Pregnant runners' club

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  • I have to say that the Next Maternity stuff I bought served me well - 2 pairs of black trousers served work the entire time(!) and I bought 2 maternity work shirts that were also very good.

    Mothercare stuff was rubbish.

  • Thx for all the clothing tips ladies.
    These are extremely useful indeed.
    I'm 15wks and still in regular clothes, but they're getting tight.

    Any advice on hair hi-lites whilst preggers? My roots are overdue - is this ok to do or a complete no-no?

    GMx
  • It is safe - I had mine done whilst pregnant last time. Just let your hairdresser know
  • I dye my hair and doc/midwife etc said it was ok. Just as well, have premature white hair (inherited from mother, found my first white hair in late teens and been dye-ing it since early twenties) otherwise bits of my hair would be alomst white !!
  • Hi there. I'm back again after my lovely 2 wk holiday.Ended up going to Cornwall instead of Memphis(slight difference in geography!!) as my partner hurt his back. Twas just lovely to have the time away together..and the weather was beautiful.

    Agree that its a nightmare to find clothes.. I found h&m the best..and also found a great maternity boutique with really cheap clothes when I was last home in Ireland. The wrap dresses that are in fashion at the moment are just SO comfy. I've given up completely on finding maternity trousers as cant find any nice ones. Have bought 2 work skirts in Mama and papas which are gorgeous..and they werent actually very expensive.

    Beginning to think I'm going to look like Katie Holmes just b4 she gave birth..I'm masssive already..feels like my bump sticks out for miles..and I've got 15 wks to go.argh!
    My poor back isnt coping too well with it. I seem to be having the same sleep difficulties as you DCM.. I'm waking up becoz of back pain every couple of hrs..and I practically race out of the bed when it gets to 7am to give my back some relief.(not like me as usually I'm never in a hurry to get out of bed)
  • Apparently the risk in having your hair coloured (and I am bleach queen) is that the colour may go weird while you are pregnant - no evidence that it harms the baby in any way shape or form! (My mother-in-law is a hairdresser and very up to speed on all to do with colouring hair etc).

    I actually found that my hair took a lot longer to lighten while I was pregnant, but determination won in the end and I kept my lovely blonde look throughout ;o)
  • Phew - GM races to get hair appt and getting those nasty grey routes covered.
    GMx
  • hello girls!
    glad to hear everyone is ok, and sorry about your back problems mrst.
    my sleeping seems to have got a bit better, but i'm still not getting much more than about 6 hours a night (which is better than 3 but still not as good as 8, which is what i always got beforehand!)
    spent the weekend catching up with old friends in london (last ditch attempt to have social life before the inevitable happens and we become boring stay-at-homes!)
    everyone was amazed at how small my bump was. one guy asked me whether i was 4 or 5 months pregnant, and i'm actually now over 7 months! i am relieved it's small, i have to say, although i don't understand why, as the baby measured big for its dates on both of my last 2 scans!
    having a nightmare week at work this week! is it really only monday? feels like it should be thursday already!
  • Glad you're getting a bit more sleep caramel - the last few weeks at work I found a real drag - spent most of the time crying!

    Have been brave and been to see the doc - got to go for bloodtests on Thursday....
  • Good luck with blood tests SianH - GMx
  • Hi all, just reading everyone's tales of clothing experience. Still struggling to find clothes so decided to wear joggers most of the time now. Had baby kicking me all weekend and can see movements changing tummy shape.

    Got a few more weeks to go and tiredness is creeping in now.

    Enjoy the experience of pregs as its amazing and be proud that you are bringing life to this world.

    Heard that hair becomes thick and grows quickly when pregnant too but didn't go for the dye!!!

    Got my moses basket and cot bed and other stuff now so steadily things are being in place. Now just waiting for the time to arrive.

    Good luck everyone.
  • manicman - when are you due?

    sianh - good luck. let us know how it goes...

    my week goes from bad to worse. took me 1hr 40 minutes to do 2 miles on the M4 last night, making my total journey time 3.5 hours!! and i had to almost turn around and head straight back out the door again to get here for an 8am meeting which i now find is postponed until 10am! and that after only about 4 hours sleep last night!!!!

    that's why i'm finishing in just under 3 weeks. even though i will only be 35 weeks then, i've had enough of not sleeping and being uncomfortable in the car, and being soooooo tired!
  • oh no DCM. A commute like that is SO stressful. You're dead right finishing up when you are.It will give you a chance to put your feet up and enjoy lots of lovely daytime naps
  • Caramel - I think 35 weeks is plenty imho - I finished at 34 weeks and would have finished at 32 weeks if I could have my time again. Take care and will you have to do this travelling for the next 3 weeks or can you work at home for some of it?
  • CM - all that driving (even at a snail's pace) on so little sleep sounds dangerous. Be careful.

    You are finishing at "only 35 weeks"?!! Austria is so much more generous to Mums - I have just checked and you are not allowed to work 8 weeks before the expected birth and 8 weeks following (12 weeks if the birth is early/multiple birth/caesarean).
    Maternity leave can be up to 2 1/2 years! At one company I worked there was a woman I never met in the 3 1/2 years I was there. She was always on maternity leave. She fell pregnant with her 2nd towards the end of the first 2 1/2 years.

  • What is standard UK/London Maternity + Paternity Leave? Or does it vary so much?
    GMx
  • It really is awful in this country and my company just provides statutory, so if I leave at 29 weeks which is highly likely I will have used my 6 weeks at 95% maybe before the twins are even born! The I'm left with the £100 a week nonsense for 6 months and nothing for the rest of the year, as I will have to take a year off for sure.

    Not stressing about it yet, maybe they will wangle something for me, let me take it as sick leave before they're born or something, as I've been here 5 years since the beginning of the company!
  • i don't feel so bad now. one of the girls from my ante-natal class is working until 40 weeks, so i felt like a real slacker!

    there is no standard maternity leave requirement in the UK, although I think you are not allowed to work for 2 weeks after the birth.

    if you have worked for a certain number of weeks in the year before your baby is born, you are entitled to statutory minimum maternity pay of 90% of your salary for 6 weeks and then 20 weeks at statutory level of 104 quid a week. whoopeee! but some companies are v. generous and give 6 months full pay, bonuses and more!

    in my company i can have up to 2 years off, but my company only pays me for 6 weeks, and then i get 20 weeks at 104 quid, and then the rest is unpaid.

    paternity leave is 2 weeks at statutory minimum, which is 104 quid a week.

    austrorunner - whereabouts in austria do you live? i spent a year in wiener neustadt as a student teaching english.

    go martini - do you live in the UK as well?

    we are a very international board by the seems of it - what with marijke and i think we had a french lady at one point as well!
  • Standard maternity leave is 26 weeks. I believe that you may begin leave up to 12 weeks before your due date. Legally you are forbidden to return to work within 2 weeks of delivery.
    It is important to note that you are entitled to your job back after 26 weeks. If you take extended maternity leave (you are now entitled to up to an additional 26 weeks) you are not necessarily entitled to your old job back, but you are entitled to a job.

    Paternity leave is 2 weeks and does not necessarily have to be taken starting the day the baby is born (although most people do that). A lot of companies pay paternity leave these days, but they are not legally obliged to.

    Come on then.... someone point out what I have got wrong here ;o)

    Hegs x
    PS. I used to work in HR, hence my knowledge....but there may have been some minor changes to legislation that I have missed out above....
  • Caramel - we differ ;o) Am sure you are probably more up to speed than me! I also didn't realise that there was statutory paternity pay now... that's good.
    I also based the above on those who have been in current permanent employment for the preceding 26 weeks.

    I was very lucky - I got full pay for 6 months, our company policy is going up to 9 months full pay from April 2007, so I'm hanging on until then before I get knocked up again!!
  • CM - you were in Wiener Neustadt! Did you enjoy your time there?
    I work in Vienna - third district/edge of first district. I moved out of Vienna 1 1/2 years ago to a little village called Wilfleinsdorf which is near Bruck an der Leitha (south-east of Vienna). Been in Austria for over nine years. Bloke is Austrian.
    Besides the odd visit to the doctor this is going to be my first real experience of the Austrian health system!
  • Yes Im in UK.
    Been in job for 10yrs but left twice. Latest stint is 2yrs.
    Having my chat with HR next week.
    Think I best be entering more Lottery tickets in the meantime.
    GMx
  • austrorunner - wiener neustadt was not the most exciting experience of my life, i have to be honest. (i didn't choose it. it got picked for me). the people at the schools i was teaching at were nice enough, but the other assistants in the town were a funny bunch, and i didn't have a lot in common with them. i would have preferred to have been in a bigger city, but we didn't get a choice. still, it was easy enough to get into vienna, which i did every week. i think it was a bit of a lonely time, because i had such a great group of friends at uni, who were all still there doing their 3rd year, while i was stuck out in neustadt on my own teaching english and thinking of them having a riot back at college.

    i had a brief brush with the austrian health system because i picked up a nasty clutch of verrucas at the local swimming pool while i was over there. the doctor basically cut the end of my toe off - without any anaesthetic!!! i could hardly walk for a few days! hopefully, your experience will be better than that :-)

    hegs - yes, paternity leave is now paid at SPP. i think this is a recent thing. your company sounds VERY generous. my company used to do 6 weeks full and 6 weeks half pay, but they changed it in december, so i now get the difference between SMP and 6 weeks half pay on my return to work, spread over 3 months... it would be MUCH more useful to have it up front!

    go martini - yes, either start saving frantically now (i didn't start saving in a big way until the new year, and i really regret it now, as there have been lots of quite expensive things to buy/do in the last few months - such as decorating nursery and buying all the kit, and we just had our bathroom done!), or get lucky on the lottery! (or both!)
  • I am really lucky with my work, i get 6 months full pay then 6 months on no pay if i want and then when i come back there are options for part time working.
  • Back to the subject of clothes, does anyone know of any good shops in edinburgh. I have a wedding on 27th may and nothing to wear. Was quite a lot of casual maternity clothes in some of the shops, but a bit of a lack of smart stuff you could wear to a wedding. Will be almost 21 weeks by then at the moment i'm almost out of the normal clothes i got in a size bigger and really starting to need maternity stuff.
    Anyone know of any good shops in edinburgh or any good chain stores ??
  • mrs o I just bought a dress for a wedding the same weekend from next directory online. I buy a lot of stuff from them usually being petite. No idea what its like as will arrive today, but is quite smart.
  • mrs o - i would also suggest that you try on-line as well. there are a few places like bloomingmarvellous.co.uk and jojomamanbebe.co.uk, neither of which does great quality stuff, but there are some dressy things there which might be ok.
    i think blooming marvellous has some concessions in stores like john lewis or house of fraser, so you might be able to check them out 'in person'?
    i would have thought that edinburgh should have some nice dressy maternity stores for all those morningside yummy mummies - at a price!
  • I work in HR and am self employed running my own HR Consultancy.

    Last time was perm so got 6 months full pay. This time I am putting money away for 6 months and then hubby wil take over again for 6 months.

    Also getting all the jobs done pre birth before I cut my spending :-)

    Details look correct Hegs - but off to a meeting. If I spot anything to add will.

    Some forward companies offer 2 weeks pat leave full pay - at co's discrestion
  • On the subject of maternity pay - I have to leave at the latest 36weeks (company policy), I then get 10 weeks at full pay, and 16 weeks at half pay. I can take off up to a year, and I can choose flexible working when I come back.

    Which doesn't sound too bad, until you realise that I'm an engineer for a huge, very profitable telecoms company who can well afford to give me a damn sight more than 10 weeks full pay! And I've been here for 9 years.......but, it's certainly better than some of you are getting, so I'll take it please.
  • lozf - it does make me a bit cross when people go on about how they won't employ women of child bearing age because of the burden of paying maternity pay! when you think how little pay we are actually legally entitled to (90% of salary for 6 weeks and then 20 weeks at 104 quid a week), and how much sick pay some people have (at full pay) in a year! i know of people who regularly have 3 or 4 weeks a year off sick without it triggering any disciplinary action to be taken. since i've been working (10 years), i've had 1 week signed off sick with a bad back (and i actually tried to come back after 3 days because i was so bored at home but they wouldn't let me), and about 3 days off with colds and flu...

    it seems as though people think that having a child and going on maternity leave is a nice cushy option and you get rewarded handsomely for it. certainly not the case in my experience and yet people make you feel like a real scrounger for taking maternity leave!
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