Mog, I've just come back to check this thread! My 3rd was another girl. Poor ds! But he is such a self sufficient wee soul (always has been) that I am sure he will cope with having sisters on either side.
I wouldn't know what to pick if I had to choose Nursery over cleaner. I'm very very lucky cos our local nursery is a community nursery for a Gaelic speaking area (not your sort of area, I'm guessing?) and so the place for dd1 in the morning is free (the state funded place for 3 yrs and up) and ds goes 2 afternoons a week for 2 hours, for £6 a week! But I wouldn't want to be without the wonderful Isabel!
I found that when I was on my own with dd2 to begin with it was great - she was able to sit and watch me in her little bouncy chair, she slept a lot, etc etc. But now she is almost 9 months and pretty demanding, and I don't get half as much done as I did in the early days. I've got very very good at the 10 minute dash around to make sure things are bearable. On a good day I kick them out in to the garden and run round the house like a banshee, tidying as fast as I can. I try to make sure one room is tidy enough for guests at short notice - we've got a big kitchen with a sofa in there so I try to keep that clear in case anyone drops by.
I used to be terrible at accepting help from other people but somehow I've got used to it over time. I dont know if you know my story at all, but I have been very ill with kidney stones pretty much constantly since I was pregnant with ds (had a 4 months break before I got pregnant - accidentally - with dd2 and I am still clearing the stones out that I made during that pregnancy) so I was in hospital a lot during the 3rd pregnancy and just after, and dh was coping with looking after the kids, working full time, commuting 23 miles each way each day to see me in hospital, trying to do on-call (he's a GP), and so one day when a friend came in to the hospital and said 'would your dh like me to cook him something to have in the freezer' I jumped at it and somehow after I had said OK once, it was easier to do it again.
another tip - get your Mum to clean! My Mum is a demon cleaner and I laid it on a bit 'oh Mum, the best thing would be if I could start with a tidy house when you leave' and she did it - it was great. MIL comes to stay quite regularly adn though a best description of her cooking skills would be 'limited', within those limitations she is pretty good, so whenever she comes she stocks us up on Lasagnes and stroganoff and Irish Stew (she's from Belfast!) - her 3 things! Great for those days when you have no idea what to cook!
I'm trying to think of anything else. The best thing we got after dd2 was born was a vasectomy! No, that was even before she was born (I'm not allowed to get pg again, due to kidney thing).
When are you due? I got to the 'not bothered to get off the couch stage' at about 4 months pregnant and am still in it now!!