Please share the good, bad etc and your age gaps. Was it harder ir than easier than expected? Especially curious about how working mums manage the juggle. I ask these questions as tempted to ttc a 2nd but a bit scared don't know what to expect as used to routine with my one child and hard to imagine a 2nd child in daily routine.
First time ttc took me 16 months so I learnt ttc journey can take longer than expected. I am now considering ttc for another child. I am age 37 so time is not on my side so I am going into it with the mindset that it may take a while or may never happen at all. I don't see myself wanting to continue if I have repeat miscarriages or if it takes maybe 2 years plus and becomes too stressful
I would rather be a little pessimistic than be overly optimistic
I notice however with others planning to try for another child who I guess conceived easily the first time saying things like they plan to try for a 'spring baby' or deciding to delay at age 39 for a whole year because of a wedding they are attending etc. I do bite my tongue but I think fertility is not guranteed to happen exactly when want it too.
I just don't understand why people make it seem like it always so easy especially being in late 30's that is not necessarily the case. You can't plan exact months of the year that pregnancy will happen
I saw a post recently on UK Parenting reddit about how society is not set up well for working mothers. The 9-5 or 9-6 in some cases (but school hours 9-3), more companies demanding return to offices, juggling school holidays, sickness etc is not always easy even just with one child but with two children there is just more to juggle e.g. 2 kids sickness overlapping.
So me and my husband have some advantages.. we have grandparents do childcare Fridays so our daughter only attends nursery Monday-Thursday. I work hybrid. Thursday and Friday from home. Husband is lucky to work from home every day so if our daughter gets into our local school he could do school runs.
Although on paper I want two children I still find idea of the juggle with two kids daunting. I hear how at school age there are a lot of calendar events then all school holidays to cover. Me and my husband would likely rarely get holiday together as would need to stagger the holiday cover or use holiday clubs. We also already like to save about 5 days leave each a year to cover potential sick days for our daughter.
Is there anyone else in similar position who finds the juggle daunting. Have any of you with these worries jumped off the fence and how did you find it?
I don't really have lots of time to decide. I am nearly age 37 and if we do decide to go for 2nd child then we plan to ttc before I turn 38 and daughter will be aged 2.5 and in pre school by time another child arrives.
In an ideal world I would rather wait until daughter is school age and wait and see how stressful we find the juggle before having another but don't have that time to wait.