June 2023 Babies ☀️ (thread four)

[firsttimelondonmummy]

Hey all,
We are getting close to full so getting another thread ready 😊

@Poppy9876 I also delete mine today! And totally relate to you saying you could only relax once the baby is in your arms! X

As we are half way or nearly now, who is starting to think about mat leave?
I have saved holiday so I can take some time off at full rate, and perhaps do some part time hours without reducing my payments.
Had a hypothetical chat with my boss today and they ate open to this.

@DrinkingAllTheGin I'm due 6th June and already put my mat leave in. I'm going to be going off 6 weeks before but using a few weeks leave and a few weeks mat leave before hand. 11 weeks to go

@DrinkingAllTheGin I’m due the 22nd and I’ll be off from the 8th using annual leave 🥳
Also working solely from home the two weeks before that all being well 😊

I've no idea how to delete or edit the pics on here 🤣 but thanks for letting me know.

With mat leave, I've had a brief chat with my boss. This is a first dealing with mat leave for both of us, so we're a bit unsure how it all works.

I'm going to assume the babies will be here end of May at the latest, I keep reading that I won't be allowed to go past 38 weeks. I can take mat leave from end of march and will have a full year's worth of holidays to use.

Just need to see how my hips do, and how the pregnancy goes. I'm hoping to go until the end of April, and use half my holidays before mat leave starts.

@DrinkingAllTheGin we used most of our savings for DC1 so we’re a bit worried about affording it this time around. I’ve struggled with this pregnancy, not that it’s particularly hard I’ve just been tired, and work have been very difficult and not accommodating. I only get statutory maternity pay. Ideally I want to work until my due date and then tack my holiday onto the end, which I think will be about 6 weeks. Giving me a comfortable 10.5 months off. I BF DS during the day until about 10.5 months, so whilst all babies are different I think this could work well. But with how much I’ve struggled I’m currently thinking of going off 4 weeks before EWC (EDD 12/14 June depending on scan LMP, I prefer the latter based on my experience with DC1) but I am really quite stressed about “forcing” weaning. I will be looking for a new job (massive restructuring to my disadvantage and were I not pregnant I would have already looked elsewhere) so I could consider taking a month unpaid and just hope I find a new job to go to so I get my holiday pay and we can pay our bills.

@DrinkingAllTheGin my plan is to save all this years holidays bar 1 week which I’ll use before then and accrue bank holidays giving me approx 6wks or so. Hoping to take 2 weeks holiday then start may leave 1 week before baby due and that will leave me 4 weeks holiday at the end on full pay prior to going back so about 10 months total. Then always have the option of kit days if I need extra cash. Just need to get it all confirmed holiday wise still but boss seemed happy with that plan.

On the anxiety front I’ve spent most of today in a panic as I have hardly few baby move. I know 21/22 weeks is too early for a pattern for movements and he’s likely just tucked away in a lm awkward spot. But I’ve had movements several times a day for about 3 weeks now.
eventually decided to call maternity assessment. Called 4 times over 2 hours and got no answer. Thank goodness I’m not in Labour 🤯😂. Anyway tried various things through day. Exercise, cold juice, chocolate etc and nothing. Sat down to dinner there and he’s playing football inside me. Panic over. It’s never ending

@LT103 strangely I've had the exact same anxieties today. Been feeling baby move every day for the last 2 weeks, last weekend it was quite strong and felt like he wouldn't stop. Then today nothing. Finally told my husband over dinner that I was worried, panicked him too then felt a few little movements just after I said it. Still a bit worried as it was so faint compared to how it has been but I'm sure he's just moved to a new spot. It's so hard sometimes not knowing what's normal and when to worry and thinking what's normal for one person might not be normal for me.

@Kelvie103 mine has been the same. It had been strong enough to feel from the outside but today when finally got movements they were more faint. Will see how tomorrow goes and give my midwife a call if it’s still quiet.

Hi all our scan went well and we found out we are having a baby girl only thing she was a bit concerned about was a low lying placenta I have an anterior placenta do I need to worry afraid to google it ??

@ELW2006 thank you so much for your lovely message ❤️❤️❤️ Hoping you don’t have long to go for your 20 week scan

@ImHopeful2023 I’ve read that in over 90% of cases the placenta moves up later in pregnancy so it’s no longer an issue at all.

@ImHopeful2023 Have they asked you to come back for a scan in later pregnancy? X

@summerpoolandsun ya I think she said they will scan again at 34 weeks but didn't say anything else

@Happinessandrainbows my opinion on buggies is that if this is your first and especially if you think you're going to go on to have more than one, I'd suggest investing in a new buggy or travel system from a big name brand. We did with our first and it's still in very good condition and we don't need to buy anything new this time round. Infact I'm really glad we invested in good quality stuff generally first time round, because we have nothing big to buy at all this time and everything still looks good and works well. My SIL who had a baby at the same time as me with my first bought a second hand travel system on Marketplace and when the baby was about a year old a wheel literally snapped off while she was on a walk 🙈

@LT103 @Kelvie103 in my first pregnancy I ended up taking myself into triage in a panic when this happened at 22 weeks, and they told me that this is completely normal up to 24-26 weeks and that you shouldn't be monitoring movement before then or coming in for reduced movements. So this pregnancy I'm a lot more chilled and I've noticed he does just disappear for hours at a time and then a while later he's back and going crazy! It's very different to later in the pregnancy where you can literally feel them moving all the time. It's so hard to stay calm but try not to worry too much about tracking movements for a couple more weeks ❤

@Algor1thm thank you so much for your advice ☺️
I was reading about travel systems quite a bit yesterday and came to the conclusion that people don't like Cosatto and their car seats aren't thay safe, while Joie seems to be liked. Only issue is that I don't think handlebars are reversible in Joie travel systems, and I think this is a must. However, their car seats are meant to be safe.

@Happinessandrainbows you can always choose a travel system with adaptors for different car seats. With DC1 we chose the car seat first, the Cybex Cloud Z was the popular choice and we liked that it would lie flat, then we could choose the travel system that would go with it afterwards. Or you can choose the pram first of course. This is what worked for us.

@ImHopeful2023 I have an anterior placenta and that in itself isn’t cause for concern. A low lying placenta can affect how you give birth, but as PP said 90% move. I always use the NHS website if I Google.

Don’t think my tags on previous reply worked @Happinessandrainbows @ImHopeful2023

I still have my travel system from my DD it's 8 years old now but still in fabulous condition its a silver cross pioneer and it lasted my daughter up until she was 4,it can be a bit tricky on curbs but I think that was more due to the fact I'm a weekling and my daughter when she was 4 was heavy 😂 I made her walk soon after (lazy minx). Re maternity leave I'm due the 23rd so I'm hoping to go on leave at 38 weeks I'm going to save my holiday to use at the end or before as we need to use all ours by March each year, but I usaully get 28 days so at least I know that will be a month's full pay, as I think SMP is terrible and you really notice the loss in money when it comes to paying the bills

Thanks @PurBal I'll check it out just Google can be a scary place

I'm due 31st May and want to take my mat leave 31st May lol. I have a feeling I have to take it earlier than my due date? I'm going to save up and accrue all my annual leave so after my 12month mat leave I get to stay off longer with baby. And in fact I'm asking work to see if I can have another 6 months off unpaid to stay with baby longer. So go back when baby is 20months-ish. The longer I get to stay with baby, the better.

@PurBal thank you ☺️

Hi @tigerlily0 you don't have to take it until baby is born! Once they are here, the mandatory 2 weeks kicks in. Like you, I'm hoping to work up to due date but just going to see how I feel.

@tigerlily0 I’m the opposite 😂 I can’t wait to get back into a working rhythm (I’ve asked for the 6 months full pay then to return to work full time immediately).
I WFH 3 days a week though so it’ll only be two in the office.