B vits gals!

[Crissie]

Hi Ladies

So glad you are getting seen to Merry, and you can just rest at home until the call rather than be worrying at work. I'm sure all is ok, but better to get it all checked out, I can't wait to hear what you see on the scan

I'm trying to finish my assignment I'm feeling so down about it. I don't understand half of it and I'm really struggling. I have to finish it today and post it off to my tutor. I still have the final assignment and an Exam. Feeling stressed Just want to give up.

Lisaf glad you got some clearing done. And some rest! Hope your cramps are gone.

It's soooo cold in the office today

 

[Merry]

Im cold today, even though it's not really that cold in the house, have got a fleece on. Glad you've finished your assignment, I'm sure it will be great. What is it on? I'm so glad that I've done all my studying Have spent most of my life doing assignments and exams.

I'll let you know how I get on at the hospital, fx it will all be ok.

 

[Merry]

Meant to say almost finished your assignment, the last push is the worst but you'll be fine. Don't give up, it will be worth it in the end

 

[lisaf]

I hated school because of the pressure to finish stuff, lol.

Merry - can't wait to hear what they say/see. As for the throwing up, I'm almost worried today because I haven't thrown up or gagged or anything... but I know I came close and just suppressed it. A week ago today my levels were up to 1055 which should be enough to make anyone a little pukey... who knows where they are at now and I'm not any sicker... it just depends on your body.

AFM - No sign of further cramping.. I even lifted a few things yesterday (they were around 25lbs I think - DH wasn't feeling well and I wanted to get some sorting/cleaning done).

 

[Merry]

Glad that your feeling better Lisaf Don't lift any thing too heavy though, and remember from your knees

My appointment is at 11.20 tomorrow morning, so will probably have another day off work. So glad that my boss is understanding They say it will probably be too early to see much, no heartbeat or any thing and that I shouldn't get worried by it. I will get bloods done and make sure the pregnancy isan't eptopic, then I can go back next week and get a scan to check for the heart beat.

Please God let it all beok, no more bleeding but some brownish discharge today. A really small amount though, so not too worried about it. Have done nothing but crochet since bleeding Saturday though, having to count means that I can't hink about things. Also watched a lot of ST Voyager, it's my go to TV show when I'm feeling down. I might have to get my Due South DVD's out! Have ordered wool for a new project, have done all my other projects. Except a cardi thats size 10 and probably won't fit into again till after the baby is born so have sorta stopped working on it though I should really get on with it

See I loved school, though I was always a swat type. Getting things done as soon as I got them, I like to organise stuff. Wish I could go back to high school some times, it was so easy and never saw it then. 9-3.30 hours, sitting around chatting to my friends, not having to work to hard and my mother cooked my dinner!!!!

Hope you ladies are ok. Do you have a day off work today Lisa as it's labour day? I think the Yankees are having an early game today due to Labour day, which is how I know. Might watch the game while crocheting some more booties,. This is my third in stock pair, really need my new project to get here. It's a small throw with snow flakes on

Take care

 

[lisaf]

Yep, its labor day here so no work!
I used to do everything for school as soon as I could, but I got burned too many times where I worked my butt off on an assignment then had the teacher change their mind about how they wanted it done, or even deciding to drop the assignment all-together. Though they'd give me extra credit for having done it, but that seemed to always happen when I was getting an A anyway and didn't need the extra credit.

 

[Merry]

There was never an option of extra credits at school, though we never got cancelled assignments. I think the national curriculum sorted that sort of thing.

We had our bank holiday last week, it was nice but now is a long stretch to Christmas it's not too bad as I still have 21 days of AL left to use before End of March!!! So might take a few weeks off if I feel tired. I heard that in the US you get crazy little AL, hope that's not true! What's the maternity like there?

Hope that you enjoy your day off, don't clean all day!

 

[Crissie]

Oh man school was great! But this part time studying sucks! Having to work, clean, cook, excercise, keep in touch with friends and keeping in touch with family halfway round the world is exhausting! I'm doing a coure in understanding music, classical study of music. But I can't wait till it's over.

I also hear the annual leave in the US sucks? DH and I would love to live in the US though, I think it's a beautiful country. We enter the Green Card lottery every year. Maybe we'll be lucky...

Merry goodluck with the scan and tests tommorow, looking forward to hearing about it, hope all goes well. And you are so lucky to have 21 days left! How many days do you get a year? Have you not taken any holidays this year? I only have 8 days left, and I think we are going to vist my sister in France for Christmas. We're going to drive there so that we can bring over all the baby stuff she is getting rid of yay freebees! That's only if DH and I get our Passports back from the home office in time, we sent in applications for 'indefinate leave to remain' in the UK. They said it could take up to 4 months.

Anyway night gals, sleep tight x

 

[lisaf]

So I'm a mini-expert on leave here in the US. First off, each state is very different and I'm lucky enough to live in California which actually is better than most states.
There is a federal leave program (unpaid leave) that allows up to 12 weeks a year for a personal or family medical leave (must have doctors notes etc) it can also be used for bonding leave for a new child/adopted child by either parent. But its totally unpaid. In order to qualify for that leave, you have to work at a company that has 50 employees working within a 75 mile radius of your office and have to have worked for them for a year AND have worked 1,250 hours in the past 12 months. Most states don't have any pay leave at all unless you have private or company-offered coverage. That is all the protection some states provide.
California has a medical disability pay program and a family leave pay program.

Anyway, California gives you up to 16 weeks job-protected leave unpaid for medical necessity (if you're at a company with 5 or more employees)... so if your doctor only signs you off for 6 weeks, you only get 6 weeks (if you qualify for the federal leave, you can take more time under that).
My company is too small for the federal leave.
So I will get job protection for up to 16 weeks of medical disability (severe morning sickness, bed rest, recovery from birth.. 6 weeks vaginal, 8 c-section). Most people only take 10 weeks max. My company may give me extra time on top of the other leave I get, but they don't have to.
I have some vacation time saved up, but they may make me take that as part of my other leave etc...

 

[Merry]

Lisa your leave makes me very confused! Glad your an expert on it!

Well I work for the NHS, so get 27 days paid leave acyear. However as I have now worked 5 years here, I get 29 days. For 10 years you get 31 days. You can carry 5 days over, which I did for 3 days so had 32 days leave to take this year so had a week off walking Hadrains wall and my birthday off but still have quite a lot left.

As for maternity pay, I get 2 months off full pay, then on a sliding scale my pay decreases. If I take my full year off, which is the max I'll get about a 75% my annual salary. However during my year off I do acquire AL, so can then take that as well. I'm much luckier than others.

A music course sounds fun, very artistic hopefully you'll get your passports back for a trip to France not that they ever check your passports, if you go without them they probably would!

I'm hoping to get hand me downs from SIL, her youngest is now 15 months and a good friend of ours is due in December. So may be able to buy less baby clothes etc if the baby is the same sex!

Looking forward to my appointment, hoping every thing will be ok. Fx

 

[Merry]

So have been to the EPU and I think it went well. They took bloods and will have to go back in 48 hours for more. The internal US showed a gestational sac, they can't rule out that it's not due to an eptopic, but it was assymetrically placed and wide rimmed. Which the radiographer said was typical of a normal pregnancy gestational sac the bloods will hopefully confirm it's not eptopic and the baby is growing normally.

There was no yolk, stem or HB as it's too early. Will have another scan in about a week to try and see that. Just seeing the sac though has made me feel so relieved. There is some thing there, just praying now the bloods are normal

 

[Crissie]

YAY, sounds wonderful! I also want to see the sac in my tummy!

I'm surprised they can't tell if it's ectopic? I thought ectopic means the egg implanted outside the Uterus (like in the fallopian tube...) Can't they tell where it is by ultrasound? Anyway I'm sure all is fine! And you so lucky now you get to see he/she again in a week! Lucky fish

How are you feeling?

 

[Crissie]

Lisaf, when you talk about your leave - which is very confusing BTW! - do you get paid annual leave for holidays etc? And then any paid maternity leave? It sounds like none of its paid! WOW hectic. What do you do BTW?

I get 27 days annual leave (I started on 24 but I’ve been with the company for 5 years) for holidays. We are legally allowed 1 years maternity leave (and still have to get out jobs back) but your employer is only liable to pay you for 6 weeks (90%) and then you can claim a maternity benefit from the government for the rest of the time but that's not much. But my company gives us 20 weeks (5 months) maternity leave that's paid at 90% of our basic salary.

Anyway I think my company is generous but nowhere near as good as yours Merry. Are those general NHS benefits?

 

[Merry]

They said with an eptopic pregnancy that you get a psudo sac, which is generally centrally placed and thin rimmed. So there is a small chance that's what it is, haven't heard off them again so think my first bloods are ok. On my report it says that my sac,"Most likely represents a gestation sack."

They measured my overies and my right one is three times the volume of my left one? Apparently though they are both normal.

The NHS benefits are general and are really good, they also will look at flexible working when I return to work and can get up to 5 paid days personnel leave a year for emergencies/baby being I'll.
So happy to see my sac Makes me think that soon I'll be able to see her heart beat and feel convincedthat she will grow well Fx

 

[Crissie]

She???

 

[Merry]

Techincally all babies are female until at some point a rush of hormone turns the baby male, but I'm convinced I'm having a girl until proved otherwise

 

[lisaf]

Haha, I love that logic/fact Merry, I'll be telling DH that its definitely a girl right now!!! hehe. Glad you saw a sac... I guess its nice of them to be fully honest about the chance that it could be ectopic, but it sounds so unlikely its almost mean of them to plant that doubt/worry in your head! Lol!

Sounds like you guys get very generous leave there.
I get 15 days off paid each year (we call it personal time off/vacation). That doesn't include the 13 holidays where the office closes). Legally, they cannot take away any earned vacation time, but they can set a limit, which is 30 days at my company. Once you hit the limit you stop earning more unless you take some of it (this varies depending on which state you are in also).

We get state-paid disability or family leave pay which is 55% of our salary (but isn't taxed). They set a maximum limit on that so if you make a lot of money, you're going to get less than 55%. I signed up for extra insurance that will give me 45% of my salary, also tax free (this only counts during time of medical disability). So during at least part of my leave, I'll be bringing home 95% of my salary tax-free.

I see the employer-side of the situation too though... and understand why there are such limitations on size of employer etc... there are some companies that are just not set up to operate without everyone there... I am the only accountant at my job. I do all the bookeeping/general ledger/banking work. My boss doesn't know how to do what I do, and the girl who works with me just does data entry and doesn't understand general ledger work. I'm also the only person will full access/understanding of our software system. I can't really train someone on how to cover for me for the software... its one of those things where you need a long time to learn it, or need to have been there when it was set up (like I was).

 

[Crissie]

So what are you going to do about cover when you're off Lisaf? How long will you take maternity?

Hey I didn't know your baby is a girl at first??? I thought you get boy and girl sperm? X&Y? So how does it really work?

 

[lisaf]

Well, I think you still need a hormone surge at a certain point, right? Thats how you get some girls who have XY chromosomes, right?

My company has already said that they'd hire someone while I'm gone, and if the company is doing well enough, that when I come back, I'll be promoted to supervisor. We'll see if that really happens or not, lol... both because the company has been taking off slower than we expected and because I'm not sure they'll actually let me be a supervisor, lol! Also afraid they'll hire someone who knows more than me, and they'll get promoted above me As it is, they might hire someone to be above me, then I can train them on what I do etc... we'll just have to see how it works out.

Oh well, by state law, I am guaranteed to be returned to a position with equal pay and responsibility etc. I'm a teensy bit afraid that they'll 'give' me more leave then they have to... then use that to refuse to bring me back (once you've been out longer than they are legally obligated to let you out for, the job protection disappears). Just a tiny fear of mine that I know has happened to other women.

 

[Crissie]

I second those fears! I'm worried that they'll hire a temp to cover me while on maternity and the temp will be eager beaver and better than me... Then when I come back they'll be sorry to be getting me back oh well I'll have better things to worry about.