Would you try and build your career further knowing you're planning to have another baby?

[HeadFairy]

Dh and I have agreed to start ttc #2, but I'm also wondering what to do about work. The job I'm currently doing (only for a 6 month contract) is VERY flexible, in that I only know what hours I'm working the night before, I can be sent away at short notice, and I have no set working hours. Now currently we're doing ok with this, I haven't been sent away (and as I've got a 1 year old I can refuse to travel), we have a brilliant cm and dh is brilliant at doing the bedtime when I'm not home in time. There is a possibility the job I'm doing now which I really enjoy, may be extended further. Should I go for it (I'd have to reinterview) or should I not knowing that I'd be quite restricted for a few years if we did manage to have a second dc.

Or do I go back to my old department which is much more predictable, I enjoy it but it's a bit dull, and a bit of a career dead end.

The money in both departments is the same.

[cranmorefifi]

do what you enjoy most. If you have to work (and I do...) then you should be doing something that you love doing. Life is too short to be stuck behind a desk bored and wishing you were doing something else.

Only thing I'd make sure is that you feel comfortable you're in control of your hours etc and where you travel. As that doesn't seem to be an issue I'd stay with what you're doing. And I don't think the fact that you're ttc comes into it...

Good luck!

[flowerybeanbag]

If you really enjoy your current job and are managing fine with childcare given the erratic nature of it, I can't really see much of a reason to go back to a job you don't like as much.

[flowerybeanbag]

Oh, and I'm sure you will be pregnant very soon, but what if it takes you 3 years and you've been sat behind a boring desk all that time? You'll feel so resentful.

[squiffy]

go for unpredictable. you'll end up staring out the window from your boring other job, regretting it, if you don't

[fridayschild]

Do the job you like. It is awful being at work thinking that you would rather be home with the kids.

[HeadFairy]

Thanks everyone. I do enjoy both jobs, it's just the new job is a bit more exciting, it's outside so even though winters can be grim, summers are great (barring this rubbish one of course!) Maybe it's just my silly conscience holding me back. After all, my employer is a huge one, and they have to honour maternity arrangements. And as someone says, what if I never conceive? The only niggle for me is that when I got the current contract, I found out I was pg with ds four days later and had to tell them then. I couldn't work pg at this job, so they had to postpone my contract for over a year, which was fantastic, but I think they'd really hate me if I did it to them again.