Third Baby - Head v Heart

[AquaGrapefruit9]

Hi Mums!
I'm in quite the predicament on whether to have a third baby. I'm 36 and my partner is 38. We have two kids who are 5 and 8. Recently, we have discussed having a third baby, as I want my partner to get a vasectomy. We always pictured our life with three kids but I cannot decide if its the right choice for us.
Things to consider:

1. my kids will be 6 and 9 when the child is born. Is this too big of an age gap, considering I am completely out of the baby stage.
2. I'm 37, so I am not as young anymore. Plus I would be giving up my freedom I currently have, which I love. I love the place my life is at atm with the kids being older and more independent.
3. I had two c sections so i need to consider the impacts this will have on my body as well as knowing I will not recover as quickly as I did with my first two, given my age.
4. We dont have much of a village. My mum will not help and my MIL lives interstate (i dont really get on with her well either). So this would fall onto my partner and I.
5. We don't own a home and live in Sydney (which is expensive!). Financially, we would need find a bigger house, and our finances would be impacted.

On the other hand, I dont feel like I am quite done yet. I know my older two would be a great help with the new baby and they are very independent. Although I worry I wont be able to give them a lot of my time as It will be occupied with the third child. My pregnancies were easy, I loved it! My partner wants a third and I am on the fence and change my mind every day. Interested to hear other peoples thoughts and perspective on their own situation. Did it work out well for you? Do you have regrets? Thanks.

Probably don't. You have what you want now.
I have two older children who were 6 and 7 when I had the third, and then 8 and 9 when I had a fourth. Same as you, no probs with pregnancy, did not think I was "done", same age as you, maybe a year older
Good things: Older children do help, and do benefit from a younger sibling, likewise the other way around, big families are nice to have, happy noisy household and great fun on hols. It is quite interesting how they turn out, with DC2 and DC4 being so similar, and at least them having someone that understands them.
Bad things: The risk of things going wrong are far higher, 1 in 4 chance of downs with last two, had amnio and other birth defects, struggles with that generally (I would have still had baby but at what cost to earlier children, and just being able to manage) I was in hospital for weeks with DC4 so you have to have back up with parents or others. The western world isn't set up for more than 4 at a reasonable cost. Two hotel rooms, split parenting, people carrier rather than a car, trying to be in two places at once, trying to please everyone. You cannot man-mark more than two that easily, and the result is division of labour where one adult takes the younger two, and one with the older two. And, it is expensive. You have to give them all the same, including going through Uni etc. Finally, when you want to slow down, you have the youngest going through teenage years while the oldest is having children, and often elderly parents to boot. Feels like an endless cycle of "when am I going to get my time" - yet basically, you know you are not going to get it.

I don't regret it for a moment, because that would mean I regretted my children and I love them all dearly. But given my time again.... or if I was advising my sons and daughters, I'd really have a long hard think before I gave the answer. Hope this helps xx