The Ultimate Incentive part 10. The only thing holding you back is you.

Birdie85

Was thinking that you'd fallen off the edge of the world Flower! Glad to know you're OK. Sorry to hear that Poppy's not been too well but glad things are on the up now.

MIL has taken Zach for the evening (bringing him back at 9) and I don't quite know what to do with myself! Keep whipping my head around looking for him in a panic but he's not there! First job is to finish writing thank you cards, just had no chance to do them but it's getting embarrassing now!

Dinah93

Hi everyone, wow you were quiet while we were away. Grace and I had a lovely time in Italy, so tranquil and very very beautiful. Have to take NIM back some time.



The only bad thing was my blood pressure shot up, at least 25 points over where it usually is. They've doubled my medication and its settled again, but right now I'm terrified things might get out of control and this baby will be here soon. Only 2 weeks to go until my first pregnancy goal (23 weeks, the point they at least attempt to resuscitate. Next goal being 26 weeks, the point at which lifelong disability due to prematurity drops to 50%... I need happier goals. After that its 28 weeks as where I reached last time. Goals after this have a much happier spin on them. And yes, this is an actual printed list I have to tick off, I'm that scared and obsessive).

Right, I am going to try very, very hard to get you a debt figure today, however I can definitely announce with a lot of joy that we have completely cleared our barclaycard. This card was at £8325 and some pennies on January 1st and it has all been paid off, not a penny was transferred elsewhere.

Work have still only paid me my redundancy, no owed holiday money which I think is about £2000. I'm waiting to see if it comes on the 25th, which is payroll day otherwise I might have to start chasing them legally for it. I put in my enquiry with a solicitor to find out if they think I have a case.... a week later they reply to say my policy doesn't cover me as it was through our home insurance and it was taken out in the last 90 days. So now I'm going to try another company who do no win no fee, and also a fee paying company in town.

wendz86

Nice to see you Flower - was thinking about you this week. Glad things are on the up for Poppy, must have been hard.

Birdie - hope you managed to get some thank you cards done, took me ages so i wouldn't worry!

Dinah - love that picture, you both look so happy. Glad things are under control with the BP. The goals are scary but i think taking it a step at a time each time is a great idea.

Has anyone got anything nice planned for the weekend? Is Poppy's birthday Saturday so we are having a little party. Also meeting up with some lovely ladies i met on the pregnancy board tomorrow.

Dinah93

Right big scary numbers.

On January 1st we had £19,492.35 of debt. Today we have £9066.46. Between my holiday pay owed and NIMS consultancy contract that is outstanding and should be paid June time we should be down to £4000 or near enough. So far we've paid £97.44 per day. If we pay off at the same rate from now forward we'll be debt free on 21st July. I'd be pretty damn chuffed to clear nearly £20k in 7 months. However from now on I'll be taking things easier as the pregnancy is my focus so we'll just see how we get along.

Fixed rate mortgage ends in 6 weeks, and the SVR is crap, still at 4.99% so we're not going to make much of a saving. I can't see us getting a new fix though with only NIMs salary, have looked at a few calculators and I think we'd be about £6k short to get enough. We could remortgage still with the same company no problem, which would save a little compared to the SVR, but not loads. Decisions decisions.

Lara44

Hey All

Flower, sorry to hear Poppy hasn't been well, glad she's on the mend now. I'm sure you do have your hands full with the two of them!

Birdie, glad you're getting some well earned time off

Glad you've got some nice plans, Wendz. Happy birthday to Poppy and hope you have a lovely party.

Italy looks lovely, Dinah glad you had a good time. Hoping that the BP stays down down low and things keep progressing well. It must be a big worry so hope you are being kind to yourself. Fantastic debt busting figures there. Shame about the SVR, we were lucky and ours went down to 2.49% but we just put the difference in an ISA.

Things okay here, OH not to well atm so we are just taking it easy. Some DIY plans this weekend - hoping to get rid of the huge garden shed and get an additional 1/3 of garden!! I haven't been so excited for weeks :rotfl: Saturday got some advance birthday treats :j and then I'm off home next week for a bit of spoiling from my parents, yay!

Birdie85

Those figures are staggering Dinah! Well done! :T Glad you enjoyed Italy, your photos were lovely!

Hope the BP stays under control and you cook that baby nicely.

Poppy's getting so old Wendz! Just crazy... she'll be in high school soon! Have a nice time meeting the ladies, one of the girls from a group I'm in is going to your meet and is very excited!

Not many plans for us this weekend, we're at an afternoon birthday party/BBQ for a couple of friends tomorrow but otherwise don't know what we're doing. It depends on the weather and finding somewhere to go that isn't overrun with people!

Have fun DIYing Lara! Make sure that you are supervising, nothing else! You must be lovely and big now?! Oh, I don't suppose you need/want a Tommee Tippee manual breast pump? OH got carried away and ordered everything on the 'nice to have' lists when I was pregnant, then unpackaged it all so we couldn't send anything back if we needed to... and I ended up not using the pump! Will pop in the post if you want it. Got some little bottles you could have too as Zach didn't get on with them (awkward child!).

Lara44

Hello Everyone

I've been visiting at home, so sorry to have missed your post Birdie. Gosh that's so kind of you, I haven't bought a breast pump, and would love to take it off your hands. Will PM you.

We are splitting the DIY, but I must say I was quite knackered after painting! I'm 31 weeks now, it's so nice to be finally in the third trimester. I am still feeling really well apart from iron tablets killing my digestive system. I hope the last weeks will fly in, as I am really ready to meet this little one now

How's Zach? Did you have a nice long family weekend together? It was very nice weather for a BBQ, hope you had fun.

Hope everyone else has also been out enjoying the sunshine

Dinah93

For anyone who has had a baby in the last year, or due soon. Aviva are offering £10,000 of free life insurance. Hopefully not needed, but worth filling out the form just in case.

22 week appointment with my consultant today, all went well. Blood tests are fine, see him again in 2 weeks for another growth scan and checks. If the baby is still growing well then and my bp is still controlled then its a decent sign we might get further than we did when I had Grace.

Still no holiday pay from my former work, have contacted them today. Also meeting with a solicitor Tuesday to determine if I am going to go forward with a legal case against them (unfair dismissal, maternity/gender discrimination, procedural irregularities etc).

Not sure Grace is entirely herself today, after naptime she brought a blanket and curled up on my knee, the only time she's moved since then was to get ice cream. Wondering if maybe a sore throat or teeth are bothering her. She's not usually a staying still type child.

wendz86

Hi all,

Not long now for you Lara!

Dinah - glad everything is going ok so far with baby. Hope Grace is OK and didn't come down with anything.

How was everyone's weekends? I had a nice one. Took Poppy to her gymnastics on Friday and then Saturday had my mum and sister visit and took her to a swimming pool we hadn't been to before. Was really nice and cheaper than our local one so will be going there again.

I have a 'full' four day week at work this week. Not sure how I will cope haha.

tinkerbel

Is it only Monday?! Feel exhausted already lovely weekend though but constantly feel like I'm on the go or rushing for a train! Can't believe how big all of the threadie babies are getting!

Lara make sure you don't push yourself too hard! Have you got a nursery set up?

Glad you had a lovely holiday Dinah and it looked like Grace had fun she's adorable! You're doing will with the little brother ! Hope everything goes well with the next appointment !