsewhere so I don't know why I haven't put more weight on 🤷🏻‍♀️

I'm at about 5lb weight gain at the moment.
All being well starting mat leave (with a week of holiday) on 5th Nov, due 28th Nov, taking a year off. I have a busy office job with some travel so am on boss-imposed travel ban from September.
No set plans for Christmas so will see how things are nearer the time. Not really thinking beyond day to day at the mo

I've been signed off sick because of my back pain, physio says it's that pelvic girdle pain, and the fact I have a 75 mile each way drive which doc was worried was going to make the pain unbearable by the time I got to 30+ weeks.

Because I'm off sick my maternity should automatically kick in 4 weeks before due date but work are happy for me to still put my holidays in instead. Thinking I'll probably put as many holidays in as I have - makes no odds to work as they'll have to pay me them at some point and given I'll accrue a lot while I'm off it's probably to their benefit for me to take them now instead of a huge amount of time at the end. I'd rather push my maternity back as far as I can, because my husband is due a good pay rise in May so if I can push the months I'll be on full pay closer to May that will help us out! He had a career change and took an apprenticeship, but he qualifies next year at his first level.

So that's me until i finish maternity! At the moment planning to stay off work until September when the baby is 9/10 months. In terms of finances and our mortgage deal etc that makes the most sense.

@hammeringinmyhead I also have the short legs big belly problem, in 24 weeks and have about an inch of leeway at the moment haha.

Ha, I feel your pain! Will be driving with nmy tiptoes soon.

I'm just converting my holidays into pay for my final 3 months. I think I'll have 14 days accrued from 1819.

We'll need platform shoes 😂

We're lucky in that my husband can do foreigners at weekends and even now as an apprentice can pick up 250 for a weekend helping a colleague, once he's qualified in May this will go up as he'll be able to do jobs in his own. I don't want him to be working all the time but it means if anything unexpected comes up he can quite easily earn extra.

Is anyone else struggling to eat any kind of quantity of food? Am I that full of baby already that I've not been able to finish my dinner for 2 nights in a row?!

Me! Literally leaving half of all my food. Need to start making smaller portions 😂 also really struggling to eat veg so I'll eat all the bad stuff on the plate and be too full for anything else but I'm gagging at veg anyway unless it's cucumber or beans.

I'm struggling with big meals too. I either feel really full or know they will give me indigestion!
Luckily I've been enjoy cold veg, pepper, tomato, cucumber etc straight out of the fridge so that's been evening out the excessive ice cream consumption x

Glad it's not just me! (Although there's always room for ice cream as it melts and goes between the gaps!)

I've been signed off work too, the job was too physically demanding and I ended up twice in ambulatory care for chest pains and the doctor on shift and nurses told me not to lift anything too heavy which is pretty much my whole job. I was naive because my friend stayed on until 32 weeks and took holidays but she went into premature labour after bleeding and it's just not worth the risk to the baby for me. I wouldn't forgive myself if something went wrong.

As for Christmas, pretty much sure that's not going to exist for us this year, we'll both just be happy of some time together the three of us and my husband having a bit of time off, I'm due 8th November so he'll be in work the whole of December so can't imagine much prepping, I'll just be online shopping and might visit my Mum and family on Boxing Day maybe.

I also can't eat big meals any more, I have the worst indigestion ever, everything I eat is just sitting there. My appetite is through the roof though, Viennese biscuits are my new best friend, never really liked them before as well, I've put on about 9kg since booking appointment, from 50 to 59kg which seems pretty average I think.

Got my Chicco next2me crib coming tomorrow, I'm so excited .

Has anybody bought, or is thinking about buying, a support band/sling/wrap?

@orangejuicer I'm thinking about it but trying to hold out as it's too damn hot and I'm not that big yet (keep telling myself that).

Midwife says I'll need it within the next few weeks, especially as I have to walk 3/4 mile from where my car is parked to the office every day, one day last week I was rushing and got sharp pains in my belly, it turned out to be ligament pain caused by sticky out belly, carrying laptop bag and rushing about!

Hello,

I had my 24 week appointment today at 23+5 and all seems to be well.

I got booked in for GTT (glucose tolerance test?)
and my anti D injections, 28 week consultant appointment and more blood tests - they all fall quite close together so will be back and forth from the hospital a lot that week!

How is everyone else?

@EL332 I've just had to break the news to my (childless very anti child) manager that I have 5 appointments over the space of 2 weeks, one of which is my GTT which will take me out for a chunk of the day and another requires (yet another) whole day off.

Pretty sure she's never going to hire anyone of childbearing age ever again!

The car park fees make me want to cry too!

What did they do at your appointment? Mine is at 25 weeks I think

I know parking is such a pain isn't it - so expensive - but when it's so many appointments I feel like I need to be in and out as quickly as possible so can't really park too far away and add that onto the time I'm away from work...

Today they felt the baby, listened to the heart beat, checked urine and BP and did the first fundal height measurement... which was from the top of the uterus to the public bone... I was told it should be 1cm for every week of pregnancy +- 3cm either way. Then the rest of the appointment was just booking in all the other tests.

My fundal height measurement was 24cm at 23+5 so I felt happy with that and intrigued to see whether my belly does grow 1cm every week now!

The GTT diabetes test I have to fast for 12 hours before then they do a blood test - give you a glucose drink - you sit and wait for 2 hours and then they do another blood test to see how your body processes the glucose... I've been told to bring a book!

@EL332 my consultant told me I wouldn't be allowed to leave so take a book or a pillow!

I don't think they'll do my fundal measurement (mainly because I'm fat enough that it'll say I've grown a three year old 🙄) but I've got a growth scan every 4 weeks so I'm guessing that's probably more accurate. may do it myself just out of curiosity though!

26 weeks today. This bit is dragging. Probably not as much as weeks 34-36 will though when I'm winding down at work!

I feel ok, just starting to feel a bit tired again. I'm glad we did the driving around to Ikea and Mothercare bits in my second trimester.