I have been completely void of energy for the last few weeks. I am exhausted but I'm not sleeping well at night and more than one person has said "you look tired" at work and I'm sick of it. Any suggestions? I have a pregnancy body pillow that I'm sleeping with but I still find myself tossing and turning to get comfortable. I also wake up with horrible cotton mouth and Ben says it's because I've started snoring now too. Oh, the joys of pregnancy! At least Maia is now mostly sleeping through the night so that's one less thing keeping me awake.
Ben and I have started to contemplate daycare costs a little bit. We haven't run the numbers but for two infants and a toddler it's going to be extremely high. We need to figure out if it's worth it based on my salary and whether the best alternate option would be for me to stay home, go part time (if that's even a possibility), switch to home daycare or hire a nanny/au pair or something. I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a stay at home mom but I don't really know since I've never done it. I can't imagine that I'd be able to get anything done in the house with 3 kids under 2!
Hi Becky,
Daycare cost can be very expensive, this I do know. I know for a fact it is a great deal more than it was years ago.
I'll tell you if I had a chance to do it all over again, I would have been a stay at home mom, at least for the first few years. Maybe even until they started school. You miss so much when they are that small, when you work full time. So if there is a way to be at home, I would suggest doing it. You'll appreciate it more later, and you won't have to say to yourself "If only I had stayed home with them".
This is just my opinion, but it comes from past experience.
As far as not sleeping, my OB told me while I was carrying the twins, to have a very small glass of red wine with dinner once in a while. Now this doesn't mean getting snuckered! He told me it helps relax you, and it is actually good for you. I tried it, and sure enough it did help. Ask your OB the next time you see him/her.
Hi Becky,
I'll just throw you some food for thought.
We cut daycare costs by going with my mother-in-law's home daycare, staggering our hours, and taking advantage of my employer's 35-hour a week option. Home daycare might be an option since it costs less than a center. At about $30/day each infant, you'd probably still be looking at something like $80-90/day for three little ones, which is still $1600-1800/month. Those costs are pretty high, but you also need to consider how you feel about your work and how hard you worked to get where you are.
Another point to consider is that I've never heard of a woman who regretted the decision to spend more time with her kids, even if it meant financial hardship or changing careers later.
Whatever decision you make will be the right one for you and your babies. It's one of those hard pray-about-it decisions that nobody else can make for you, though.
I jsut read your note about too tired - I can soooo relate! I felt like elephant man towards the end of my pregnancy even though I did not know I was carrying twins! We purchased a very comfortable recliner and it did the trick! The recliners they have today are almost like beds. You may want to try it!