A Bonus, Baby

Wow, the announcements on the new Parenthood incentives were quite a roller coaster ride for the emotions the past few days -- from the excitement of extra bonuses coming our way following the PM's speech to resignation over the 1 Jan 09 implementation date, to the latest news that we qualify after all.

Hurray!

When they first announced that only babies born after 1 Jan 09 would be entitled to some of the enhanced benefits, I was disappointed, especially since babies born after 1 Jan 09 would also, like my baby, have already been conceived by now. It seemed rather arbitrary for the 1 Jan 09 to be picked -- why not May or Jun 09 if it was really to be an incentive? But well. I was prepared to take a "que sera sera" attitude towards it all.

But I found to my amusement that I was sucked into the whole drama that played out thereafter. It seemed my having a pregnant belly qualified me as an immediate target for folks, even colleagues from other departments to whom I rarely speak, who would ask me when I was due and sigh over my misfortune. The pantry lady whom I usually just exchange pleasantries with even asked me to join online protests and write in to complain, unhappily telling me how she thought the 1 Jan 09 date was unfair. (It turned out that she has a daughter due in Sept.)

What they don't know that it is in fact one of our other colleagues who was actively involved in the process leading to the policy change :) Ade and I are the 2 pregnant mums-to-be working on our project, and as a resutl of our states, have become quite pally, regularly trading pregnancy stories and tips. She was really riled by the news, since her baby is due in late Dec, about a week before the cut-off. Through her I came to read of the unhappiness on the forums and the petition making its way around the same day of the 1 Jan 09 announcement. No harm throwing my name into the ring on the petition, I figured, and I did. She however also told me she was going to go down for the MPS session at AMK that night with a group of other preggies to see the MPs and asked me if I wanted to go down. I didn't, but she did, and ended up being part of the "enthusiastic but not angry" mums-to-be who spoke to Inderjit Singh and, well, the rest of the story is there in the papers.

Whaddya know -- appeals sometimes do work! I've been ribbing Ade on her role as a protest leader instrumental in bringing about the change ever since. Haha.

So, I'm thinking, what should I get with my baby bonus? Maybe a new (diaper) bag?