Pregnancy after LT TTC #11

[Brunette]

Leabie, good news that your acu sessions are now down to 1 per week. Have you got the results back from your GTT? Re being told your anaemic, are you on an iron tablet? My FS put me on a high-grade one a few weeks back, and I think my haemoglobin level was okay. Precautionary I suppose. The one the pharmacist recommended for me is Ferro Grad C (small bottle with red label). It has vitamin C in it which helps with constipation - not to get it, that is!

Renee, you poor thing with not only MS but now the metallic taste too. FX it will end once you hit your second trimester!

Paula, good news that your OB says you are progressing nicely. GL for your GTT next Wednesday and hope you enjoy your 1st antenatal class tonight.

Miss K, you made me laugh when you said you did a few starjumps to see if bubs would play ball and turn over! Sorry that you couldn't see all you wanted. Have you also thought about taking an iron supplement like the one I just mentioned above to Leabie?

CK, great news on your nuchal scan result and on reaching the second trimester. I'm still wearing my horseshoe necklace every day! My nuchal scan is next Wednesday and I am pretty worried about it (hence still wearing the necklace every day!) but FX all will go well. You are certainly buying up a storm for the nursery. Go girl! The car seat you bought from Target sounds like an absolute bargain!

wantbaby#2, Great news that your bub is in exactly the right percentile. No doubt a great relief for you. I agree about how rude that woman was re the health insurance, and it's good to complain when you feel strongly. It must be nice having a date, too, with the c-section now planned. FX all things progressing well for me, my FS has already mentioned a c-section and with twins it's probably the prudent thing to do and follow his advice.

Lise, re the planning and management fee, it's probably different in different states, but our fee for this is to be paid at week 20. Medicare still covers or gives you a rebate for it, but thanks to Rudd it is now capped. So even if you have hit the safety net, you only get about (depending on what fee your FS/OB charges) a quarter back! Rudd obviously doesn't want Australian women to have babies! Damn, shouldn't go there because I could go on and on about him at the moment. He is my local federal member and his office is less than a kilometre away. I would dearly love to protest outside - not that he's ever there anyway. Rant, rant, rant! How weird that a male was in your breastfeeding class, and you make me LOL with your doll. Not long to go now. Re my wild adventures, my FS said I could drive this week. So I have done two little quick trips to the shops, and it was weird how scared I was being behind the wheel again but also great! I'm off to see the movie Harry Brown tomorrow, too

Hi Ninah, glad that everything is well after your fall. No doubt very reassuring to have a doppler at home.

LondonMiss, when we first moved in the house and I was on home/bed rest, all we had was this crappy old computer with outdated software, a wireless internet connection which constantly dropped out and no home phone. No wonder I nearly went crazy until all technology was connected - which was well over a week! So I totally hear you not having a computer. Wondered where you had gone to. Welcome back!

AFM, I am week 12 tomorrow - so hard to believe. I have next week off work due primarily to the nuchal scan. Didn't think it very smart to go back to work in that week if the news was not good. So FX and all things going well, I will make a gradual return to work just after week 13. Apparently for me my good time will be the second trimester and then the third trimester I'll just be huge and my FS wants me to stop work at week 25!!!! Does he think we're made of money and also have an endless supply of leave? Aaaagh! Re questions about identical v fraternal twins, DH and I believe that we have fraternal twins (and yes we had two embryos transferred) but apparently one embryo can split within a few days of the other and they can still have their own sacs and placentas and be identical. I don't think it very likely, but if they are the same gender then really the only way of knowing (to my understanding at least) is to have the placentas tested after birth.

Hi and belly rubs to anyone I have missed!

[wantbaby#2]

Brunette~ Congrats for your 12 week mark in 1 hour and 41 minutes!! YAY!! I remember being SOOOOOO excited to hit that mark. I love twins.We have 12 or so sets in my family.
Regarding the rebate from medicare it is total S**T. We paid $3600 for my ob and had reached the 80% and all we got back was $460. I almost cried at the counter but then i thought,look,its only money and we are finally having the baby we have dreamt of because of my ob (who was my fertility specialist). We dont have money,whatsoever.I sculpt and create reborn dolls from home and my hubby is almost finished his 4th year as a carpenter apprentice.We just have to budget plus i am excellent with saving but if i wasnt then i dont know where we would be.Its unfortunate the rebate is sooo poor but at the end of the day.."what can you do".( i really hate that phrase as dh uses it all the time but its true.)

[Brunette]

Thanks, Wantbaby2! It is exciting to hit the 12-week mark. OMG, I can't believe you have so many pairs of twins in your family! Did you only transfer one embie because of family history?

It's so unfair about the new rule changes, because my DH and I don't qualify for any govt assistance. We would have got two baby bonuses but now that Rudd has means tested it we get nothing. The stupid thing is, my salary is only normal but DH's is higher but he's paying out heaps of CSA so really we're struggling. Plus being at home for 12 weeks has really dipped into my leave, and it seems from week 25 my FS wants me to stop work again! Plus we've now got this huge mortgage with a new house. I hate stressing about money, so totally hear where you're coming from. And you're right: we've wanted to fall for ages and tried so much, but wouldn't it be nice to not have to worry about money on top of all else? I'm pretty good at saving, too; Coles brands it is from now on with online shopping. My DH not so good. But we'll get there, hey? I imagine once your DH finishes his 4th year, he will be able to claim a lot more as he will be fully qualified?

[wantbaby#2]

When we did our first ivf cycle we had 18 eggs,16 fertilised and about 11 to use.Only one frozen took but lost it at 5 weeks.This was back in 2006.Our ob would only transfer 2 frozen but only 1 fresh due to my history.This successful cycle,after stimulation,we only had 5 eggs!!! and by the end of the 5 days,we had 1 perfect one which im now glad to say is my baby girl who is on her way
We will get the baby bonus (thank goodness) and we are paying rent as we cannot afford to buy just yet.We live on mostly woolworths home brand and dh does overtime when he can.Im a bit worried about the next 3 weekends though.This sunday is dh's best mates bday (pub crawl through the city),next weekend is my 32nd bday and the week after is dh 30th bday.I hate to think how much money he will waste on alcohol on sunday and his bday As for me im having o.j so nice and cheap .

[lise]

Oh I know I shouldn't complain about finances and Medicare, DH and I are both on good salaries so money isn't really a problem. I knew we'd only get the $460 back but I did think that the $3000 we paid would contribute to the safety net and that afterwards we'd get the 80% back from other appointments etc, but not the case. Oh well, i'd spend the money all over again and we will, so we can have more babies

Wantbaby - so exciting to have a date!!! And to knock two weeks off - i'm jealous

Paula - how was your antenatal class? I found them really useful, even though I do heaps of reading (as i'm sure we ALL do!!) so knew lots of it anyway.

Brunette - congrats on 12 weeks, now just the countdown until your NTS which i'm sure will be fine xx I can definitely say that for me the second trimester was the best, even though the whole pregnancy has been pretty easy really, so make the most of it

Ninah - sorry about your fall but glad that bub is still moving around okay and escaped unscathed.

Was up half the night with cramping and a back ache so am quite tired today. Cramping seems to have disappeared but my back is still sore, I think this is just a sign of things to come...

[Leabie]

Hi lovely ladies!

Just a quickie - looking at the posts regarding costs etc - am probably telling you something that you're already aware of, but don't forget that you can claim 20% of any medical out-of-pocket expenses (ie after medicare and health fund rebates) over $2000 in your tax return. So that would include OB fees, and as far as I know, the balance of our IVF? God knows we give enough money to the government, we need to get back every cent we're entitled to.

Brunette - I was looking on the baby bonus website, I don't know your personal circumstances, but one thing I did notice which made me think of you - the $75K taxable income threshold in the 6 months prior to the birth does not include "deductible child maintenance expenditure"? I'm sure you've already done your sums, like I said, it just reminded me of your situation. That totally sucks if you can't get the baby bonus.

Congrats on hitting the 12 week mark! Great stuff, especially now you're out and about in the car. Found out my GTT was OK, but I have to have another one in 6 weeks saw my new endocrinologist last night, he said I'm gonna have to have a few. I'm taking Floradix now for my iron levels, he was happy with that, he said any type of iron is good. Floradix has got vit C in it too, to help stop the constipation.

Lise - sorry you didn't get a good night's sleep, could it be that things are maybe starting to happen?!

Ninah - thanks! So sorry you had your little fall, great that everything's OK though - phew! I'm trip over nothing at the best of times, I'd better watch myself as I get bigger.

LondonMiss - welcome back! Such a bummer about your computer, I too would be lost without mine. Can't believe you resorted to the ironing for entertainment, you must've been desperate you poor love!

Paula - hope you enjoyed your antenatal class last night!

A big hi to anyone I've missed, so much for the quick post!

[*Paula*]

Brunette well done on reaching 12 weeks! Fantastic!! It does seem to have gone pretty quickly! Before you know it you will be 25 weeks and be off work again!
wantbaby#2 i called HCF yesterday and was told that because we only have general extras cover, we too arent covered for the antenatal classes. As for medicare, here i was ready to take my receipt in tomorrow for my $3,000 expecting to get a good return and now i hear $460!! What a joke! Thanks again Mr Rudd!! Guess i will just have to wait till tax time and hopefully get a good return there.
lise those cramps and aches sure sound promising!!

Antenatal class was great last night. We had a big group of 8-9 couples. Everyone was really friendly and we all got to go around and chat to eachother and ask eachother questions. Watched a video about the different stages of labour.. the birth is next week!! LOL Will be interesting to see DH's reaction to that.

So happy that it is a long weekend!! Hope you all have some relaxing time booked in for the weekend

[juniper76]

the $75K taxable income threshold in the 6 months prior to the birth

Aaaarrrgggghhh, you freaked me out for a minute. I was sure last time I read it it said it was the taxable income in the 6 months after the birth of the child but I checked and that is what it still says. It's the difference between us getting it and not getting it.

have adjusted taxable income of less than or equal to $75,000* for the period of 6 months from the date of birth of the child or six months from the date that the child entered into your care

Even so, with my paid maternity leave we'll go just slightly over if I'm not careful.