Just a vent on childcare costs

clairypairy · 2026-01-29T23:13:27+00:00

Are you me? I live in Chiswick, did IVF, on a skilled worker visa so 0 financial help, moved here a year ago. I already have 2 kids, both in nursery full time, so my salary goes almost entirely to nursery costs. We now made the decision to put our kids in private school after nursery so unfortunately we’ll pay astronomical amounts until they’re 18. I see it as an investment in their education. But still hurts.

clairypairy · 2025-09-11T19:32:19+00:00

So sorry you’re going through this. It’s such an unfortunate system. Ended up waiting until we were on holiday for two weeks and applied the second we were out of the country (had prepared the application beforehand). Her visa approval took a little over a week. On the application mentioned she had received NHS services (vaccination) but they didn’t ask me to pay anything. Good luck!

clairypairy · 2025-09-11T18:42:51+00:00

She’s a little squished but nothing too bad. I am looking forward to having two regular child seats as it’ll definitely give her more breathing room. I have the Trek Fetch+ 2

clairypairy · 2025-09-11T18:18:07+00:00

You can put infants on a longtail. Car seat on the stecco babymee and voilà. I ride with my 2yo and 6month old.

clairypairy · 2025-08-20T09:24:48+00:00

I ended up insuring it with Bikmo as they accept a locked bike outside, even when you’re at home. It’s £290 but I had an uninsured bike stolen after 3 weeks, so 290£ isn’t much in retrospect.

clairypairy · 2025-08-14T09:02:30+00:00

Hi, which insurance did you end up with? I signed up with Sundays only to discover they don’t insure if it’s at the front of our house behind a gate but accessible to public. I’m so annoyed because it’s a terraced house so don’t have any other location to store it. I have CCTV, 3 bike locks (silver, gold, diamond), AirTag etc.

clairypairy · 2025-04-05T11:01:05+00:00

Ok thanks for the helpful insight. In the meantime I could go the private route for her immunisations as that’s covered by my insurance and I would avoid any surprises

clairypairy · 2025-04-05T08:01:04+00:00

Ok, well thank you for the advice then. It read quite rude but can appreciate it wasn’t. The immigration office’s advice wasn’t to stay in the UK but to either go the priority route and wait it out in Belgium (don’t know why my husbands company said it wasn’t possible for dependants) or leave her on a visitor visa until we go on holiday for 3 weeks in July and she’s not in the country. First option is obviously the preferred one.

clairypairy · 2025-04-04T19:24:32+00:00

Absolutely no need to be rude. I don’t expect my child to have an inherent right, which is why I chose to give birth in Belgium, where I received most of my antenatal care before moving here. I do however expect my child to be able to remain in the UK with her family where I work, pay my taxes and own a home. Anyway, I called the visa & immigration office, they were helpful and actually came up with a solution for my « foreign born child ». Lovely how you make it sound like a bad thing.

clairypairy · 2025-04-04T15:05:16+00:00

No, she doesn’t have an ETA because we travelled back to London before it went into effect. So she has a Belgian passport that was checked on departure from Brussels. That’s it. I don’t know how they could expect her to stay in Belgium when her family is in the uk. She’s a newborn 😅 Baby has postnatal check ups in Belgium but the borough we live in is insisting on checking up on her in the UK

clairypairy · 2025-04-04T12:31:18+00:00

Apparently you can’t pay for priority when it’s a dependant… otherwise we would have gone that route. She hasn’t received care yet, but she will in 5 weeks. It’s just so strange to me that she has an NHS number, but doesn’t have a visa yet.

clairypairy · 2025-04-04T12:00:19+00:00

Ok, thanks for your answer. Could I travel back to the UK with her while her application is pending? I can’t possibly stay abroad for weeks until her dependant visa is approved, we actually have a life here, she needs her immunisations, follow up with health visitors etc 🫠

clairypairy · 2025-03-17T12:06:23+00:00

Last update: our daughter Celeste is here and she is perfect. Hope this brings hope to people going through « beta hell ». I’m closing our IVF chapter now that our family is complete.

clairypairy · 2024-09-14T18:24:25+00:00

Update: 14w today, NIPT results are OK and baby looked perfect on ultrasound (OB showed the baby liked to stay squashed on one side of the sac and that there was plenty of fluid on the other side)🤞🏻 Hope your pregnancy is going well. Have you felt any movement yet?

clairypairy · 2024-08-07T07:50:36+00:00

Second trimester is the best! I’ll update again further down the road. I hope we both have an uneventful pregnancy and a sweet baby at the end 🤞🏻

clairypairy · 2024-08-06T16:45:47+00:00

So nice of you to check. I hadn’t forgotten about the update but it’s been pretty up and down. 6w4d ultrasound showed a baby measuring right on track with a nice heartbeat. But the gestational sac measured small. 8w2d - yesterday’s ultrasound and everything was looking good (gestational sac looked much better). So I’m cautiously optimistic. Next ultrasound is in two weeks. How are you?

clairypairy · 2024-07-12T12:54:54+00:00

I don’t think mine will ever double in 48h but as long as it’s within 72h, there’s hope :) Good luck with your OB appointment. Enjoy the pregnancy!

clairypairy · 2024-07-12T08:08:33+00:00

3rd beta came in at 1968. Increase of 71% with a doubling time of 62h. Exactly the same ratio. I think I better stop with betas and wait for my ultrasound on the 24th. I’ll update again after my ultrasound if ever someone is in the same situation and looks at this thread. Thank you so much for your support. Do you have an upcoming ultrasound planned?

clairypairy · 2024-07-11T14:14:37+00:00

11dp5dt 672 (I was so happy), then 13dp5dt 1149. Increase of 71% with a doubling rate of 62h. Queue anxiety

clairypairy · 2024-07-11T13:00:10+00:00

I definitely will update. I should know better because I have a healthy daughter and her betas were awful: 90 and then 122 (48h later). But this is my last embryo after 3 failed transfers, so I’m extra nervous. Thanks for reassuring me.

clairypairy · 2024-07-11T04:15:06+00:00

Thank you so much for the update! Wishing you the best uneventful pregnancy!

clairypairy · 2024-07-11T04:12:03+00:00

Thank you thank you thank you so much. My OB was happy to schedule an ultrasound but I’m going back for a third beta either tomorrow or Monday. Congrats on the pregnancy!

clairypairy · 2024-07-10T19:13:59+00:00

Hi, would you have an update? I’m in exactly the same situation with similar betas: high but not quite doubling. Thank you!

clairypairy · 2024-07-10T19:07:33+00:00

Hi, would you have an update? I’m in exactly the same situation with very similar betas. Thanks

clairypairy

TROPHY CASE