OMG What Have I done !!!!

[Sproglet]

I am 20 weeks pregnant with my third child and woke up in the middle of the night having a major panic ! Here is a bit of background.
This October I would have run My Children's Shoe shop business for two years. All is going very well and my turnover has gone up on average 50% compared to last year. I have two children already DS 12 and a DD 8. As I am reaching 36yrs old my husband and I both decided if we wanted a third child it would be now or never. Before we TCC I put a plan into action to see if it would be viable with the shop but now I am not so sure.
I have one member of staff at the moment who works one a day week and any other odd hours I need her but plan to employ another member to cover my 6 weeks maternity which I am putting money aside to pay for.
Once my 6 weeks of maternity is up I plan to go back into the shop with the baby as the business is still too young to keep paying other people to cover.
Now I am thinking is this is going to work ? but I don't want and can't afford childcare I have no option !
I just wondered if there is anybody out there that has been in the same position and has got any ideas or experiance to make it work for them ? I don't know if it is pregnancy hormones that is making me doubt myself as I was so sure that I had it sorted. The baby is due 10/12/12
TIA xx

How can you manage to be on your feet all day , and feed a baby- who might be crying- when you have to serve customers?

If your baby sleeps a lot it may work, but what if it's one which cries all day long and needs hourly feeds?

I'm sorry to be blunt but your plan sounds madness- You will be tired and standing for long periods after the birth is not good for your health.

Maybe you need to seriously think about selling the business or at least operating it with staff there, and breaking even only until your baby is much older.

I do know women who have managed serving the public with small babies and it may be in your favour that the shop is for children so your customers are more likely to be sympathetic.

Its not going to be easy for you especially as the baby gets older and wants to move around and have more attention.

Thinking about this more- how is your baby going to get the interaction and eye to eye contact/ talking they will need for good development if they are left in a buggy or whatever in a shop whilst you are serving customers? How will they learn to crawl and walk- if they are in a shop setting? If you could manage the business and go into the shop part time it might work, but I can't see how it would be good for the baby or you to be there full time almost, from 6 weeks.

Congrats on the pregnancy and for starting a biz that is doing so well, no small feat!

I don't have the experience you are hoping for, sorry. However I'd agree with others that it sounds really difficult/maybe impossible as you have described.

Could you:

• reduce the opening hours? Maybe look at sales records if do don't already, when do you get most of you custom?
• pay for help for longer, but aim to do the weekends with either you or DH doing it, to ease yourself back in
• try and get some free help - family, friends (pay them in stock?) to cover shifts
• do some sort of deal where you "rent" your business to somebody for 6 months and they keep the profit after costs or something - not sure how that would work but that sort of thing
• do a split where DC3 goes to a childminder for a couple of hours a day, so at least you have some time to concentrate in the shop

A dramtic option but could you go totally online? Or do a deal with somewhere like a library where you open up shop once a week, so you are there physically for fittings etc.

Try not to panic there will be a way around it.

HTH