BestBeast

Thank you! Great recommendations

No - the nursery can?t recommend childcare unfortunately. I have asked but it?s against policy. Can?t afford a nanny share, otherwise this would be a good solution.

My daughter has been off nursery with 3 separate illnesses ( 2x Hf&M plus one nondescript ?virus?)in past 4 weeks. We?ve been really impacted by this as a family, and I need to make my life easier by having really solid back up options. My work is more flexible, but it?s also insecure, so the fact that I?m developing a reputation at work is stressful. Covering her illness myself is no longer an option , and I can?t keep on with the phoning relatives scenario. That?s not working either. So what?s a good option in terms of emergency childcare that you can depend on to come through. I need someone/somewhere I can call in at short notice and I need them in my contacts. Now! Please tell me they exist!

Thank you both for your kind and helpful responses. I will investigation both routes. I cannot handle even the basic confrontation at the moment. Every email feels like there's someone in my face screaming at me at and that's NOT the tone of them (although I wonder about the intent in the gaps between the sentences if you know what I mean).

I don't know exactly what I'm asking for: advice, support, experience? Long term EDF user, but didn't want this to be attached to my user name, as I know quite a few people on here and don't want this to define me. And it makes me feel like an idiot to be honest..... I recently left a short term contract job after only a few weeks. This was partly because I couldn't manage it (and the very long daily commute) during horrendous sickness, headaches and insomnia. These were all pregnancy related, I found out about a week before starting that I was pregnant. I don't think they handled this properly, in terms of communication to me and discussions about how to ameliorate this situation, but I was also keen to put it behind me and wanted to move on because I felt utterly unable to cope. It was a maternity cover contract too and I felt paralysed by feelings of guilt, letting people down, and - yes, I know seems ridiculous in the cold light of day - shame in the fact that I was in the situation in the first place. But there were other reasons to let the job go and why I didn?t fight to keep it ? i.e. it certainly wasn?t my dream job, wasn?t going to give me great experience I could use (as became clear in the first few days), but it was money and potentially my last source of income before having a baby in October (I don't see many people employing me at the moment). And, had I known what I know now from HR, I certainly would NOT have resigned when I did.... So, related to that.. ..I have only just received (a month after my resignation) the first communication from HR about various things relating to the job (didn't have any commnunication from them before this related to the pregnancy, sickness or resignation). And a lot of it doesn't add up to me, although I don't want to go into it here. I don't know whether I'm being oversensitive or ignorant (probably both - and I know I'm more likely to feel vulnerable at the moment) but, to be honest, I feel a bit hard done by, upset by the whole thing, and lacking confidence to pursue it further. I don't have the resources (now I don't have a job) to consult a lawyer at the moment - i.e. I kind of want to know whether I have real legal basis for my feelings before I went down that route and risked making my financial situation far worse. And, at 16 weeks pregnant with still very bad days re illness, I don't know whether I have the emotional resilience to pursue this so I would want to get some idea of what getting involved in a dispute would actually mean. I also want to settle these feelings so I know, if I am being unreasonable in my expectations, I can square things with the organsiation and just move on. Is there anyone out there who has been in a similar situation (I know, mine's quite niche), knows their way around pregnancy related issues in employment, or who can offer a perspective from any personal/professional (even HR) experience? I know I'm relying on community spirit here, but I can offer a bottle of wine, or several coffees/cake, in return?

Looking for someone to make something like this (top left photo) : http://www.pocouno.co.uk/design/ The room is approx 10ft wide, but not sure whether we'd like it all the way across, or whether we'd like shelving on either side. We don't have a massive budget, so the cheapest possible approach/materials would be very much welcomed. I understand we'd have to get the mattress/cushions sourced from elsewhere. Hoping someone can help or recommend...

Good idea, Monniemae, will ask - looks like from their website that you can transfer to them any time from 16 weeks plus. And I'm sure it's all great for antenatal at St T's, but I had an exceptionally bad experience there with the 13 week and I am not eager to go back. I will explain this to midwives, who I'm sure will be sympathetic even if they tell me that I still can't do what I want... Out of interest, have St T's started doing any scans after 20 weeks? I know Kings do 32 week ones, just wondered if St T's do now too.

Thanks Monniemae, lemon and silly woman. I phoned Kings, who said that, whilst I'm in catchment for the hospital in terms of antenatal etc, I'm not for a HB. But it looks like I can have my antenatal at Kings and then transfer to the riverside team, like you did monniemae..So I might do that. Kings is better for antenatal for me for numerous (and probably self-identifying) reasons that I don't really want to go into.

Name changed - this isn't my first post here, but it's exceptionally early days. I'm thinking about a home birth (second) Live in the Queen's Road Peckham area, but with a postcode of SE14. The NCT site says that I may be in the catchment for the King's Home Birth team/midwives. I tried looking up threads on Aylesham, but I got so confused (my practice isn't any one of the names referred to)about what the NCT site actually meant that I gave up. Has anyone out there done this in the same area - or have knowledge who to call? I don't want to go to my GP for various reasons and would rather sign up direct if I can