MSE Pregnancy Club 26

Bangton

Congratulations Luciferswench! Glad your ok and home now but sounds like a very tough time. At least your both safe x

Sorry to start a bit of friction with the sweep question the other day I just hate the sound of it! But I am not drinking RLT, bouncing on balls, eating hot curry or anything else either! He'll get here eventually!

Kerri - glad your scan went well the other day. Lucky you not having a big bump..mines not huge but it's rock solid and I'm struggling to bend!

Got myself in a bit of a bad mood today. I had what I believed to be contractions last night that stopped by morning and now I just have sharp pains down below and around baby. It's kept me up a lot of the night. I can cope with baby not coming but I don't like being tricked and thinking he is! Coupled with that I've had to do the supermarket shop today which just does my head in! Having to move my big, fatter girth out of everyone's way is just annoying! Incidentally my OH just walks tall and people move out of his way. It's so annoying!!

Anyhow toothfairy - I know exactly what your saying regarding the drop in wage and I am lucky enough to still be on full pay until December and I get a % of my wage paid from work on top of SMP so I am not suffering as large a shortfall. The way I see it though is you get used to your earnings so no matter what you do earn it's bound to be a bit daunting. Plus I am sure many of us have a partner who is having to take a big drop in wage for the weeks they are on paternity too (I know it's only 2 weeks but it makes a difference).

So yeah, I count my blessings I can afford a year off but it doesn't mean I don't cack myself a little at the prospect of reigning back!

fluffysox

Re: wages, when we had DS I was main earner and DH hadn't been at his current employment long enough to qualify for paternity leave. He was allowed two weeks holiday to start when baby was definitely coming- the first day I was having contractions I sent him to work as I knew if I needed to I could ring him and he'd be back in an hour. Mum spent day with me.
I was saving £1000 of our income a month as mortgage overpayments prior to baby's arrival, so knew we could manage a drop in income, but like you once on SMP it was more like a £2000 drop. Budget looked very tight but somehow we managed, without having to take a break from mortgage payments or drawing down from mortgage OP reserve. It is true that living is cheaper when you're not in work. Child benefit covers nappies, wipes, formula which are main baby expenses. I found I had time to go to greengrocers etc rather than supermarket which saved money. And lets be honest your social life becomes very different- much cheaper. I returned to work on 70% hours (and pay, but childcare about £300 a month) so this time my salary will drop by about £1000 which we have been able to save most months again as mortgage OPs. If necessary can draw money back but I still feel panicked lol.
After some encouragement (Breakfast in bed which didn't work, followed by a cold wet flannel which did lol) DH got up and has helped get moses basket and pram out and has hoovered while I have been cleaning and scrubbing like a crazy person. We will be ready for baby!!! Even if he comes this week
Also childcare arrangements are all sorted and hospital bags are pretty much ready. Just having a little sit down then back upstairs to finish packing.
37+4 (sweep Tuesday)

lozza1985

Congrats lucifer

Toothfairy4

Anyone who's looking for a bouncer, was in Mothercare today and got this one for £26.49! Had a sticker on saying £52 but on the shelf it said they are doing a 'price match' at £26.49 wasn't entirely obvious as there were stickers with about 3 different prices on them bur it was scanning at the lower price. Love a bargain!

Can't find it on their website so may be instore only.

BadlyWrittenPoem

Toothfairy4 wrote: »

Sorry, I wasn't meaning to sound ungrateful, i know i am lucky to earn as much as I do but I am by far the higher earner out of myself and DH who works as a waiter and earns minimum wage. It's a scary prospect that the bulk of our income will be gone for 6 months.

:eek: I can see why you are worried when you are losing what is presumably the majority of your income! Theoretically, you might qualify for tax credits while you're on a lower income so it could be worth looking into that. I get MA allowance rather than SMP but I've heard that the first £100/week of SMP is ignored for tax credit purposes which would also make your "official" income lower if correct.

BadlyWrittenPoem

Luciferswench wrote: »

Hi everyone i had baby bean (a boy) by emergency c-section under GA wednesday the 25th at 10.34pm weighing 7.6. No short easy labour like previous ones. Very traumatic due to placenta abruption sadly however me and baby are fine thanks to the fast acting labour suite staff. Cant fault any of the staff at all trying their hardest to get me to part with the little man but sadly theatre was the only way. Now home with the most gorgeous man in the world. No more babies for me 4 is enough even if the ward staff did say see you soon as i was leaving not a prayer.
The staff who were involved in babies delivery did all come and see me and explain why and how etc the day after which was nice didnt realise there was so many of them. Wasnt how i wanted it to happen obviously but we are alive and here to tell the tale.

Congratulations! Glad to hear that you are both okay and that you were well looked after despite the complication.

fluffysox

Congratulations Luciferswench, wishing you a speedy recovery :beer:

amyloofoo

Well, I am KNACKERED! Apologies if I miss anyone out, but I have a severe case of baby-brain-meets-tired-brainitis DH appears to have caught the nesting bug and we have started absolutely gutting the house :eek: It's actually looking worse at the moment (typical) because there are boxes and things to charity shop / car boot everywhere, but I'm confident the hard work is going to pay off. Only problem is, we're being so thorough that we're nowhere near done and he's working now until next Saturday - so either I have to carry on alone or learn to live with the mess until then :rotfl:

CONGRATULATIONS luciferswench - so glad to hear about your little boy's safe delivery, but not about the traumatic circumstances :grouphug: If you feel you need to, the hospital should offer you a 'debriefing' in a few weeks to talk over the issues, talk about how it might impact future pregnancies (I know ) and what they can do to prevent this, and offer you any support you may need. The Birth Trauma Association are also really good if you or your partner need to talk things over. I appreciate you need time and space to recover, and not everyone wants to share with internet 'strangers', but still, WE NEED BABY PICTURES! :rotfl:

I agree with what everyone's saying about income while on maternity leave - it's not how much you start off with that determines how much you notice the drop! I'm marginally the higher earner in my household (although it's not as big a gap as toothfairy) but having been on SSP only for a while now, I'm getting a taste of what the next 9 months are going to be like and it's a bit :eek: Undoubtedly tax credits will help a little, but it's not the same and obviously Baby will bring new expenses too. Having said that, lots of wise people have pointed out that having and raising a baby costs what you make / let it so I'm sure we'll all learn to adapt. Afterall, all of our babies are going to have the basics provided and lots of love whatever our incomes are - they don't need anything else and are unfortunately luckier than many to have that much

Rummer

I didn't think you could claim for tax credits if you were not eligible before maternity leave as they base claims on your previous years earnings? Hopefully I am wrong as it would really help us when I am off if we could claim for some extra income.

amyloofoo

Rummer wrote: »

I didn't think you could claim for tax credits if you were not eligible before maternity leave as they base claims on your previous years earnings? Hopefully I am wrong as it would really help us when I am off if we could claim for some extra income.

Check out the eligibility calculator on their website, the rules can be a bit complicated around the income disregard, etc - but the site is usually pretty accurate when it comes to calculating entitlement.