How are all you new mummies doing?

[iWitch]

It's rubbish toria I just can't keep up! Was up with S at 5 yest, ready and out the door to childcare and work and when I got her back at 530 another baby had taken over her body. She was screeeeeamig cos she was so tired and hadn't ate her dinner. Queue trying to force feed her before bath and down by 630!! She slept til 7 this morning tho which is a miracle compared to the 5ams we have been having . By the time I get her down tho I still had to do more batch cooking, washing and getting ready for the next day. I didn't imagine how hard being at work would be

Oh dear that sounds rough



I'm dreading going back to work, phoned last week again advising I wanted to go back to my PT hours instead of FT and they couldn't give me any details so still have no clue if I can do PT and if so what hours/ days ect

Put in a formal written request & send by recorded delivery...it'll be in their policies somewhere that they'll have to respond within x amount of days (probably 28)

 

[Mummybexee]

Did you give them official return to work notice and send a flexi return request form or whatever

They are legally bound to consider your request for changes to your working

 

[iWitch]

I had the sickness bug yesterday - thought I'd managed to escape it but no such luck! Today is supposed to be austins day with his nan but she's got the same bug so I've had to take the day off work . No complaints tho coz I didn't spend that much time with my little dude yesterday because I was in bed all afternoon

 

[iWitch]

Aldi baby event starts 29th jan ladies

 

[Jojo84]

Of you send me your email I will send you he letter I went toy employer requesting p/t working.
They're legally obligated to at least give you a meeting about flexible working.

I'm working rue-sat this week. If I hadn't taken yesterday as annual leave I would've been working 6 days and only had one day off. Crazy

 

[Maud]

I seriously don't know how you ladies manage going to work!? I am really struggling with the idea of choosing to be unemployed, but we just can't get our heads around how we'd cope with days when we're both at work. The stress of getting her to nursery, the stress of leaving her at nursery and then the work stress would be emotionally exhausting plus the physical exhaustion of early mornings on top of broken nights...

I guess it'd be different if there was a financial gain (other than maternity pay for baby no. two.)

Anyway, the point of my ramble is that you ladies are amazing!

 

[Jojo84]

I'm vey lucky that we're in the situation that were in because hubby and me work opposite shifts. I do 8-2 and get back 2:30 and hubby leaves 3:30 and gets back at 100 so we manage childcare between ourselves.

 

[Maud]

Yeah, I'd definitely go back if I didn't need childcare! My mum very helpfully informed me the other day that if she lived nearer she would work part time so she could baby sit while I work part time. Shame she just bought a house over an hour a way then!!!

 

[mrs_b_x]

I remember u saying before maud, aren't the nursery fees near you crazy expensive? X

 

[Ella1979]

I seriously don't know how you ladies manage going to work!? I am really struggling with the idea of choosing to be unemployed, but we just can't get our heads around how we'd cope with days when we're both at work. The stress of getting her to nursery, the stress of leaving her at nursery and then the work stress would be emotionally exhausting plus the physical exhaustion of early mornings on top of broken nights...

I guess it'd be different if there was a financial gain (other than maternity pay for baby no. two.)

Anyway, the point of my ramble is that you ladies are amazing!

I only work 2 days a week and those 2 days are a nightmare. I'm working mostly late shifts so that I can take them to nursery and my OH has to leave work early (using up flexi time) to pick them up. I thought I'd be getting approx. £17 a day, but when my payslip came through it was more like £12. Had to get car MOT'd and serviced this month and that alone wiped out any financial gain from me working this month (if I wasn't working, we'd be ok with one car but we've had to go back to two, which of course costs much more).

 

[Pumpkin9]

I'm seriously concerned about it all now. I'm in the process of clearing out the house so that I make life as easy as possible when I'm back at work. I'm back end of March full time, mon to Friday one week, working a Saturday the other week, with a Thursday off and possibly one Sunday every other month with a day off in the week.

We probably could afford for me not to work but I'm going back as partly I want to and also financially we can really benefit from it and Thomas' in the long run. He's going to be with his grandparents for the majority of the time and one day a week in nursery.
Hopefully I'll have Sussed his milk feeds by the time I go back too so he'll only be on 1 in the evening.
I'm just hoping my work give me somewhere closeby. I'm in the process of contacting them to find it what they have decided. Hopefully find out this week

 

[Maud]

We worked out we'd be up by £11 per day on a 3 day week. Not much for 8.5 hours at work. I'd be far better off working one weekend day in a minimum wage job (assuming I could get one!)

 

[juliekim0908]

I cant quite get my head around work until my LO is atleast in nursery for a few hours a week.. I miss work sooo much don't get me wrong, im not really a home body and would love some adult conversation plus something else to talk about rather than baby baby baby =)

BUT it isn't worth it. My hubby works all sorts of hours Mondays to Friday, sometimes not home till 3am then back out by 10am!.. home weekends but again not all of the time. So id have to face doing it all alone, plus the money wouldn't make much difference.

I will go back part time when my boy is at nursery =) around 2 years old x

 

[iWitch]

Maud the getting up after broken sleep has been the hardest for me! I don't find anywhere near as difficult as I imagined leaving him either. He seems to enjoy going to nursery so it makes it easier

 

[Pumpkin9]

It's the sleep that worries me! I'm not good with it now but at least I can rest in the days. No idea how I'm going to manage at work

 

[Mummybexee]

The lack of sleep is relentless

It's the illnesses aswell ... Just when they start to fell better

BAM

cough.. Cold...virus...conjunctivitis... Or something else

It was a virus that caused oscars sceptic arthritus

 

[Toria111]

I was clearing hardly any money when we had just one child. When Maddie came along I went back to work for about 4 months, but like Bex said all the illness hit, 2 lots of nursery fees, travel costs. The salary I was on was really good and yet I was better off not working. It really is ridiculous. We're just lucky Chris has been promoted a few times since then.

 

[Kaedin]

I'm really nervous about going back, as im trying to figure out how many hours / which shifts would be financially better. Looking at the working and child tax calc. to see if it's be better off working less than my 25 hours. but hard to judge it as i have no clue how much childcare will actually cost me.

My partner asked me to move into his house, but i had been looking to get my own place - which is gonna be tough financially as i need to buy white goods, sofa, the house may need stuff done before i can even move in - the one i viewed didn't have proper flooring so thats expensive never mind rent and bills on top. So i have thought about it as we're doing really well together again- and the living apart is really tough after 5 years of living together. So realistically i have no clue what im going to do, i could just quit and be a stay at home mum - but i worry about when i am ready to go back to work that i wont be able to get a job anywhere. But then don't want to work just to cover the costs of someone else watching hayley and no more for luxuries for her and us to do nice things together

 

[iWitch]

It's the sleep that worries me! I'm not good with it now but at least I can rest in the days. No idea how I'm going to manage at work

You sound like me - I'm so grateful I have flexi time!

 

[iWitch]

I'm really nervous about going back, as im trying to figure out how many hours / which shifts would be financially better. Looking at the working and child tax calc. to see if it's be better off working less than my 25 hours. but hard to judge it as i have no clue how much childcare will actually cost me.

My partner asked me to move into his house, but i had been looking to get my own place - which is gonna be tough financially as i need to buy white goods, sofa, the house may need stuff done before i can even move in - the one i viewed didn't have proper flooring so thats expensive never mind rent and bills on top. So i have thought about it as we're doing really well together again- and the living apart is really tough after 5 years of living together. So realistically i have no clue what im going to do, i could just quit and be a stay at home mum - but i worry about when i am ready to go back to work that i wont be able to get a job anywhere. But then don't want to work just to cover the costs of someone else watching hayley and no more for luxuries for her and us to do nice things together

Not exactly in the same boat but I've said to friends who always asked if I was going back to work that I wouldn't ever want to give up my job if I could avoid it. Like you said might not be easy to come by one when you want/need one again & also I love my job & I have benefits of pension/flexi time/brilliant annual leave entitlement & they're not easy to come by especially with the cuts in local governments.