36+2,am moving 150 miles away,trying to run a business & have 17 month old,anyone else been mad enough to try this & be sane afterwards?

[mummyofthomas]

Well as the title pretty much suggests- I'm 36+2 pregnant with number 2,number 1 is only 17 months. had pretty rough labour and 3rd degree tear first time round so this time we have decided to move back home closer to family, unfortunately this is 150 miles away and we only get the keys for new place on tues!!!on top of this we run our on business so no mat leave for me oh and we are skint, am feeling like shite and would really like to just sleep all the time. anyone been through similar and come out ok the other side. I have visions of this poor baby being born on the M4!sorry just needed a moan really as dont wanna burden dh with any more worries

Hello Mummyofthomas - you're a brave woman, but sounds like you are an independent type and will probably do just fine! I've not had the exact same experience, but I had a pretty traumatic time with the birth of DS1, third degree tear and blood transfusion, ended up being kept in hospital for 5 days and then moved to a completely new area the day after we were discharged from hospital. Didn't know a soul there, but quickly made friends in the GP surgery and at a local postnatal group. My family is all in the USA and DH's is all over the place, nobody remotely nearby. If you're moving closer to family and can rely on them to give you a bit of a hand, I'm sure the transition will be made a bit easier. Also you'll meet new people with children as well, and that could be good for your business! Be strong, Mummy, it sounds like it'll be tough going at first but once you're settled it will be good for you to be closer to family. Besides, becoming the parent of 2 is a major change I hear, so why not have the change all come at once?

My sister just had her second child with the first being only 19 months. She runs a dog-walking business, and was walking about 8 miles a day with a well-built toddler strapped to her back until about 35 weeks! She has paid someone for 6 months though to do the walking to give her time to recover. It is a bit of a physical job! (With her first she gave birth at 42+1, and the day before she had him she was at a dog show, lost her plug and asked if she could move her running order forward in order that she could compete her agility dog before going to the hospital! Mad, if you ask me, but there we go.)

I ran a holiday business in the Pyrenees from 3 weeks after having my first baby. I had to travel there with her when she was 3 months and again at 7 months. It was all a bit much, and since then we have reduced our properties down from 4 to 1. I should add that I do have another job too, and am renovating a grade II listed cottage. There is only so much you can do! You make as much of it as you can work, and live with the result. In my case, that meant no kitchen!

MummyofThomas - I too run my own business with my DH and at the moment I'm virtually bed ridden with SPD so I'm madly jealous of you ability to run around !!!

I think if you are in business and used to a hectic lifestyle you can cope wih anything - part of having a business is the flexibility it brings - I intend to return to work with baby in tow asap. Not just because we need the money but also because I need to be busy and feel like I'm contributing in some way. When I had my DD I was at work in our shop when I went into labour, and stayed for a little while panting and puffing (out of sight) as I thought it would help things move faster - it didn't !

As long as you're having regular MW checks and your not too tired I think its good to stay busy and the benefit of having your family nearby after the birth will outweigh any stress you have now

Moving towards family is good (if you like them). We moved to very remote Scotland the other side of the country from family out of a "sense of adventure" - at the time seemed like a good idea - when ds was 3 months. Came up to househunt when he was 2 weeks!! Now am pg again and we are moving back south to be near family,hopefully before am due to give birth again... It is always going to be hectic. i don't think you're mad. It is important though to know what matters (family / adventure / moneymaking) and once you decide what to do stick with it. We don't regret our time up north but it has been bloody hard work and family support is such a blessing.
Good luck!

Mummyofthomas, I don't think you sound mad at all - or if you are - then I am too! I am 23 weeks pregnant with my second, and have a 10 month old DD, so she will be a grand old 14.5 months when this one is born. If that wasn't enough, DH has just found out that we've been posted to Khartoum in Sudan for the next 2 years, and he has to leave on April 1st (no joke).

I'm having the baby here and then the baby will have injections etc, so we can't join him until August, which will mean not only am I on my own for the last 3 months of pregnancy with toddler and a very active dog (which needs walking twice a day!) but then I will have to do newborn, toddler and dog duty for a couple of months sans DH! I will also have to pack up the house here, get it rented and all that that entails and breast feed a newborn, whilst looking after DD (and walking bloody dog!) before getting on a plane to Africa as a group of 4 (dog will be in the hold I expect) to be met by DH at Khartoum airport.

How hard can it be?

Thread creep; Boobz, what on earth is your OH doing in Khartoum? I've flown over it, and it looks a bit, erm, exciting down there, even for me! (I work in Africa quite a lot too.)

He works for the Foreign Office - so will be working at the British Embassy monitoring the recent political developments, working with with the international community and bilateral agencies etc. I work as a Marketing Director for an online gambling company, so think I will mostly be giving up work and sipping cocktails at the Pickwick Club, or some such, until we return to the UK in a couple of years time (when I will have to return to the advertising industry to pay for the mortgage!)

What do you do there?

I'm a pilot. I go to Uganda and Tanzania a lot, and also Kenya, Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Libya and Angola. I fly over Khartoum with the knowledge I could divert there in an absolute emergency, if I really, really had to! But would rather not. If your OH is a diplomat though, I am sure there will be lots of ambassador's parties. G&Ts at sundown and all that.

Sounds good to me!

Thanks all for your messages, is nice to know it can be done and a lot of people have it a lot tougher than I do, so I will count my blessing and do as much as possible before babs arrives. Thanks again