It is a difficult decision definately. Is there not some legislation or something that says that if you have been there 25 weeks by 25 weeks pregnant you are entitled to maternity leave pay - I think this is correct for teachers anyway.
I am in a similar situation.
My problem is that I was a full time teacher in a permanent contract for around 7 years before I got pregnant with Tristan, we then moved down to Fife for a year during my maternity leave as my husband's job was in Edinburgh. I gave up my job in June 2009 as we thought we were going to be staying down there. He got relocated back up to Aberdeen in October 2009 and I got a long term supply job back in my old school from the end of October. There is no permanent posts up at the moment (boo hiss!).
My problem is looking at what my rights would be on the supply list if I was to get pregnant by the summer holidays as I am only a supply teacher. I have tried to find out from various websites, but they all seem to be a bit vague. Obviously, if I had been in my old post, it would have not been a problem - however, I have gone from working for Aberdeen City council to a gap of a few months, back to working for Aberdeen City council and might have lost all my benefits (that amount to nearly 9 nears experience working for them) due to a few months gap! That would be really annoying.
So, I am stuck with the decision - do I wait for a permanent post to come up, stay in the job for a while and then TTC...or do we just go for it in April/May at the earliest? You never know how long it will take to fall pregnant anyway, so it could be a while before I would be putting in documentation (i.e. MatB1 forms and so on). However, due to problems in council funding, it is likely that there will be no permanent posts come up this year (jobs will be lost due to natural wastage - i.e. people who leave will not be replaced or people will just be given short term contracts) - so I could be waiting for ages..I am 32, so don't want to wait for years before TTC again (especially as we may want to eventually have 3 children if we can). I could just go on getting my contract renewed. I need to find out if that means I would be entitled to maternity leave though. I would maybe just have to claim from the government. At the moment, I have been back at work from the end of October - so around 15 weeks worked already. If I waited for a few months, I would definately have been there 25 weeks before I was 25 weeks pregnant, so should be entitled to something.
What are your opinions? (sorry for muscling in on your thread!)
Good luck whatever you decide to do.
xxx