I'm really struggling to make the right decision here and would love to hear your opinions. I have 2 DDs already, DD1 almost 4 and DD2 just turned 1. With everything that has happened so far this year, my DH now works from home permanently and will not be required to return to the office at all in the future. It's fantastic to have him around more and share some of the nursery runs/making dinner and we have much more quality time as a family. I resigned from work at the end of my maternity leave a couple of months ago as I did not want to send both children into full time childcare given the uncertainty of it remaining open, the risks etc. (I would likely have stayed home anyway until DD2 is closer to 1.5/2 years old.)
My predicament now is that I know that I want another baby at some point, and DH would like to have 3 DC too, but I do not relish the thought of returning to work only to have to wait for an appropriate time to TTC so that I'm not pregnant as soon as I walk in the door of a new job. This could end up leaving a 5 year age gap between DD2 and a new baby, which I would not want.
DH said at the weekend that he wouldn't want to wait another another few years just to be catapulted back into the newborn madness, and if we're going to do it then he would rather we do it next year, while I'm still at home and we are not paying any childcare costs etc. I would be entitled to maternity benefit if I gave birth sometime next year also, given the tax contributions I've made over the last 2 years.
Should I just go for it or is it wiser to wait it out??