Does anyone's DP fly in/out (work away)?

My DP just got a job which he will be fly i n fly out it will be 2weeks in 1 week off :( he doesnt start for a few weeks but i just dont know how i will cope :s :(

Well obviously i don't know what it's like with a bub yet - but trust me.. you do cope! I have found our relationship is even stonger because we miss each other so much when he is away - we talk for over an hour a day when he is away and we spend more genuine time together when he is home because we look forward to it so much..

As much as i'd love him to be home every night, and try and talk him out of going back to work for the week.. i must admit i do enjoy the king size bed to myself! lol...

Yes you do cope

It is a bit more difficult TTC but you get yourself into a routine while they are away. My DH is 2on 1 off. I organise the time to spend with my friends and my horse while he is away and we spend better quality time together when he is home.

Gees, you girls have it tough - mine is only 7 on 7 off, so i'm very lucky. A week is easy peasy to fill up and the time spent together on the week home is great. Dh has been doing away work since we met (aargh 9 years ago!), and we have grown so used to it that we actually enjoy the lifestyle.

Kotare - i find it easy to get through the 5 days too... and have to agree, yeah it's great spending the week together!

Can i just add for the TTC.. we concieved when we had fertility problems - on Danny's side mind you. We were due to start our first cycle IVF (we were told there was absolutely no chance of it happening naturally - after trying for 2 years) when we found out we were expecting - twins actually!

So there is hope for those TTC yet!

Blanchie, it gets easier after a while, you get into a routine. I tend to organise my housework and catchup with girlfriends for coffees/walks etc when he's away, the we do heaps of things together when he's back. And when we have a baby, he'll be home during the day when he's home, so we can do things as a family, when other men might be coming home late from work while the kids are asleep... so there's pros and cons... give it a go and maybe reassess in 4 months.. if it's too tricky then maybe your DP would look into other options?

My DH applied for other jobs yes but we're just waiting word on a South Aust one now, which is STILL a FI/FO post. If he gets it, the option is either to be based in adelaide (and him fly in/out of adeliade which would suck because i dont know anyone in adelaide so will be on my own while he's away) - roster around 10days on:6 days off; OR base in Perth (fly adelaide then to the mine) but he'd have to travel in his own time and lose a day, roster 2:1. If he gets the job, we've decided we'll live in Adelaide for at least 6 months (or however long it takes for me to get pregnant/during pregnancy), then I move back to Perth when baby due so can be supported by friends and family, and he commute from Perth. I'm pretty happy with that arrangement - just hope we get pregnant before he changes jobs. I suspect anything new and his roster would be pretty rigid.. he can hardly ask for "fertility flights" with a new employer! :lol:

Thanks ladies, i guess i will get used to it, it will be mainly at night that i will miss him the most, but it will be great when he comes home for a whole week and we can just spend time as a family. it will be great to have the whole bed to myself though!!! although Emelia will probably be in there with me alot..and she takes up alot of room even though shes only 6 months! lol

best of luck with TTC Deni, Kotare & funkbunny

Blanchie, I was just about to say, "get a dog", when I read that you had a baby !!! yes she would definatly keep you occupied. Is your DP's mine set up with broadband internet and webcam? My DP doesn't have access to a webcam but we dont have need for it at this stage. When we have young kids we'll set one up.

DP is due home this monday night. Currently he's on 8 days:6 days then 4 days:3 days. So i'm pretty spoilt: two weekends out of every three he's home, at the moment.

Deni, Emelia does keep me very occupied!! not sure if he is going to be able to have the internet up there he starts in a few weeks..i really hope he does cos i want to get a webcam so Emelia can still see him everyday! im sure she will miss her daddy very much

sometimes the mines have a "common room" where you can use internet, not sure about web cams but i guess depends on the company. If his job is with a massive company like bph or rio tinto, maybe they have those facilities (or at lesat one to share in the common room). in my DH's mine, he can't use internet from his donger (room), as there's no connection. But as his work is office-based, he's contactable on email, but there's a block on MSN. Sometimes the dongers allow calls in, but you can't call out from them. But there would be a mobile signal tho, so there's always that.

there isn't anything like that out where i am from such as a 'comman room' with internet.. there is a 'comman room' which has pool tables, a tele and a couch.. which also includes where they eat and they usually call it 'the mess' out in our part of the country. But Danny and some of our friends use the wireless cards you just insert into the laptop and you can connect to the internet that way.. i think there is an add about it where they're in that combi van for Tesltra?

oh i dont' think i've seen that Ad catherine... that sounds like a great idea.. i wonder if it'll work at Mt Keith..?? Probably DH doesn't need to email me at night anyway. He tends to collapse into bed as soon as he's home from dinner !! I once woke him up when I rang at 8pm ! poor boy ! :rolleyes:

Sharon - Aww.. your poor man! It is a hard day.. It still amazes me how Danny does 6am-7pm and then goes to gym for hour and a half, goes back to camp eats and rings me and the gets up to do it all over again at 5am!

That internet card works anywhere you'd get mobile connection i think.. you can be driving in the car and have it connected.

hi ladies

we've done the equivalent of fly in fly out (DH is a truck driver so away for a few weeks and then home for a week if we're lucky) - he's home long term at the moment due to the TTC struggle, but was just wantitng to drop in and let you guys know that i just seen an ad in one of the papers for Telstra next G phones having my hour back again - and it includes the video calls! so you choose an hour and can call any number (fixed or mobile) for the frist 20 minutes free - i'm guessing the video calls would only be telstra mobile to telstra mobile - but if they get next g coverage and can't have a wireless lap top with web cam, it's something to consider (especially taking into account that you can put the two phones on different hours and effectively have two hours when you can keep in touch each day for nothing!) - definitely worth the thought (have definitely considered it for when DH goes away again!

That sounds great too Briggsy'sgirl... I might wait tho until our future bub (positive thinking) is about 8 months or so, becuase by then I'm sure the technology would have changed yet again ! It's so great that it's easier to keep in touch. I remember my first long time overseas, was only 12 years ago when I lived in the US for 15 months, and the Internet ONLY EXISTED for high-end business and defence ! No such thing as email, really. Gawd it would have been SO HARD to have a long distance relationship back in those days !!!

Maybe future generations will have one of those body-sensor things so you have the sensation of hugs etc, who knows. Of course it's nowhere near the real thing of course ;) AND, of course, no way of TTC long-distance !!

ooh it's been SOO nice this week. DH working from the city for a change just this week (a course which he thinks is stupid but I think YAY he's home every night!) - then we're going on 3 weeks holiday this saturday, 4 WEEKS that must be a record for us since we first met ! :confetti:

make the most of it Sharon! the holiday will be awesome i'm sure!

Hi girls :hello:

I'm annoyed my DH was sent to New Caledonia today for 4 days... right in the precious days leading up to O ! He's waitlisted for a flight home on Friday, but might not get home til Saturday. I'm :pray: that I don't O on CD13 or 14, I've done that before in the past 6 months, coz then we'll most likely miss it!. My average seems to be CD16 tho, so I'm hoping this will be one of those months. :crossfingers: :pray:

GRRR I hate this... but I know that DH is doing everything he can to try and be home at the right time. Last month was so lovely, such a novelty having DH home all through the month while we went on holiday (and it was a lovely holiday!!) - heaps of BDing done and I didn't think about when I was Oing coz I was confident that he was home and available around that time! I was pretty bummed tho when I started spotting at the end of the holiday :(

DH wasn't successful for the jobs he recently applied for but today he had an interview for a Perth (city-based) job ... that would make life a whole lot easier !

How's everyone else doing?

bugger about the trip's timing hun- that just sucks

hoping your DH is successful in getting the local job