Sorry for the click bait title. I’m 39 (turning 40 next month). We have 2 DS (3 and 9mo). I’ve found it really hard to be a parent. Partly because I value my independence and I’ve struggled having to sacrifice my autonomy; I BF the first until he was 13mo and I’m still going with number 2. I miss having space, I miss being on my own, I miss being healthy (I’m not really unhealthy now but I used to do a lot of exercise and now I am having a good day if I shower). I feel trapped and miserable. The complicating factor is that I know a lot of my stress is due to our living situation; I won’t go into details because it’s boring but we have been living in a building site and there’s loads still to do. Me and my OH are both quite ‘ambitious’ in Terms of what level of inconvenience we can tolerate but I am frazzled. I might feel differently if we had a ‘normal’ living situation but I’m so sick of living in chaos, being knackered and having no independence.
my OH would like another child. His view is; kids are great (he knows it’s hard but he thinks they are great), he thinks more kids are better and we could ‘do another one’ given our ages.
I should say I got pregnant easily and quickly both times and had uncomplicated pregnancies.
i don’t want another child. The thought of it fills me with dread, however, seeing our boys interact now, does, to some extent give me an insight into what is to come, which is lovely.
I guess my question is, if I’m right yo stick with my gut, how do I deal with the guilt? My OH is a wonderful dad and currently a SAHD (We both earn well and we decided he’d take done time off right now). I feel awful saying no, but I’m just not sure I can do it.
hiw can I reconcile this? Or do I just say yes and work it out?
Edit to add /
YABU - have another kid!
YANBU - don’t have another kid (and ideally some tips around not feeling guilty!)