When to try for second child

[spm20]

I’m 37 and have an 18-month-old little girl who means everything to me. My husband and I have just bought our dream house, but it needs a lot of work. It’ll take two years and a lot of money before it’s livable.
I’m finally starting to feel like myself again after giving birth and would love to give my daughter a sibling. But I’m worried about being out of work for a year, having less money, and managing a pregnancy while dealing with the stress of renovating the house.
At the same time, I know how much my daughter loves being around other kids—she’s so social—and I feel selfish delaying it. There’s also my age to think about. If I wait another year to try, I’ll be 38, almost 40
Am I over thinking things and everything has a way of working out? Or am I right to over think things as having a baby, trying to save for a renovation and being out of work are all very stressful events?

I think it depends on your ability to cope with stress...
Before I had kids I wanted a 2-2.5 year age gap but we were not ready & also considering renovating our house before having a second.
We're now pregnant with our second and looking at having just under a 3.5 year age gap but we postponed the renovation work. Just the thought of it was stressing us out so much that I rationalised it would impact getting pregnant, being pregnant and having a new born too much for us to cope with.
But I don't think I have a very high threshold for this kind of stress. Other people will have coped fine I imagine!

At your age I'd be trying now if I wanted another child. It might be easy or it might be hard, but you can't tell in advance and if it's important to you you could easily miss the boat by delaying.

I would also start trying straight away. At your age, it might happen the first month, or it could take 2 years. You just don’t know.