End Aug/Early Sept Due Date (Thread 2)

[DandelionPockets]

Just starting a new thread :) hope everyone finds it.

Thank you everyone for your support 🙏 we started telling people but now of course I'm worried about the screening results! I can't think of anything else. NT was 1.6 so fine but that doesn't mean anything without the bloods does it? And now I'll be worrying all weekend and potentially all the way until Wednesday.

I wish I'd just declined!

@ILookAtTheFloor Yes the NT score is added to the blood results. Try to focus that the chances of low risk are much higher than high risk. And even if high risk, people get further testing and then get low risk. I've read you can get a lot of false positives.

Have you got any plans for this weekend so you can keep busy x

I plan on telling work next week, can't wait to see my managers shocked face!

Was just wondering what people's plans are or are thinking of when to start maternity leave. Do people tend to work as long as they can before hand or have several weeks off to rest before baby comes?

@Owlgirl14 I told my manager and HR a couple of days ago via email. I want d to do it straight after the 12 week scan because I don't really trust them and I was wondering if they'd start to get suspicious as I've not been able to get to the office much!

In terms of maternity leave, I'm probably going to start it on the earlier side (and by saving my annual leave to take before too). I have a stressful job that gets worse in July and August so I'm not keen to be around for that this year! I'm also in the very fortunate position to have decent maternity pay and savings. What are you thinking?

I’m really lucky with maternity leave this time. I work in a school so will break up for summer on the 22nd July and then start maternity leave on baby’s due date on the 28th August. I’ve timed it quite well 😅

@Nik84 oh that's amazing!!! What a turn out 😍👌

I think I will take a couple of weeks before my due date, just because I will lose the days if I don’t take them before December.

My company offers 5 months of full pay so I will take that as my maternity leave. Right now I can’t imagine stopping work for so long (I don’t think I ever took more than 10 days off in a row in the past 15 years) but that might change when our baby is here!

@DandelionPockets I just want to get it out the way and I'm going to start showing soon as I'll be nearly 14 weeks by the time I tell my manager. I know you don't officially have to tell them yet but I'm really slim and finding it hard with what to wear/cover up a slight bump/bloating. Also I want a risk assessment and I know my manager will be more flexible with me going forwards too. Plus it will aid recruitment planning as we already have one person on secondment, I've been offered a potential promotion/other role but it's taking ages to sort. It's all a bit of a mess, just hope they don't delay the new role knowing I'm going on maternity leave in the summer.

That sounds like a good idea, July/August is also a busy period for us so was thinking of 2-3 weeks before my due date, but I just don't want to get bored sitting around waiting. I find it goes much quicker working but I have no idea how big I'll be or how I'll feel come then.

I get enhanced pay which isn't so bad, some full pay, some half pay plus SMP, then SMP. Hubby wants me to take the full year but the last 3 months I get no pay but it's also the nicest summer months of the year so I'm thinking I will as long as he can help out with all the bills. Luckily he can work overtime so I've said we need to get a fund set up! We also have savings so in a fortunate position.

@Nik84 Wow that works out so well!

@Londongirl87 That's good maternity pay. Yes I think I'm going to have holiday to use either side of maternity leave. I need to look into it a bit more once it's out in the open at work x

How are people dealing with tobacco smoke? People smoking near me on the streets is my big anxiety trigger these days. I'm just so sensitive to the smell and I'm trying my best to not inhale anything but it's really hard and I just find myself feeling so on edge when colleagues (who know I'm pregnant!) light up while we walk down the street. I need to be better at letting them know I don't want to be around secondhand smoke, but it's still hard to avoid all the strangers I pass on the street. I've never realised how much secondhand smoke there is everywhere until now that I'm pregnant.

Re: maternity leave, I'm self-employed and will probably stop working around 3 weeks before my due date. I might continue doing some bits of freelance work here and there, depending on my clients. The extra income is handy given I don't get any maternity pay!

Hi everyone.

Congratulations on all of the positive scans. I had mine last week and had screening results back within 4 working days. I'm 37, NT 1.3 (not sure what my bloods were) but my results were 1:3500 for DS and 1:50000 for the other two. I was 34 last time and my odds were 1.45 for DS with NT of 1.8 but my bloods were way off.

Im suffering big time with my anxiety after having 3 losses last year and I just can't accept that everything is going to be ok. Is there anyone else who is in similar position?

Will you not get maternity allowance?

@divorcingmumoftwo Yes, I will, that's true! It'll cover about a third of my mortgage payments 😅

Is anyone experiencing a dull ache where their uterus is (and around to lower back sometimes) Almost like mild cramping. I’ve been having this on and off since the beginning, I thought it would have stopped by 12+6?

@Nik84 yes I am and I also remember having it with my daughter too but I can't remember when it passed.

@Stargazer89 Thankyou for reassuring me, I can remember having it in previous pregnancies but can’t remember how long for, it’s been 8.5 years since my last 😳

@laurapalmer22 I know what you mean, the other day found myself behind a very slow walking guy smoking and just tried to hold my breath until I could pass. Definitely noticing it a lot more these days!

Officially bought my first bit of maternity wear today, pair of jeans because my belly is too big for any of my non stretchy trousers now 😭. I think I'll get a couple of roomy dresses as well for when it gets warmer. Anyone who's been pregnant before got any top tips on what to actually buy for pregnancy wear?

Long vests! You can sort of adapt any top to be a maternity top then!

Being a 3rd time mum has clearly not done my tummy any favours 😂 10 weeks today and it's popped!

We had our 12 weeks scan this morning and everything was perfect. We are so happy and will start telling our friends this week!

Little girl (we know the sex thanks to the private NIPT / Harmony test we did a couple of weeks ago) was not very cooperative initially so the scan took around 40 minutes, and I had to do jumping jacks several times to try to make her move (which I don't recommend with a full bladder!)

She finally turned around and NT was 1.7 so all good according to the sonographer who was lovely and also showed us our baby's brain, cord, bladder. I don't know if this is typical at 12 weeks but it was so reassuring.

We thought we were at 12+3 but the measurements showed we were at 13+1 so we skipped almost a week too, which is nice!

@divorcingmumoftwo ahaa thank you, wouldn't even have thought of vests!

@Londongirl87 amazing! ❤️ honestly can not even comprehend how you could jump with a full bladder 😂 well done!

Congratulations on all the happy scan news! Lots of people getting dates further ahead than originally thought! I’d love that! I got put back by 4 days with my first baby 😂

With the maternity wear, I just bought some over the bump jeans but all the tops I bought were all just bigger sizes as the cost of the official maternity clothes was so much more! Like someone has said further up, a bigger sized top of any kind is just what you need for a bump 💗💙

I’ve had some brown streaks in my discharge on and off since Saturday morning. Likely old blood. I called the midwife today who told me to ring GP to be swabbed for thrush and wasn’t concerned at all but the GP was more concerned and said doesn’t sound like thrush in the slightest and because of my 2 previous miscarriages wanted to ring the midwife’s at the hospital to ask them to check my cervix and check the heartbeat etc and they agreed so I’m booked in tomorrow morning. So I went from not being worried to being worried. At least I’m being checked though.

@allgoodthings84 well done for acting on it straight away ♥️ really grim waiting. Try and be as kind as you can whilst you wait. I had a little bleeding earlier on too, and after a mmc it's just gut wrenching. Thinking of you xx