8 month old and found out I am 3 weeks pregnant!

[Jellybean001]

Hello, I am new to this and just needed somewhere to get this out.. I found out I am pregnant two days ago and in complete shock/ panic.. I have a DS1 who is almost exactly 8 months and I love him to bits but feel he should have a bit more time as the only baby. I also need to look for a new job pretty soon as our maternity money is almost gone. I’m just stressing about the whole situation as my DH doesn’t earn anywhere near what I do - but we are both determined to make it work - I can’t terminate as it feels so wrong.. just feel bad for DS1 and a bit terrified of being pregnant again (first birth was a complicated and I took a long time to recover)

Just to add this wasn’t planned and I know my family will disapprove and think we have been incredibly stupid for making our lives so hard for the next few years!! They are serious planners lol

So your husband takes mat leave with this baby could be an option. You literally only take til you stop bleeding after birth or something.

As above just have him take your parental leave. Back in the 90s I went back and knew many women who went back after about 8 weeks or so. In the US my friend returned after 3 weeks. It's hard but doable.

Nothing says that you have to take a long maternity leave. Save what you can to take what you can, after that you go back to work and other half takes over. I did my first KIT day 6 weeks after having DS, returned at 18 weeks. People make it sound worse than it actually is.

Firstly... Congratulations and good luck.
Forget what your wider family thinks, your own little family is most important. Don't worry about your child, small age gaps are pretty good as they never remember a time without a sibling. Older ones find it harder to adjust.
You have to sit down and work out how your finances would stretch. Is it more viable to have one parent stay at home, childcare is so expensive and ill children mean time off as nurseries will not have them.

I was made redundant when pregnant with our 2nd and had our 3rd 16.5mth after him. I became a sahm after that because childcare for 3 would have meant I only went to work to pay someone else to look after our kids. Felt pretty stupid, it was tough being a 1 income family but dh progressed in his job getting pay rises and it is much easier now despite expecting baby number 6.

Thank you - this has reassured me somewhat. I think it’s beginning to sink in, so I am starting an action plan to get back into work for 6 months full time, and a family member has already kindly offered 2 days a week childcare for DS1 (we haven’t told them about no 2 yet) - Here we go again!! We will get through it