To dread new baby coming and having school run to do too :(

[M0naLisa]

I am 26 weeks pregnant with 3rd. DS1 is 6 next month and DS2 is 4. Both are in full time school from September as ds2 starts reception.
I am due baby 1st dec and know that when baby arrives the boys will have to have some time off school as they will more than likely go to my mums 30 miles away. I have family in the town I live but because I'm in not in their league they won't help out school run wise. So only option is for kids to go to either my mums or my dads for a couple of days until we are in a sort of routine.

What else I'm dreading it the school run when the boys come back, hopefully DH will be here to do school run but he's not working at moment and if he gets a job before baby comes he wont be entitled to paternity leave so it will just be me. :(

Im just not looking forward to the getting up feeding baby getting dressed getting boys sorted and then getting to school, if I don't have the/a car I will be having to leave the house at 8.05-8.15.

It's going to be a big jump for me and I'm scared I'm not going to do it all and then the boys will get in trouble for not being at school and/or being late :(

I had dc4 on a Thursday and did the school run Friday morning by choice so I could show off the baby

But saying that - a mile walk each way would have been a different story, I think. I know what you mean about wanting to think in advance about how you will do it, but impossible when you don't know the situation with your dh and work.

If possible I wouldn't send the older ones away, it is lovely having the whole family around with a new baby. Hopefully your dh will be able to do the school run for a week or two. If not you must ask your friend to help for a bit. Or could your mum come over for the day for a few days?

Well I couldn't do it. I had newborn in 1st year of school. No way I could have got 3 of us up and out that early after being up at 2am and 5am feeding.

We worked it so one of us did the school run whilst the other did the baby/slept.

If that hadn't been an option I would have homeschooled!

You need to work up a support network and get another parent to take them. Once you get organised you can reciprocate. When you only have 1 DC it always seems difficult because you work around them. 2nd or more just have to fit in and it is easier than you think. You need most of the organisation the night before.

Ok

Take your friend up on her offer. I learnt that the hard way. People like to help. You can reciprocate later.

Maybe your DH can take public transport to work for a bit?

I'd do my utmost not to let the boys miss school, too.

When I look back I cringe at how precious I was with the first. I would phone people up and say we would be late because he was asleep! Once you have second they just have to come, ready or not! Even more so with a 3rd or more- I think it is so much better for them. It really isn't that bad.

My mate is STILL like that exotic and her child is 7! Nightmare. I am SO happy she's having another!

you do just get on with it.

my 5th was born in dec 2010 and i had 2 to get to primary and a toddler (ds1 was at high school as well but obviously sorted himself!)

pack ups and clothes out for everyone the night before, i get up before kids and shower/get dressed. lay breakfast stuff out, kids get up, eat, clean teeth and then get dressed so they dont get uniforms dirty. the tv does NOT go on.

feed baby and change nappy, ever bothered dressing her, stuck her in a fleecey suit and used a moby wrap. had to be out of the house by 8:10 in the morning.

i did have a friend who helped out the odd morning etc, but tbh i think subsequent babies do just fit in, they have to!

oh and d is now 20mths and still occasionally does the school run in her pjs just with a coat on and then i get her dressed when we get back! :)

I can always find a positive - at least you wont have the elder two children in the house for best part of the day, so at least you ll be able to have some quiet time, some time for 'doing things' and some special mummy and baby cuddles before the others come home again. It ll work out - honestly !!

I promise you will adapt and cope just fine. I personally found the jump from 2 to 3 kids (and subsequently 3 to 4 kids!!) much easier than adjusting from having 1 to 2 (does that make ANY sense?).

Don't ask me how, but you will just fall into a rhythm that gets the kids to school on time. You can help yourself by organising as much stuff the night before as possible - get lunches packed so they're ready to grab and go, lay uniforms out and get the kids into the habit of dressing themselves as much as they can, invest in a comfortable sling for the baby so that if he/she is crying you can carry them around and still get the older kids ready rather than have to take time out to comfort the baby.

It is madness getting ready for school here. Most mornings I don't shower, have breakfast or manage a cuppa 'til we're back home, but it is possible for me and 4 kids (dc4 is 3 months old) to make it out of the door for 8:20 every morning.

As a back-up, get friendly with some other parents from the school. There may well be someone who lives near you who could help out on the odd morning if you're really struggling. Also speak to the school, tell them of your concerns and they will do what they can to help out. It's in their interests to help you more than it is to sit back and let your kids be late.

It's really not a problem. Organise everything possible the night before: Lay out school clothes - in the order they will put them on to save time- and your own clothes. I used to do this with my children's - underwear on top of pile, then socks/tights, then shirt, then skirt/trousers and the sweater at the bottom of the pile. It's amazing the differene a simple thing like that can make to young children. I did (still do!) it with my own clothes too. Yes I'm a control freak lol.

Prepare and refrigerate packed lunches. Have necessary shoes lined up in hall to go on just before leaving. Set the table ready for breakfast, leaving only fresh things to go on the table in the morning. Baths and showers (including yourself) can be taken the night before.

Get up earlier than the children. Feed the baby and dress yourself before getting the other children up if possible. It's really just a case of organising yourself and getting into a routine.

I had a four-year old, a three year old, an eighteen month old and a newborn, so had to take one child to school and one to nursery, then go home and look after an eighteen month old and a newborn. I didn't drive, so had to walk. When my children were young there was no such thing as paternity leave and my then husband worked long hours, so I basically was left to get on with it.

You'll do it, because you just have to!

But how did you all manage this when you're up all night with a baby?

If I had by some miracle made the school run I'd have passed out when I got home, leaving a baby unattended.

Getting just the baby out for toddler groups at 10am was hard enough!

But how did you all manage this when you're up all night with a baby?

Personally I've never been up all night with a baby - major benefit of bedsharing! Can do all the nightfeeds lying down without having to turn on the light!

margery i co-slept to get maximum sleep and tbh i just didnt have a choice, dp has to work and often starts work at 7:30am, plus he does overnight and evenings, ie 36 hr shifts etc, so i simply had to get on with it. have to say i am NOT a morning person and i dont like it, but dont have much choice, i am SOO enjoying the school holidays tho and am not looking forward to starting the early mornings all over again in sept :(

I won't be cosleeping. Baby will be in Moses basket. But if DH isn't working then we will take turns with night feeds. I'm hoping to breast feed but if it gets to a point where I'm tired and exhausted like I was with ds1 when I bf him il combination feed for nighttime. Tbh though cant see DH being out of work still in December.

I was cosleeping but that still doesn't mean a clear 7-8 hour stretch of sleep!

margery with five kids i have bern co-sleeping now for thirteen years. i cannot remember the last time i had 7-8hrs straight sleep! i guess you just learn to function on what you can get and adjust housework standards accordingly

I didn't sleep. I had eight years of being woken up every single night. Eight years. I still remember it and it's now seven years since my youngest kept me up.

My eyes still haven't recovered.

I knew when my third was arriving as I had a section, I planned a rota of different friends and family to pick up and drop off the children and take them to school and nursery, it was only for five weeks then I was driving again. Our school has a walking bus so I used that two mornings a week too.

It's more daunting to imagine than it is in reality, a sling is a godsend while getting breakfast ready (it's hard buttering toast while breastfeeding but can be done

Agree with the preparations the night before, I did have a shower in the morning, dried hair then fed baby while eating breakfast/putting on make up (even if just mascara it made me feel a bit more human) it can be done, it's just logistics!

You just get used to broken sleep - mine would have had years of poor time keeping if I had used it as an excuse. Thinking about it is far worse than doing it. A lot of the population are doing the same thing - it isn't an unusual situation.

dH had to got to work in London one week after having ds2, plus we had the builders in. I used to get up splashnwatermon my face, apply a liberal slickmofmclarinsmbeauty flash balm, mascara, change nappy, put back on sleep suit, scrape hair into a pony tail. Ds2 would sometimes be screaming in his Moses basket whilst I made breakfast for ds2 and got him dressed, but he was fine. Then off we would jump in the car and drop him off, I also kept tic tacs in the car as I often forgot to do my teeth!

You will cope. I had a new born, 1yr old and 4 yr old that went to school 1/2 an hours drive away. It wasn't much fun - but he got there!!! It was a long time ago, but I seem to remember I used to get everything ready for the 4 yr old the night before and feed the little ones before I left, but never got them dressed until I came back. No one noticed - they didn't leave the car seats!!!

Good grief, Iif you wait until you're getting 7-8 hours unbroken sleep you'll waste your life never doing anything!

My dc2 wasn't a great sleeper and was still waking in the night and often feeding at night at 6 months when I returned to work. So I was often getting a toddler and a baby up and out for shortly after 7.30 , dropping them off and then going straight to a days work. If the toughest thing you've got is coming home after the school run, then really, you can manage, you just work out a routine which suits you best, whether that's going to bed earlier yourself, getting up earlier, organising stuff the night before etc If you imagine lots of problems before they happen, you'll probably find they occur, whereas if you think 'of course I'll manage this because I've just got to' then you will.

Just suck it up and get on with it.
This is such a non problem.
Sleep deprivation is no reason for allowing other children to miss school.

It depends on how the birth goes doesnt it?
I had two easy births with DCs4 &5.
I was also lucky that both were born in the school holidays. One at Christmas and one at Easter.
It's very hard for oh to do school runs but I was able to do them fine.

It's not easy for everyone though and I can see why the op is worried.

I am a bit eeek about September myself. I will have 3 in different settings so it will be a bit mad, specially on my working days.

Yy to being organised and not worrying about baby being dressed. Get stuff done the night before, be clear about timings eg kids have to be dressed by x, baby in pram by x, out the door by x..