r/ParentingInBulk

Any other moms here with a lot of strollers? Which ones do you have and which are used for what? I don’t know it happened, I guess I just like having options and being prepared but I have so many, the garage is filling up. I even sold a few recently. I am about to have three 4 & under, so that’s part of it. In my defense, I’ve bought most of them used.

The ones I have right now are:

BOB single jogger
BOB double jogger
Joovy quool (three seat option)
Several umbrella strollers
Wonderfold WD 4

I also had the Joovy caboose but sold that.

Found out I'm pregnant with my third and am feeling anxious and scared - need advice and, honestly, some hype. (For the record: we actively decided to have a third, but the guilt and anxiety crept in when it became real)

My first two are 24 months apart, and this baby will be 24 months apart from the last. (Apparently we are on a schedule).

I'm now worrying about all the things - dynamics with a third, getting through newborn phase, etc. I'd love to hear about your experience from anyone with a similar age gap.

I’m sorry if this isn’t allowed.
Can anybody help me with a gift card or anything, so I can buy my son a present for his birthday Friday.
I am in an abusive relationship but am in the process of coming up with a plan to leave.
My partner takes all my money but he is away until Monday. He’s left me with nothing knowing I need to get my son a present and a card.

We thought we were done at 3 but now I'm feeling on the fence about a 4th. My husband is surprised but not necessarily opposed. I'm 36 and our kids are 4.5, 2.5, and 17 months.

Given that our current 3 kids are quite close in age, I don't want to wait too long and make the 4th one feel left out. But also, I've just started feeling like myself again after so many years of consecutive pregnancy & breastfeeding, and I kind of don't want to be pregnant again just yet.

What would everyone's recommendation be on the maximum age gap between baby 3 and baby 4?

With two it’s easy because each one goes with each parent so you can kinda accomplish this easier than with three where one parent has two and the other has one. Curious how you do intentional 1:1 time, especially with younger kiddos.

In bbgbggbbgg or gbgbggbbgg in that birth gender order

Were your pregnancies all about the same length?

I’m expecting number three and hoping she stays put for a while. My first birth was at 41 weeks and my second was an induction, but I was already at 39 weeks and I think she would have stayed put a while longer.

Just curious!

About to have two under two and a three year old. Typically I carry my middle (18 months) and hold my 3yo’s hand. Once I have the baby, I can sometimes use a baby carrier, but not always (back issues and extreme heat), so I’m wondering if anyone has a good technique for getting everyone across the parking lot safely when carrying the infant seat + 18 month old + one walking. It just occurred to me today that this could prove very tricky. They are well-behaved, but I don’t trust cars.

I suppose I could bring the double stroller and have oldest hold onto that, but it’s a bit impractical for the grocery store (I know about grocery pickup/delivery, just can’t always use it). And I’m also thinking about doctor’s appointments, my postpartum appts, clothes shopping etc. Probably will just do the stroller in those situations.

Edit to add: I do like the cart return idea when at the grocery store specifically, but our Publix staff is quick with getting those carts back in the store. Maybe I could just drive around until I see one with carts in it, lol! At Costco the cart returns are only by the handicap spots, way up in the front of the lot, so there’s no way to park by them, so I’ll probably end up using the carrier (at least as long as I can).

I’m currently pregnant with my fourth child. A bit of background, I have 3 boys who were born 2 years apart in 20, 22, and 24. This one is my first girl! All of my other pregnancies came spontaneously and early:
1: 37+1
2: 38+5
3: 37+5

I am 38+6 today and this girl DOES NOT want to come out. Is this normal????? I am starting to get really concerned and anxious on top of feeling absolutely physically terrible. I thought subsequent pregnancies typically came earlier? Has anyone else had spontaneous early deliveries and went on to have a subsequent pregnancy gestate so much longer?

I have done everything to try to encourage her to come. Last week at my 38 week appointment I was only barely 1cm dilated and 60% effaced. My OB was convinced that even so I would deliver before my 39 week appointment. Well, it’s Wednesday and here I am still pregnant 😵‍💫. On top of all of it I’ve had prodromal labor going on 4 weeks now… it’s been absolutely terrible.

We have 3 kids. I'm 35 already and I want one last baby. My husband knows. He says we'll talk about this once the youngest baby turns one.

Now, some days he will say "I know where Baby X will sit at the table" or "please keep all the baby stuff" or "I bought this pregnancy journal for your last pregnancy" or to his sister "we're open to a fourth".

Other days, when it's hard, he says "I'm not sure if I want a fourth" or "three is really enough for me" or "I don't know if we'll be able to handle four".

He's playing with my feelings, isn't he?

Somebody else's husband like this?

What’s the latest dpo you’ve gotten a positive? Currently ttc baby #4, 14dpo confirmed with temp and lh strips. Today is cycle day 29 with no period in sight and I typically have a 28 day cycle. Tested today and still negative so pretty sure I’m out but just wanting to hear success stories. I tested positive 10dpo in the past so I’ve felt discouraged since then!

My son is 2.5 years old. He is the most joyful, delightful child I've ever met. I have been a kindergarten teacher for 15 years, so having met so many kids, I know thst he is just such a wonderful little guy to have. His temperament, his personality, he is just the very best. As an infant he was a great sleeper, great eater, and we had a really easy transition to parenthood.

My husband and I are both 37 and are just dead in the middle about another child.

I want what is best for my son and I can't wrap my head around how adding another human who takes our attention, time, and efforts away from our first is truly beneficial? Do I know too much about child development that it's harming my ability to think about it clearly? Or am I overthinking it?

My son loves babies. In the store, at the library, anywhere we see a baby he stops and wants to look and watch the baby. He adores his baby cousin. I want to give him the well-roundedness of being a big bro, but how do i know it won't be of detriment?

This is so hard!! I want to think about them snuggling and laughing and having a wonderful sibling experience but what if that is not the reality? What if my son feels resentment about the change? What if our next baby isn't as delightful as our first was? This almost feels like an impossible decision?

What do others think? How did you make a decision?

When we say 'OK we are done, just him ". I get sad at the thought of not having another baby. But we say" OK let's do this and have another "I get worried it's not what's best for my son.

Help a mama out!!!

Edit to add-we have a huge village and are very fortunate for that. My parents live next door and my in laws down the street.

My kids are 16, 15, 14 and 7, the house is just constantly chaotic. One of my kids always has a friend over. Or there is always something exciting happening in somebody's life. The older 3 kids act like "triplets" most of the time, they argue all the time but they truly are like best friend. And they loved their younger sister so much, even though she annoys them daily.

But overall I love seeing the sibling dynamic between my kids. This morning I woke up and found all 4 of them in the garage trying to teach the 7 year old how to skateboard.

I wouldn't trade this chaotic life for anything.

Expecting #3, older siblings will be 8 and 4 when the baby is born. Oldest is already in a booster seat, and the soon-to-be middle sibling is in a forward-facing carseat. I see tons of articles on-line about 3-across car seat configurations – what are families doing with booster seats? It seems like with 2 car seats in the back, it'd be very hard for our oldest to reach the seatbelt buckle.

Before you say minivan – no. We live in a walkable city & street-park our car. This means we routinely parallel park in very tight spots; it's not uncommon to drive around for 10-20 minutes looking for a parking spot. Our Mazda CX-5 is 180in long; a Honda Odyssey is 205in long. The extra two feet of length would make it significantly harder to find parking, and we'd probably need to shell out $600/month for a parking spot.

If we won the lottery & could buy a house in our neighborhood with a driveway, a minivan would probably be my 2nd splurge, after the house itself.

This is going to be really long - if you don't want to read a novel but want to help - TLDR; I have three boys 4, 2, and 2 months, am struggling a lot, and wondering when this will improve.

Now the novel:

I was one of two kids - me and my brother. My family was very tight and we did everything together and vacations and such. My brother is 18 months younger than me. We were close growing up, less so now, but I had a very happy childhood.

My husband was one of four boys. They are very tight now and they're all pretty great and have all done well. My husband wants at least 4 kids and I didn't see why we shouldn't.

I am a rather a "fussy"/OCD-ish/anxiety type personality and I am a newly graduated from residency pediatrician. My husband is more easygoing.

We've been lucky to have fairly uncomplicated pregnancies and babies. We had one my 4th year of medical school and sometime around when he was 1, I stopped birth control as we were open to more. Had a miscarriage and then ended up pregnant with a baby with the same due date (2 years apart) as his older brother. There was a lot of scariness when he was born and in his babyhood because he had a large port wine stain and was diagnosed with Sturge Weber Syndrome which can cause seizures, glaucoma, and delays. But lo and behold, our sweetie has been developing normally and finger crossed - no issues. So when I decided I was going into primary care pediatrics, I kind of fixated on this idea of having a 3rd kid between residency and my first attending job. The transition from 1 to 2 was really not that bad (mostly "i take the baby, you take the toddler" with my husband - SIMPLE!).

A week or two after I had my IUD removed, we had a rather dramatic meeting at school about my 4 year old and how poorly he listens and how stubborn and defiant he can be. Mind you, he is very smart indeed but they were on the verge of kicking him out. I had a message typed out to my OB about having the IUD replaced because I felt like we should just focus on our two boys for a bit. But my husband was asleep and I thought I shouldn't send that without a discussion with him. It didn't matter - I was likely already a few days along with our 3rd boy. Things got better at school but my oldest is still a handful.

As pregnancy came to an end, it hit me how well things were going with our 2 boys - their routines, their relationship. I felt like our family was maybe complete. Like the baby would throw things off. It was obviously too late.

Now he's 2 months old and I feel like I'm going insane. Granted we have also just moved a few weeks ago and I'll be starting my new job in 1.5 months. A lot is changing and happening. But beyond the unpacking, credentialing, studying, I am feeling this massive feeling that this is too much (3 little boy). That I was NOT cut out to be a mom of >2 kids. I cannot "go with the flow". I am not a "the house can wait" person. I am not a "lower your standards" kind of person. I don't like receiving help from others.

Trying to manage the 4 year old, 2 year old, and nursing and caring for a 2 month old is insane. Every day feels like a marathon. All I seem to do is argue with my husband about who is caring for who when and why I don't want him to make plans that can't include children. He seems miffed I can't just peacefully handle all 3. When do this get better??? Does it? How can I change to make this get better?

I’m pregnant with our 5th, due in November, and just realized last night that I may be giving birth alone. We have 1 person (family) close that we can usually count on and it is who came over last time I was in labor at 11pm. Last time I drove myself to the hospital while in active labor because she was taking a while to get here (and I didn’t want to wake the other kids up because they all had the flu) and fortunately my husband got there in time to see the birth. However, we just discovered last night that she is planning to be in Key West around the time I’m probably going to have baby. I’ve never made it to my due date, always a week early (39+1, 39+2, 39+0, and 38+5)… and she’s set to be gone the week I hit 39 weeks. We’re in a bit of a panic because I don’t want to have to drive myself again but we don’t have anyone else we can call. Worst case is my husband and kids drive me and drop me off, but I really want my support person (my husband) there. My mom isn’t an option because she won’t keep my 2 year old (🙄) and won’t drive after dark. I don’t know what to do and just wanted to vent/hear others stories or solutions.

Our little one is currently 5 months abd the plan is to going to start nursery at 10 months so we can get the government 30 funded hours. What about diseases while being at the nursery? Any advice on how to keep little one safe from sickness and anyone with experience taking a little one under 1 at the nursery?

We struggled going from 0-1, mainly because our baby was very demanding (never had a sleepy newborn phase, very alert and active from the beginning etc.), but also because of the huge identity shift you go through after becoming a parent. We still want a big family, but I feel like everybody talks about how terrible it is to go from 1-2 kids etc, and how going from 0-1 was nothing compared to that. Maybe I'm delusional, but I feel like our newborn phase was soo intense that I can't imagine it being any worse? But of course i realize that it depends on the temperament of baby number two haha. So I'm interested in what people with many kids think was the hardest transition? Especially if you had a demanding first child, how did it go to have number 2/3/4 etc.?

I noticed this morning that I go through almost 30 eggs in a two week period. Three kids (4,2,9mo), and feeding them all eggs for breakfast ends up being 6 eggs every morning. If my husband and I eat, it’s almost a dozen. Lately they’re super into it eggs so I’m going through OVER 30 eggs! I bought a box of 60 July 31 and I’m about to buy another.

Two years ago I’d have needed a second mortgage and I find this funny. Is this just a me thing? Or is everyone else also eyeing a chicken coop?