Pregnancy related illnesses and benefits?

Spendless

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

Yes, he's a Dec baby. 30 used to be my 'scary' age for having kids, now it's 35 but since that's fast looming I suppose I'll have to move the goalposts again. I wish I'd met my fella when we were teenagers! We'd probably have a football team by now!

Ok- so as mentioned earlier he'll get funding from Jan 07. It's 12.5 hours in term time. You can use the funding at a pre-school or private nursery. If the session lasts more than 2.5 hours you pay the difference. You can also use the funding in more than one setting as long as you don't exceed the 12.5 hours. For example my daughter gets funding from easter 2006. From Sept she is going to pre-school 2 mornings a week and doing one day at a private nursery also. After easter I won't pay for the pre-school and I will get 2.5 hours funded in morning at nursery and a further 2.5 in the afternoon.So she'll get 10 hours in total using 2 diff places. I will have to pay the difference at the nursery but hubbys employer offers the childcare vouchers so he salary sacrifices to reduce the amount.

There is a lack of pre-schools in my area so to get a place I've had to enroll daughter from the start of the year (Sept),so will be paying for the 1st 2 terms before its funded.If I'd left it it would have been full, so if you are considering doing this might be worth looking into what's available in your aarea.

Childminders can also offer this funding if they are accredited though unfortunately I have no more details and suggest either you ring early years or as someone else mention Ofsted for info.

Does your school have an attached nursery, some do early entry if they have spaces, again you would be looking at Jan 2007 (term after 3rd birthday) but that would give you 5 mornings or afternoons with him at nursery in term time

As your OH employer has a works creche is it worth looking into this, to see if it's possible to use.

Good Luck-let us know how you go on.

jellyhead

yep, the scary age is 35 now, having said that there were lots of women in the hospital in their late 30's with no problems. my friend had her baby aged 37 and is planning another one, my aunt had her baby at 40 (with fertility treatment for her PCOS). i'd have said that at the time i was in hospital it was babies born to the teenagers who had more health risks, their mothers all smoked and there was a big thing made of it because they were all tiny babies. the older mums didn't tend to be smokers. although there's increased risk of downs etc. when you're older i think it's all swings and roundabouts, whatever that phrase is supposed to mean lol! mind you with all the current focus on smoking everyone is 'nipping to the shop' when they want a smoke because if they get caught smoking in the usual places by the open windows in the main corridors (not in the ward, the main corridors) the midwives are very vocal - so every time you have to go into hospital for a scan, antenatal, etc. you have to wade through a cloud of smoke because everyone's just by the main doors puffing away, that hospital entrance is a health hazard.

Savvy_Sue

jellyhead wrote:

so every time you have to go into hospital for a scan, antenatal, etc. you have to wade through a cloud of smoke because everyone's just by the main doors puffing away, that hospital entrance is a health hazard.

One of our trusts is about to ban smoking ANYWHERE ON TRUST PROPERTY. So that will include the whole site, from the main gate onwards!

jellyhead

good idea, mine has just banned it inside the hospital, although everyone smokes by the windows in the corridors and nobody minds. there's only one entrance for patients though, so if you have asthma it's a real pain when everyone smokes on the benches right by the door, my husband could tell when i'd been to the hospital because my clothes and hair smelled, just from walking through the entrance! staff have several entrances around the building but they need swipe cards so patients can't use them. smoking is the worst trigger for my asthma, i tend to get on my high horse about it. i don't mind avoiding pubs etc. but i shouldn't have to avoid hospital doorways.

hopefully gingham has a more pleasant hospital entrance lol! sorry i've gone off topic!! back to the moneysaving - i notice boots are selling own brand disposable liners for washable nappies this week, they weren't there last week. they're cheaper than the other ones they sell (bambino or cotton bottoms, i can't remember which). has anyone tried them or do you all use washable liners? i mentioned earlier that i don't expect baby roo to cost more than his child benefit but i wasn't expecting to buy formula milk, bottles, teats etc. so i need to save some money somewhere lol!

Gingham_Ribbon

It's not generally TOO bad outside our hospital! (thanks, Jellyhead!) My hubbie plays in a band though and I can't always go to see him play because it's often in smoky pubs. Boo!

Did you think you were on the 'detailed reusable nappy' thread there, jellyhead?! Just for the record, we've never used any kind of liner and haven't seemed to need them! x

Gingham_Ribbon

Savvy_Sue wrote:

One of our trusts is about to ban smoking ANYWHERE ON TRUST PROPERTY. So that will include the whole site, from the main gate onwards!

:T :T :T

I really appreciate that people have a right to smoke. But I kind of like having the right to breathe too!

bylromarha

jellyhead wrote:

i notice boots are selling own brand disposable liners for washable nappies this week, they weren't there last week. they're cheaper than the other ones they sell (bambino or cotton bottoms, i can't remember which). has anyone tried them or do you all use washable liners? i mentioned earlier that i don't expect baby roo to cost more than his child benefit but i wasn't expecting to buy formula milk, bottles, teats etc. so i need to save some money somewhere lol!

I bought them...they aren't flushable, so a real pain. You have to flush the poo away...badly...as its paper which has soaked up the poo.

Which is why I started the thread about reusable liners...they sound easier to use than this disposable pap, but not as easy as my flushable disposable liners.

GR_ I like the right to breathe clean air too...it's the one obvious point they always seem to forget to make when the smoking debate rolls round again and again and again!

Gingham_Ribbon

The idea of setting up a fund for help when I'm pregnant really appeals. I have a lovely big pot in our lounge that was a Christmas pressie a couple of years ago. It's got a coin slot but no way of getting it back out unless you break it. I've been putting pound and 2 pound coins in it for a while and it's getting quite heavy. I was wondering how I could best use it for my son and I think it'd make a great start for ensuring that he's well looked after in case I can't do it.

There's another reason I'm not sure about the government baby bond. If that's the only savings you have for your child, you can't take money out and they are the ones that have full control of it when they're 18. What if they need some urgently before then? What if they're like I was at 18 and would blow it all on parties, records and drunken holidays?!

Savvy_Sue

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

There's another reason I'm not sure about the government baby bond. If that's the only savings you have for your child, you can't take money out and they are the ones that have full control of it when they're 18. What if they need some urgently before then? What if they're like I was at 18 and would blow it all on parties, records and drunken holidays?!

That's why Martin (I think) recommends NOT putting anything into it OTHER than what the govt gives you, and maybe enough to get the max from the govt, but not sinking all granny's gifts into it as well.

That way you have a little bit of savings in case they need it, and the govt alone will never give them enough to completely debauch themselves!

But I don't pretend to understand how much cash is involved from govt. Mine are too old!

starlite_2

I had a similar struggle- having been a student I had not made enough contributions to claim incapacity for the pregnancy related problems I have (killer SPD being the main issue)
I was told you can voluntarily make these up within 9 years of the date, so you may be able to do so
I then had the problem that I haven't worked or claimed benefit since i left uni, as I assumed that due to being pregnant and ill I wasn't entitled to jsa and I didn't look into anything else. They took this very suspiciously and accused me of having huge savings, or working illegally which has taken me a while to prove otherwise.
hopefully I will recieve something soon (3 months after applying!0 and it will be backdated. but i have found the whole system a nightmare. I would love to be working if I could, and hate being made to feel like a scrounger and a liar every time i speak to them
Good luck!