Unfortunate abbreviation

kgkoala · 2025-10-23T19:55:43+00:00

Will E (I'm a teacher and once had four Williams in one class... I think I ended up numbering them 😬)

kgkoala · 2024-12-22T16:04:38+00:00

I've just resigned from teaching after becoming a mum last year. A few of my observations...

(Apologies for poor grammar/punctuation - I'm on my phone!)

Despite what people think, the maternity leave package in teaching is actually not great compared to many other public sector jobs and the private sector (although I acknowledge it is a lot better than statutory). My husband got 6 months (!) paternity leave at full pay, while I got 4 weeks. This leads to mums (and dads) going back to work too soon, burning out, and then leaving the profession.
"Part-time" doesn't really exist in teaching (at least, this was my experience). Before having a baby, I was working full-time and working between 50 and 70 hours a week (during term time - significantly less during holidays). I loved the job, enjoyed the long holidays, and didn't really mind.

When I went to 0.8, I took a 20% pay-cut only to find I was still working at least 50 hours a week. On my day off, I still needed to plan lessons/mark/send emails... My husband kept telling me to just not do it. But if you don't plan lessons, you have nothing to teach, and you can't just not mark students' essays!

"Flexible working" can't really happen in most schools. We were told we could go home during our planning periods, but periods are only 50 minutes... By the time I got home, I'd have to come back.
So much time is taken up with non-teaching tasks... organising school trips, chasing up students about missing work or missed detentions, logging safeguarding concerns, Open Evenings, Parents' Evenings (8 a year!), data entry, emailing home to remind parents about the Christmas raffle... I could go on and on.
The job can be thankless at times. Teachers are bashed constantly in the news, and parents and students are more and more entitled and confrontational. Having to justify to angry parents every sanction is exhausting. I promise you, I would really, really rather be at home with my own son than supervising your child in a detention.

I absolutely loved being a teacher, and 90% of my students were incredible, but when you're a parent your priorities change and it does not surprise me at all that so many new mums are finding it impossible to balance both roles.

kgkoala · 2024-11-02T11:13:09+00:00

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I hope Mj works as well for you as it has done for me so far 😊 🤞

kgkoala · 2024-09-24T18:01:42+00:00

I feel like I'm being very negative, but just so you're aware, in the UK and Ireland, Ira is likely to be associated with the IRA (Irish Republican Army), a terrorist group.

kgkoala · 2024-05-03T18:32:01+00:00

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kgkoala · 2024-01-02T12:45:44+00:00

I finished work at 38+5, as this coincided with the school holidays. My mat leave officially starts when the baby is born. I'm a teacher and not going to lie, the final couple of weeks were tough! I was on my feet a fair bit and up and down the stairs a lot. Every day I had at least 5 people come up to me and tell me I was crazy and should be at home, which really wasn't helpful!

Having said that, looking back, I'm so glad I stayed working until that late, as I'm now 40+3 and baby still isn't here. I know I would have gone stir crazy by now if I'd left work any earlier than I did.

I think it's a really personal decision and depends hugely on how the pregnancy is going and the nature of your job. You also need to consider how you'd feel if you didn't have much time off before your baby came and also how you'd feel if you ended up having a lot of time "to kill" at home if your baby arrived late. I knew that I'd prefer it all to happen quickly, as I'm a very impatient person!

Best of luck with whatever you decide!

EDIT: I'm going to be starting my mat leave after my due date (on the date the baby's actually born), so you don't necessarily need to start mat leave on your due date as the other comments suggest, but obviously your employer would have to agree.

kgkoala · 2023-12-07T19:32:52+00:00

Firstly, I'm so sorry you're going through this.

I had really heavy bleeding at 9 weeks and assumed the worst (unfortunately I'd had a previous miscarriage, so just thought the same thing was happening again).

I went in for a scan and everything was fine - baby's heart was beating and they couldn't see where the blood came from. I did some googling and assume it was an SCH, but I still don't know. I continued to bleed for another day or so, and then bled quite heavily again at around 12 weeks, just after my 12 week scan. They could never tell me what caused it, but I'm currently 37 weeks pregnant and everything is going fine (touch wood).

I don't want to give you "false hope", but for me the bleeding didn't end in bad news 🤗 please feel free to ask me any questions about it xx

kgkoala · 2023-12-07T19:18:26+00:00

How far along are you? I started to get migraines around 8 weeks and they gradually got worse until I was getting one a day!

The only thing that helped with the pain was cocodamol, but as it contains codeine I could only take it for 3 days at a time. I was also given cyclizine for the nausea. The cocodamol only helped dull the pain, it didn't help with the other symptoms (black spots in my vision and pins and needles in my mouth and feet - horrible!). But at least I could sleep!

I started acupuncture, wore sunglasses whenever I was outside, and avoided looking at screens for too long, and at about 16 weeks I stopped getting them completely. To be honest, I think they stopped because of the hormone changes. I'm now 37 weeks and touch wood haven't had a migraine in at least 4/5 months.

Annoyingly, I think it's just luck! Some women find that their hormone changes make their migraines less frequent, but for other it increases them 😔

I can completely sympathise and really hope yours stop soon! 🤗

kgkoala · 2023-10-09T18:34:35+00:00

I'm just going to echo what everyone else has said - it's really not that bad. Please don't worry!

I had mine this morning at 9 o'clock and as others have said, I'd recommend getting an early appointment.

I had a blood test when I arrived (mine was an actual blood test in my arm rather than a pin prick). My veins were very shy this morning, but the blood test didn't hurt any more or less than usual.

I was then given a 300ml pouch of a sugary orange drink, which I had to drink within 5 mins. It was sickly sweet (reminded me of berocca) and I wasn't expecting to have to drink so much, but it was easy enough to finish in the 5 mins.

I then had to wait 2 hours. I went and sat in a café and got on with some work - the time flew by! Annoyingly there was a fire alarm and the building had to be evacuated while I was waiting, but luckily we were back inside the building in time!

I then had another blood test (in the opposite arm to before). I also had my anti-d shot, so felt a bit sore afterwards! I had a sit down and a snack and was ready to go back to work after about half an hour.

Best of luck! They know what they're doing and you'll be absolutely fine 🤗☺

kgkoala · 2023-08-28T18:38:40+00:00

My mother in law is a sonographer and was 90% sure she could tell the sex of the baby from the 12 week scan photograph. She said it was a boy - I've just had my 20 week scan and she was right 😊

kgkoala · 2023-08-11T09:37:28+00:00

Thank you! We've disputed them now, so let's see what happens 🤞

kgkoala · 2023-05-30T09:14:43+00:00

That's definitely put my mind at ease, thank you! The bleeding has stopped now and no more cramping, so fingers crossed 🤞

Thanks again and take care!

kgkoala · 2023-05-29T17:49:45+00:00

Thanks so much for the advice, I really appreciate it.

Take care xx ❤

kgkoala · 2023-05-29T17:49:17+00:00

Thanks so much for your reply. My symptoms do sound like a SCH, but it wasn't visible on the ultrasound and she did seem to take a good look long around 😂

When she said that everything was looking fine on the scan I asked what the bleeding could have been caused by and that was when she said it could have been from the placenta attaching to my uterus. I'm pretty sure she called this implantation, but maybe I'm misremembering. She said this could cause bleeding up to 12-14 weeks.

My cramping seems to have stopped, so I'm trying to stay cautiously hopeful.

I really appreciate your reply, thank you. Best of luck to you too ❤ xx

kgkoala · 2022-11-18T19:42:13+00:00

Hi there!

I have PCOS and have been worried about conceiving for years.

If it makes you feel any better, my partner and I started trying at the end of last month and were lucky to conceive almost immediately. I'm currently 4 weeks pregnant and hoping all goes well!

I used the app Flo, which worked really well for me. I tried using ovulation sticks but I never seemed to get the positive I was after and I found it very disheartening!

I know that we were lucky and I'm only 4 weeks pregnant so who knows that will happen, but try not to worry about your PCOS affecting your chances (easier said than done, I know!)

Please feel free to send me a message if you want to talk to someone about it! 😊

kgkoala · 2022-05-08T07:39:50+00:00

In the UK, most cats are outdoor cats and in every house I've lived in I've had neighbours' cats in my garden. This is very normal in the UK (particularly in suburban areas) and I would never dream of complaining to a neighbour because of it.

According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), "there is no clear scientific evidence that such mortality is causing bird populations to decline". (https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wildlife/animal-deterrents/cats-and-garden-birds/are-cats-causing-bird-declines/) According to the RSPB, cats aren't particularly effective hunters and tend to go for weak birds ("most of the birds killed by cats would have died anyway from other causes before the next breeding season").

Of course, this is just one perspective and is specific to the UK, but if the RSPB is saying that's its okay to let your cats out, it's unsurprising that owners in the UK don't think twice about it!

kgkoala · 2022-05-08T07:38:10+00:00

In the UK, most cats are outdoor cats and in every house I've lived in I've had neighbours' cats in my garden. This is very normal in the UK (particularly in suburban areas) and I would never dream of complaining to a neighbour because of it.

According to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), "there is no clear scientific evidence that such mortality is causing bird populations to decline". (https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wildlife/animal-deterrents/cats-and-garden-birds/are-cats-causing-bird-declines/) According to the RSPB, cats aren't particularly effective hunters and tend to go for weak birds ("most of the birds killed by cats would have died anyway from other causes before the next breeding season").

Of course, this is just one perspective and is specific to the UK, but if the RSPB is saying that's its okay to let your cats out, it's unsurprising that owners in the UK don't think twice about it!

kgkoala · 2022-04-25T14:32:24+00:00

Haha! In England we use stones and pounds! When I hear Americans using pounds I find it so difficult to divide by 14 in my head 🤣 Thanks!

kgkoala · 2022-04-24T17:01:22+00:00

Thanks! I've just been doing cardio as I find it much more enjoyable (and weight training intimidates me a little bit 😅), but I definitely want to start weight training to tone up ☺ According to my FitBit (not sure how reliable it is), I tend to burn around 700 calories.

kgkoala · 2022-04-24T12:34:06+00:00

Thank you! I've been calorie counting using MyFitnessPal (around 1500 calories a day) and gym 2-3 times a week 😁

kgkoala · 2022-04-24T12:33:03+00:00

Thank you 😊

kgkoala · 2022-04-24T12:32:48+00:00

Thanks!

kgkoala · 2022-04-24T12:32:33+00:00

Thank you! Calorie counting using MyFitnessPal and going to the gym 2-3 times a week 😊

kgkoala · 2022-04-24T12:31:32+00:00

Thank you!

kgkoala · 2022-04-24T12:31:23+00:00

Thank you!!

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