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Hello everyone, I'm 19 weeks pregnant and I feel anxious about the baby's gender. I'm expecting a boy, and I have thoughts that I might not be able to emotionally connect, bond, or love him the way I would love a girl. Any suggestions?

I need some help… I’m having an outdoor winter maternity photoshoot in December.

I am going to be a in velvet deep dark purple maybe like an eggplant color dress long sleeve.

What are good color options for my husband to wear? I don’t know if I want him to be in black but if that’s the only option the that’s what we got.

Name help please!

I am trying to create a middle name for my little one, and honor two family members.

Name one: Mary Kay Name two: Anne Marie

Any ideas?

Alright, I’ve reached the point in my pregnancy where I am too close to the steering wheel. I’m short so I have to sit close to the wheel to reach. I’m not quite to the third trimester so I still want to go to work.

I am aware na government contributions dapat ma deduct sa salary differential, however, nag deduct dn sila ng government contributions from my sss maternity benefit. For example if my supposed pay is 100,000, my total government contri is 5,000 and my maternity benefit from sss is 70k. Shouldn’t the computation be salary differential (25,000) + sss maternity (70,000) ?

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If you’re currently pregnant or was pregnant in the past, it would be great if you could take a few minutes to fill out a survey about your experience with maternity wear.

Hi Maternity community! Is anyone else feeling like they are losing their identity a little in pregnancy? I love my fashion, clothes and my body are a big part of who i am and I just feel like I no longer look like myself. It sounds so silly, but I'm hoping I'm not alone? All the maternity wear brands out there look nothing like how i dress myself.

Hi, I have a question lng sana about maternity benefit sa SSS, sabi kasi 2,800 yung contribution dapat to get the 70k benefit paano po if yung contribution ko (i’m employed btw) is around 1k lang, can i do a voluntary contribution at the same time para maging total of 2800 na contribution ko monthly?

Hi, Im 21 weeks, Didi, Twins pregnancy. Baby A ( a Boy) has percentil 97 because the abdominal circunfere, and baby B (a girl), percentil 50. The doctor said everything is ok, just baby A is fatter. I was calm but i read some cases and now im worried. Someone else can help me?

How to add a sleep routine to your baby? I have a 4 month old boy and he only sleeps after 10pm. Before, he always slept at 9, but for about a month now he has only slept late.

What can I do to introduce a routine?

I'm having trouble putting my 3-month-old son on a schedule. I end up following his demand, but each day is different. Has anyone else not followed a schedule and everything went well? Will I be able to get some kind of schedule when he's a little older?

Hi everyone, I am currently almost 6 months pregnant and am starting new job in bank in nov. I have not disclosed my pregnancy to them during hiring process, and I am nervous now as training is almost for 3.5 months which would end a day after my due date is. I am nervous on how will they take it as, will they fire me bcoz of this, will I get mat leave. I was working at diff job until July and then was not working for few months and starting again. Any information on how HR takes this as would be helpful to call down my anxiety. Thanks all

I am located in toronto, CA

Currently pregnant and due in May 2025. In the 66 weeks leading up to my due date I will have been employed for 35 of those, so I am confident that I would be eligible for UK maternity allowance.

I left my last job in September 2024, and recently took on some freelance work (about 5 weeks) for which I will need to register as self employed. In between now and May 2025, I don’t think I will do 13 weeks of work as a freelancer (what the govt website states I need to be eligible to claim maternity allowance).

My question is, when assessing my claim, will they take into account the work I did as an employee beforehand, or will they just see that I have not done the 13weeks of Class 2 NI contributions needed as self employed, and write me off as not eligible for the MA.

I am hoping to get another job in between now and May, but just wondering if this small freelance job will have messed up my chances of being able to claim. Any help from people who have been in similar positions much appreciated!

I’m currently on maternity leave and recently discovered that my employer has removed my name and picture from their website. All employees have their profiles on the website but I remember when a colleague went on maternity leave last year they kept her name and pic up and just said (on maternity leave) after her name. They have also uploaded my maternity cover’s picture and profile but no mention that she is maternity cover by her title. Just that she has the same title as mine. I’m reaching out here to get a sense check. It feels like I’ve been removed from the company and replaced. And to anyone looking at the website, it will look like that too. Please tell me if I’m being oversensitive!

Hi all I just really need some advice, I work as a health professional for a large company remotely. I had my 3rd baby in April 2024. I had a complicated pregnancy, illness and had a reduced workload for the last 3rd of my pregnancy. Recently the company was outbid and I'm being transferred (tuped) to a new company... so far it has been a nightmare. My colleagues were paid to hand back all of their new equipment for the day and set up all of their new stuff, I'm still waiting for them to collect mine. They can't give me a specific time and looks like I'm going to be stuck in for a day so they can send a courier to me... not ideal when I have a life to lead, get out and do things with my family. We are extremely busy. I only have a personal phone number from my manager to contact anyone at the company and she doesn't always respond to me and I have to chase her. To work at this new company I have to prove my identity. Which has involved multiple phone calls, face time and filling in of forms. Even accessing everything has taken me a few hours because it's a logistical nightmare and the site is awful.

I have a pre-existing mental health condition and they know this. I'm finding this all very anxiety inducing and has not been a simple process.

Am I being dramatic? I do feel as if im being a pain to them but I'm not getting the support/ response or any information I need. I wanted to do keeping in touch days which they said I could but I'm barely getting any info on that. My manager has previously been nice and I'm sure she's busy but I haven't got a clue what's going on.

Can anyone recommend any help or advice how to deal with this please? 🙏

Hello everyone!

I wanted to get some advice about maternity leave and pregnancy planning. So a little back story I currently work as a teacher in NY. I am currently experiencing burn out due to no support by my Admin. I am already thinking of quitting by the end of this school year. What is making me hesitant is that my husband and I trying for a baby this upcoming year. I am not sure if I should continue working next school year just to qualify for FMLA while I give birth so I can get some type of payment while I’m bonding with the baby and then quit. I just don’t know if I want to sacrifice my sanity any longer. The burnout this year has taken a toll on me this is way I am thinking ahead. Does anyone recommend I start investing my money somewhere incase I quit before the next school year to have some income while I am with the baby? Because I don’t think I would qualify for any FMLA if I quit my job before baby is born. My husband is very supportive of anything I choose to do but I myself don’t want to put so much financial pressure on him, even though he is okay with it.

Thank you!

Question and advice needed about changing jobs/salaries before maternity.

I currently am on a comfortable salary but would love to move into a slightly different field which requires some self learn. I am currently doing this myself and reckon I’d be able to get a job in 6 months. However it would be a pay cut- it would rise to where I am now and beyond but not for another couple of years.

Currently I am not pregnant, hoping to start in 8 or so months. I was wondering if financially I would be better off sticking my current role out until I have a baby (if I am lucky enough to do so), and get my maternity pay based on this. In this case I could continue the self learning and be financially in a better position. Or, whether I should take the leap even though it means I’m on a lower salary and also only in the role for perhaps a year at most.

Sort of relevant is that we would like a couple of kids. So on the return from maternity, if timing was on our side I’d be back for 9 months before gaping back on maternity leave.

Would love any advice!

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My baby is 3m old and my dog is 3 years old. My dog is a high energy dog, gets excited with everything, plus she is a large size. Her hairs are everywhere, and I just dont like her anymore.

When she comes close to my baby she always tries to lick her, and I hate it. Husband says I am being over protective but I just cant feel comfortable with the idea of my dog licking my babies face or hands. ITS A NOT FOR ME.

Lots of people said that it happens a lot in postpartum but I started having those thoughs when I was pregnant.

The idea of when my baby starts walking or crawling makes me nervous, just thinking the dog will hit her running, with her paws, or the dirt around the dog (i clean everyday but house is never clean, dog haies everywhere) .

Its makes me regret so much having a dog and I feel bad, i know it is not the dog fault. I wish I could rehome her but I know my husband loves the dog so much.

Hello all :)

I am a French first time mom living in the UK for 4+ years.

I live in East London and am supposed to give birth at Homerton Maternity.

I also have the choice to come back to France to give birth which was my initial thought however I had positive experience at Homerton for the first scan and from a logistics perspective being in the Uk, at home, with my husband would be much better.

I am just getting very anxious about it because:

• I don’t know the health system at all in this country (having come during covid time and being in overall very good health condition »
• I read many articles online about horrific stories in NHS
• French expat would always tell me « don’t play with your life do not give birth in the Uk » … when obviously I know all British women aren’t dead after giving birth but going back to point 2… 😬

Any feedbacks on Homerton Maternity (birth centre) would be greatly appreciated 🫶🏻

Hello, I am a first time mum past my first trimester. I come from France and have been in the UK for more than 4 years now.

The French and English systems seems quite different and I am a bit anxious as I don’t know really well what to expect. I don’t know anyone around me that gave birth in London.

I am registered at Homerton Maternity. I went there once for the T1 scan and everything went well.

I would like to give birth in the UK as now this is my home, however I am reading terrible articles about NHS maternity care…

I am looking for women who had recent experiences giving birth at Homerton and would be kind enough to share it with me here, or give any tips of advice.. It’s really hard for to understand what I should except.

I haven’t really asked my midwife yet because at the beginning I thought I would come back to France but I would prefer to stay « home » rather than have to come back to France for 1 month and a half…

Thanks so much in advance 🙏🏻

After my son was born, I simply can't feel affection for my cat, 25(f), I have a 3 month old baby and since I came home from the maternity ward it's been like this, I feel like I have to protect my son and myself. away from him, that he is dirty and can give my son allergies... I feel very bad, I still do all his tasks with the utmost care, I always leave the litter box clean, I give him the best food on the market, I leave the fresh water and I comb it every other day, but the affection, that love I felt has disappeared... It's killing me, I feel like the worst person in the world and I don't know how to improve and go back to what I was before...

I am New father to be.. i am looking to save maternity cost and expenses…

Can someone share there experience regarding maternity and how to save the maternity expenses?

What things to keep in mind while claiming employers maternity cover?

Hello! I’m a student researcher at the University of Texas at Austin interested in maternal and infant health.

I’d like to hear your experiences- both positive and negative- with specifically the American healthcare and maternity care system. If you are interested in sharing your story and inserting your experience in the academic conversation, send me a private message!

So I was 41 weeks,I thought my water broke but after a few tests I had just peed myself. My doctor then does a cervical check and says that I’m 4cm. I was relived,but then I see that my doctor grabs a long white hook and just sticks it in my vagina without saying anything. I asked what she was doing and she said that since I was 4cm, past 40 weeks, and already at the hospital then she might as well break my water and get things going. So then I fell a gush of water and she sees it come out. She then gets her nurses to pick me up and put me into a wheel chair and rolled me to labour and delivery. She also got a nurse to call my mom which was the best thing she did. So my doctor’s nurses took me to my room stripped me nude,put my legs in stirrups, and put a baby monitor on my baby’s head and they wouldn’t let me off the bed. My doctor then came in with a med student so she could watch my birth which I didn’t consent to but hey what else is new. So after a few hours my mom finally arrives around the time my contractions were heavier and that my baby was really coming out. So my mom holds my hand as I start pushing and sweating my doctor then rolls in a bouncy of metal tools and gives me an episiotomy saying it was routine and the numbing barely kicked in. So my doctor after a few minutes of episiotomy and me pushing grabs forceps and when I started crowing she opens the flaps of my vagina and stuck the forceps in and was pulling my baby out and one of the nurses was pushing on my bump a bit and finally my baby comes out. Then after that the other nurse gives me a fundal massage “keep in mind how I never even hemorrhaged” So a terrible birth and I needed somewhere to tell my birth story.

I am currently pregnant with rare mono/mono twins that will require me to be admitted into the hospital for 10 weeks before a scheduled c section for monitoring and bed rest. I work for a hospital in Oregon. My HR is telling me I have to use 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave before I can start using 14 weeks total of Oregon paid leave. My question is, would I qualify for short term disability while I’m under FMLA? HR is telling me that I will not qualify for any disability pay during my hospital stay because I am “choosing not to use Oregon paid leave” even though I am not given a choice and have to use fmla first. It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I supposedly won’t qualify for any disability pay while I am admitted in the hospital, on bed rest and cannot work. My hospital stay will eat through almost all of my 12 weeks of fmla leave. Thanks.

I, F (25 years old) recently became a mother and I have all the help in the world, my husband is an excellent father and everything has been going well, but even so my mental health has deteriorated a lot, I keep flirting with the idea of ​​suicide, my son It's already 3 months old and I think it's been too long for it to be postpartum depression, I don't know if it's the confinement or the weight of the responsibility of wanting to be a good mother... Has anyone felt this? What did they do to improve?

Does anyone here have tried to file for an extension of SDI Maternity Benefits in CA? How long will it take before you can get paid again? My doctor just gave me another 4 weeks and I’ve been waiting for more than 3 weeks now. I’m also wondering if can I file for Paid Family Leave now will still waiting for that extension of SDI Benefits?

first sorry for my english so, my baby is 1 year and 2 months old. He was waking 3 times at night for feedings and this was makung me so tired and a little bit sick (like having headaches everyday). So 4 days ago, me and my husband started the night weaning. He lulls the baby and I am sleepung in other room for baby doesn’t see me and remind breastmilk. But it’s very stressful to my husband. How long did the night weaning last there?