How different/hard from 2-3?????

[mummc2]

at the moment have 2DD's aged 4.8 and 20 months. I wasnt very good at being pregnant had problems in and out of hospital but good births. Got pregnant when DD2 was 6 months and decided to terminate as me and DH said we didnt want anymore and definately so soon. But i recently asked Dh to get the snip then if we are done and he keeps avoiding it, then one night after he had a drink he said he was too young to have the snip (37) and we might want another one one day!!!! This i didnt expect from him at all and dont know wether he was just saying it to leave him alone or if the drink gave him courage to say what he felt??????

Anyway since he said that i cant get it out of my mind and have started thinking what about a number 3??

Parents look after 2 while i work but its alot for them so they wouldnt do 3 and then would be worried about money. How do others cope with 3 with working possibility and childcare????

[SausageRocket]

Easy for me but then 1 & 2 were 10 & 8 when 3 came along. Much easier when the older ones are school aged. Also much more manageable from a working/childcare point of view.

[cece]

I have just had my third (he is 9 weeks)and it is great. However, my other two are both at full time school. I think this has made it easier for me.

[mummc2]

Im not particulary (?) worried about hardness looking after them just money and working as even though i love my kids dearly i like working it gives me a sense of not just being a mum and a wife but someone who can be useful to others too. And my husband works very hard but dont think we could cope on just his wage as my wage is my lifeline. I dont mind giving up work for a few years while they are young but how do people cope when this happens????

[SausageRocket]

Thankfully DH's salary covers our living expenses so the financial was not really a concern to us.

Childcare for 3 kids under school age is very expensive. Prohibitively so for most average earners, I would say.

[insywinsyspider]

I have 3 - ds1 is 3yrs 2 months, ds2 19months and ds3 is 6wks, so far I have found 2-3 much easier than 1-2 but then its early days I'm shattered and like rasputin have an overwelming amount of washing and tidying and I'm wondering how cooking for 4 and weaning at the same time will go but I wouldn't change it for the world.

FWIW I am planning to go back to work next yr. I'll have 3 in full time care so the most cost affective thing to do is get a nanny - sounds very posh and middle class and honestly we're not - until ds1 is in school and the put other 2 in nursery when ds2's pre school vouchers kick in. Or I'll ask for a 6 month sabatical till ds1 is in school. Initially I wouldn't take home much if anything but its all about keeping my foot in the door as progreesively as ds's start school my take home will increase - I like working and will try and do 3 days a week. dh and I earn a very similar amount and he likes me to work too, he finds it quite stressful being the bread winner, this way we can support each other

hth and good luck with what ever you decide

[Ceolas]

I found 2-3 pretty hard, but they were very close together (18 months then 21 months). The first 6 months are a blur.

We didn't have much money, but I didn't work, mainly because I wanted to look after them myself. It was hard, but we made it through.

Fast forward 4 years and we had a 4th. And I'm expecting a 5th in a couple of weeks