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Job insecurity and TTC

Hello ladies,
I'm pretty new here but have been reading for a while! I'm interested in people's opinions on whether it's a good idea to TTC (for my first) without a really secure job - ie possibly putting myself in a situation where I could be pregnant and unemployed! I'm starting a new job next week and it's good from the point of view of pay and being a good opportunity - but I'll be on a one-year contract as it is, ironically enough, a maternity cover position. I'm taking it anyway as it's a good company that I hope will add to my CV even having only worked there for a year.
However I am pretty keen to start TTC! My OH and I were thinking about trying from next Spring /Summer time. I'm wondering though whether it's just not a good idea to plan for a baby when I might well end up out of a job by next Autumn. Would you wait til things were more clear or just go ahead? On one hand I feel like if I'm waiting for my work situation to be perfect that could take forever, but on the other hand it's surely ideal to make sure circumstances are as good as they can be before trying. OH thinks we should try anyway and that 'things will work out fine' - but he always says something like that as he's an eternal optimist! Anyway well done if you got to the end of that! Has anything similar happened to anyone else and it worked out ok? I'm nearly 30 by the way.
Persephone

Replies

  • Hi Persephone

    Welcome to BE, hope you find it a warm and welcoming place.

    I have to be honest and say that I've not been in your position before. But, if I were you I think I'd go for it anyway next spring. ??????You might fall pregnant on first or twenty first try. Even if you weren't employed after the one year contract you would still be entitled to MA, it's not much (apx ??????125pw), but it's better than nothing and if you're not employed at 29 weeks then they start paying then.

    For me (and dh) having children is so much more important than jobs etc.??????Not sure that helps, but it's my penny's worth.

    Hope to see you around.
    Sam x
  • hello there and welcome

    i suppose it depends on how you view your circumstances, if you will need maternity pay to get by during your time off then it would be wise to wait, i dont think many people are in an ideal circumstance when they start a family, things always crop up

    good luck x
  • I'm in a similar boat. I'm in a stable, permanent job at the moment but over the last few months I've just increasingly realised that it's not right for me and that the job stress would be far too much for me to cope with so have handed in my notice (today! Yippee!) and am going for agency/short term work as I need the flexibility for other stuff happening in my life at the mo. Partner and I are still intended to casually TTC whilst I'm in between jobs. The way I see it, if I've got a wage in time to qualify for maternity leave that'll be a great extra boost, but we've already budgeted so that if I only end up with the state Maternity payments we'll be able to manage.

    Maternity cover is a great opportunity, so much can change over the course of your post. I've been in maternity cover positions before now and ended up being offered permanent work by the end of it. You never know, this might be the foot in the door you need. Plus you're still entitled to maternity leave if you're on a temporary contract (even maternity, but yes, that's mad ironic!) even if your contract is due to end during your maternity leave, so it won't affect your payments or time off.

    HTH
  • Hello there,
    thanks for all your answers girls, and I'm happy to see that most people are in favour of trying anyway! (Though what did I really expect on a site full of broody ladies!)

    Hattifattener, congratulations on leaving your job - hope that doesn't sound a weird thing to say, but I've been there - I actually left a stable position last year due to being unhappy there even though it was a good job 'on paper' and I haven't looked back. Hope the other opportunities work out for you. That's kind of what's happened to me - I've just been freelancing this year and now one of my clients has offered me this role unexpectedly so sometimes you have to create the environment for opportunities to arise I think. Am very cheered to hear that your previous mat cover postitions have worked out so well too.

    I'm still divided over what we should do - but I know what I want to do! I guess I will have to see how things pan out work-wise but I'm glad this place exists so I can read up on baby info in the meantime.

    Sophie, hope things improve with the in-laws!
  • Hi Persephone

    I can really sympathise with your situation - I was made redundant four weeks ago and have been struggling to find a new job. I knew it was coming so have been job hunting for four months with no luck :\(

    We had planned to TTC from December, thinking that I would be well settled into any job by the time bubba arrived, but we're not sure what to do now. We are moving into a top floor one bed flat to save money because we're living on one wage so its totally innapropriate for baby-raising!

    We're not sure what to do either, but I think

    1) if your home is appropriate
    2) if you will qualify for either SMP or maternity allowance

    then definitely go for it!!!! image

    Sadly we don't fulfil either 1 or 2... If I don't have a job and I get pregnant I'll just have to take any job I can get so that we can save up and I qualify for benefits... in saying that, the financial help available to families has been reduced and is going to be more so!

    PS I don't think this bit will be popular, but I think at 30 you should definitely just go for it - I am nearly 26 and paranoid that all my eggs are decaying image

    Best of luck, see u in TTC I hope

    Cent xx
  • Hmm, I have to say the thing about eggs decaying at 26 is not popular with me at least, centurion! That said, I agree with everything else you say.

    At the risk of hijacking the post - hattifatener, you are my inspiration. I too am in a stable job, which frankly, most of the time, I can't stand. The only reason I'm sticking it is the hope that I will get pregnant within the next year and then I will get the decent maternity pay that this job will give me. I wishs I could leave it but I just don't have the cojones.

    To go back to the original question, Persephone, jobs and money are not everything - you know that, You want to provide for your child, that;s natural. I agree that quite often, in my experience, temporary maternity cover turns into full time jobs if you show everyone that you're capable and enthusiastic, so you may find that there's no problem at all. But even if the permanent job doesn't materialise, at the end of the day if you and your OH want to have a baby as much as it seems you do, you will find a way, And it will be the best thing you ever did,

    B xxx

    *edited for some truly appalling spelling mistakes*

    [Modified by: little_bex on September 17, 2010 09:58 PM]

  • Hmm, I have to say the thing about eggs decaying at 26 is not popular with me at least, centurion! That said, I agree with everything else you say.

    Little Bex, don't worry that's why I used the word "paranoid"! image I am the sort of person who thinks about everything that might go wrong and then thinks that its happening at that exact moment in time, to me, no matter what the odds are :roll:
  • I think you should go for it. I found out last year that I was going to be made redundant this year so my oh and I decided to start ttc in July 2010. I had been with the company for 7 years and now feel that you just can't trust any level of job security that you think you might have. I had just turned 28 when we started ttc and my worry wasn't for my current age, but the age I might be if I wanted more children in the future....I now have an 11 week old little girl and was made redundant at the beginning of this month. I had a good redundancy payment but it is also very scary knowing that I'll have no job to go back to when that money runs out. However, my oh and I both want at least 1 but probably 2 more children (we hope to start ttc again either at the end of 2011 or the beginning of 2012). For this reason I'm glad we went for it as I didn't want to spend another 5 or 6 years working my way into a good position in a job and then getting stressed about trying to have my whole family very quickly before time ran out. Good luck for whenever you decide to start trying x
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