It is Great to Be Pregnant - Ten Fabulous Reasons Why and Five Possible Drawbacks
Ten fabulous things about being pregnant:
- In the UK, your NHS prescriptions are free.
Get the doctor or midwife who confirmed your pregnancy to give you an FW8 form.
This will be your route to get an exemption certificate which will continue until 12 months after you deliver your baby. - You get free NHS dental treatment via the same exemption certificate.
- Many pregnant women in the UK are entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP).
This lasts for 39 weeks.
You get at least 90% of your normal weekly pay for the first six weeks, and for the remainder of the term you get 90% of your average gross earnings or GBP123.
06, whichever is the lower figure.
This is not affected by any money you get from the one-off grant above. - Everyone makes a fuss of you.
Expect hugs from work colleagues when you break the news, shrieks from your girlfriends and unlimited love which will ooze from relatives who generally love the idea of an extra little person in the family. - Your hair, which normally falls out and gets renewed regularly, slows down its cycle so your hair looks thicker.
This is caused by an increase in your blood flow and a change in hormone levels.
It will catch itself up after the birth, so make the most of your locks now. - You can get out of doing heavy jobs at work and at home.
You have to protect your body and the growing baby so you should be having lots of lifting and carrying work done by someone else. - You have the best breasts of your life! Make the most of your fuller figure with a well-fitting maternity bra and show off those gorgeous bangers.
- Lots of today's fashions go well with a bump - think easy-to-wear leggings with long tops and tunics, and wrap-front dresses that flare out from underneath the bust.
- Complete strangers see your bump and smile at you.
You need never be lonely so long as you do not mind all the "When is it due?" questions. - Your doctor or midwife can also let you have application forms for other benefits, for example the UK's Health in Pregnancy Grant.
Details on the Direct.
gov.
uk website under money4mum2be.
To qualify, you must be at least 25 weeks pregnant and have to claim from HMRC (the new name for Inland Revenue) within 31 days of your midwife or doctor signing the form.
The Government is getting all trendy, as they will send you a free text message or email reminder to help you remember to claim but you need to sign up for this in the Direct Gov site.
Many private hospital savings schemes - the sort that give you grants towards dental care, for example - also have a maternity grant component but you will need to find this out and claim it yourself.
These often only pay out after the birth.
- When you are on a bus, people should always get up and let pregnant ladies, old people and the disabled have their seat.
They should, but sadly, these days, good manners are in short supply so you may have to look extra shattered and ask to sit down. - Your immature husband / boyfriend should suddenly grow up and start to be more responsible.
Unfortunately, that does not always happen.
Some keep the single bloke mentality and just feel even more macho due to their newly-proved fecundity. - You think you can eat as much as you want as your shape is all to pot anyway.
Sadly, this is not really the case.
Any excess weight gained now will have to come off at some point after the birth.
You should aim to only gain around 28 pounds in total by full term if you are having a single baby.
Women expecting a multiple birth will usually gain more weight than this. - When there is a queue for public toilets, you would think that people should step aside to let pregnant women go first.
Unless you are really showing and look exhausted, that may not happen.
Besides, you never know if that non-pregnant lady in front of you has IBS and is about to have a far worse accident than you! - Everyone tells you how energised they felt during pregnancy but all you want to do is sleep.