Hi all.
I suffer with anxiety (and bouts of depression) and other issues I'd rather not discuss.
I am currently pregnant and come from a very private and small family. My OH family is lovely and big and full of nieces and nephews. But that scares the life out of me. Currently his brothers and sisters always have sleepovers for the kids and spend a lot of time in big groups doing stuff together.
This is my first child, we have our own home but I am so incredibly nervous as I feel like they will (when DC is old enough) pressure me into taking part in the 'kid swapping' that happens every couple weekends.
The reason I have put this on this thread is I struggle with anxiety, part of my anxiety means I like to be left to my own comforts, I can't stand being in big groups too long and the thought of having more than 1 or 2 children around me stresses me out to the point I don't even care if people think I'm a terrible person - I just CANT do it... My DH is v family orientated and I don't think he will understand if I don't want to be involved in this, also, I know it's unfair of me to let my child miss out on being with her cousins a lot because of my own personal hang ups.
What would you suggest? I suppose I could tell DH that I only want the kids round on nights he is there to take point on the childcare as I don't think I could take having to care for around 5 children on my own!! Any advice welcome because this is really getting me down 