Trying For a Baby II

galvanizersbaby

maryjane01 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I am a newbie on this thread, I first started TTC really only this past month. Actually, my DH agreed about 6 weeks ago but we were too late in the month to really start trying, so we have had one cycle only of TTC. I am in my 2WW and it is killing me! I went to Superdrug yesterday and bought pg and ov tests. Although I think I am a few days too early to do the pg test, I did one this morning anyway because I couldn’t control myself. I got an extremely faint line. Does anybody know how good the Superdrug tests are and are there any really good tests for when you are a still a bit early? I don’t know my cycle very well, but I will start trying to take more notice from next month.

Also, I HATE my job. It has 6 months maternity pay though. I really want to quit because it makes me miserable. If I knew I would be TTC for 12 months or more I think I would quit, but If I knew I would get pg in the next month or 2 it would give me strength to stay with it so I can exploit the company for maternity pay (don’t worry, it is a finance company they deserve to get exploited). I am sitting here at work writing this and to be honest couldn’t care less if anyone saw it!

I don’t want to literally be p1ssing money away on tests :rotfl: , so let me know what you think the best (most accurate) ones are!

mj

Hi MaryJane
I have no experience of Superdrug tests but I would say if you have a faint line in the test window then you are most likely pregnant.
Most people say the expensive digital tests (think it's Clearblue?) that actually come up with the word 'pregnant' are the best.
Personally I've found that Tesco do a test (you can buy it in a two pack for 3.77) which is an early test.
You can do this a few days before you period is due and it can pick up the pregnancy hormone.
As I say from my experience any line in the test window (going in the correct direction) no matter how feint would indicate pregnancy.
I would wait till the morning and do another test with your first wee of the day as the pregnancy hormone will be more concentrated - Good luck x

ginvzt

maryjane01 wrote: »

Also, I HATE my job. It has 6 months maternity pay though. I really want to quit because it makes me miserable. If I knew I would be TTC for 12 months or more I think I would quit, but If I knew I would get pg in the next month or 2 it would give me strength to stay with it so I can exploit the company for maternity pay (don’t worry, it is a finance company they deserve to get exploited). I am sitting here at work writing this and to be honest couldn’t care less if anyone saw it!

I don’t want to literally be p1ssing money away on tests :rotfl: , so let me know what you think the best (most accurate) ones are!

mj

Sorry, by 6 month maternity pay, you mean company pays full salary for 6 months or that in general, they will only pay you 6 months. The law is that they have to give you 39 weeks (9 months roughly) maternity pay. Have a look here.

Statutory Maternity Pay is paid for a maximum period of 39 weeks. It is paid:

• at 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings with no upper limit for the first six weeks; and
• for the remaining 33 weeks at either the standard rate of £117.18 or 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings (if this 90 per cent rate is less than the standard rate).

Congratulations - even id it is a very faint line, it is still positive...

galvanizersbaby

ginvzt wrote: »

Sorry, by 6 month maternity pay, you mean company pays full salary for 6 months or that in general, they will only pay you 6 months. The law is that they have to give you 39 weeks (9 months roughly) maternity pay. Have a look here.

Statutory Maternity Pay is paid for a maximum period of 39 weeks. It is paid:

• at 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings with no upper limit for the first six weeks; and
• for the remaining 33 weeks at either the standard rate of £117.18 or 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings (if this 90 per cent rate is less than the standard rate).

Congratulations - even id it is a very faint line, it is still positive...

This sounds quite good to me - when I had my 2 children you only got 6 months maternity leave - 2 months at full pay and the rest SMP
I think now my companys policy is 2 months full pay then 90% for 4 months then SMP for the other 6 months
Only having 6 months maternity leave was a bit of a bummer and I'm only going back 4 years ago)

ginvzt

Well, my previous company had 23 weeks full pay and then 16 at SMP. Where I am now it is just statutory (6 weeks - not even 2 months - at 90% and then the rest at SMP, ~£117). Unless they changed in the last months before I started as the company was taken over by another one and quite a few things changed, but I wouldn't dare to ask until I am actually pg!!!! (a colleague came back from maternity when I started in June and she just statutory).

maryjane01

Thanks everyone, but don't congratulate me too soon! It was so faint I was straining to see it.

With regards to the maternity pay, what I meant by 6 months pay is 6 months where I get paid above SMP. What I get is:

6 weeks 100%
20 weeks 50% (well they say 65%, but hold back 15% and pay it as a lump sum 4 months after you return to work, not sure I want to do that )
final 13 weeks are at SMP rate.

I can take 12 months off work though and they can spread the payments out

My salary is £30,000, and I figured out over a 12 month period I would get paid £10,754.08 (all before tax).

I thought the above sounded a bit rubbish but a friend said she thought it sounded quite good.

Perhaps we should list what our companies offer as maternity pay so we know if we are onto a good deal or not. I think this is really important info for approximately 18 months before TTC when somebody has a chance to look for a new job.

Of course it is different if you actually enjoy your job and enjoy doing what you do everyday. But for those of us who trudge through the week just for the money it is relevant.

PS. what I would love to do is start my own small business, hopefully 12 months during maternity leave I might be able to get something off the ground.

Edit: figured out all this while I have been at work, you can see I work hard for my salary...not! I tell you what, everybody knows people in finance get paid too much, I know it from 1st hand experience. Most of the guys here are born into it and it is sickening. Sorry my edit has gone a bit off the TTC topic, but I hope no one in the city gets a bonus this year, and I hope I am pg to get me out of here!

galvanizersbaby

maryjane01 wrote: »

PS. what I would love to do is start my own small business, hopefully 12 months during maternity leave I might be able to get something off the ground.

tbh when I decided to have my first child I put my career on hold because I felt I wanted/needed to concentrate on being a mum, even if I had been able to have 12 months off on maternity leave I very much doubt I would have been able/wanted to start my own business - focus was very much on my DS but sure it's possible - good luck with it all

galvanizersbaby

maryjane01 wrote: »

Edit: figured out all this while I have been at work, you can see I work hard for my salary...not! I tell you what, everybody knows people in finance get paid too much, I know it from 1st hand experience. Most of the guys here are born into it and it is sickening. Sorry my edit has gone a bit off the TTC topic, but I hope no one in the city gets a bonus this year, and I hope I am pg to get me out of here!

There are other ways to leave a job you don't like though if you don't mind me saying!

maryjane01

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

[/b]

There are other ways to leave a job you don't like though if you don't mind me saying!

Yes I know, the above may have come across the wrong way. I do really want to start a family, have wanted to for a while but OH 'wasn't ready'. For personal reasons I have been in this job longer than I would like to (only a year and a half!) My OH was made redundant for the 2nd time in 3 years and then started working self employed, so I took this job so he could establish himself. Then we had to remortgage this year and with OH having no accounts we were relying on my income (we managed to remortgage and went for a 10 year fix, who knows what position we will even be in in 5 years hopefully with more than one sprog under our feet).

Changing jobs when TTC or pg I think could be really difficult and stressful, I know it is against the law to descriminate but I would not like to image what colleagues might think or say behind your back if you start a new job only to announce you are pg the next month.

I hope I haven't offended anyone on this thread that has been TTC for a while, but I think a number of the issues I have raised are really pragmatic ones for anybody TTC, and very relevant for a TTC thread on MSE.

I think there should be room on this thread for money TTC stuff as well as discussion about your body temp and juices.

What I want is to be in the best financial situation possible when my OH and I have the baby we are looking forward to, and if that means sticking it out in a rubbish job for 9 months I will. If I had a crystal ball and new it would take me a year or more TTC I would probably quit, but I am sticking with it for now because I am want to start a family and hoping it will happen soon

galvanizersbaby

maryjane01 wrote: »

Changing jobs when TTC or pg I think could be really difficult and stressful, I know it is against the law to descriminate but I would not like to image what colleagues might think or say behind your back if you start a new job only to announce you are pg the next month.

I hope I haven't offended anyone on this thread that has been TTC for a while, but I think a number of the issues I have raised are really pragmatic ones for anybody TTC, and very relevant for a TTC thread on MSE.

I think there should be room on this thread for money TTC stuff as well as discussion about your body temp and juices.

What I want is to be in the best financial situation possible when my OH and I have the baby we are looking forward to, and if that means sticking it out in a rubbish job for 9 months I will. If I had a crystal ball and new it would take me a year or more TTC I would probably quit, but I am sticking with it for now because I am want to start a family and hoping it will happen soon

I'm sure you haven't offended anybody TTC MJ - my partner works in an investment bank in the city though but doesn't recieve big bonuses and does work hard for his money so not too sure about the accuracy of your comments there?! I hope it does turn out to be a BFP for you - I guess aswell as prior to TTC and the birth of the baby you need to be in the best possible situ when your maternity leave is over and you have to make the decision whether to return to work (not to your current job assumably) or be a stay at home mum - there are lots of threads about this on the other boards and some people have saved up beforehand or become debt free so I agree it's a good point to raise on the TTC board

jiblets1

hi all. Just to let you know I've got a doctors appointment on friday morning. I'm now 9 days late with 3 BFNs under my belt (so to speak) so I'm hoping she can shed some light on the situation one way or another.