Who Has Been Pregnant While Doing Daycare?

[LeslieG]

My husband and I would like to start trying to get pregnant within the next year or so. This will be our first, so I have no idea how I will feel being pregnant, let alone what it will be like running a daycare while pregnant.

What are your experiences? Any advice?

Also, how long did you take off for maternity leave? How do you handle that?

Thanks!

[Texasjeepgirl]

I started my daycare in August 1992... My oldest daughter was 2 1/2.
I got pregnant in fall of 1993... but had an early miscarriage..
Tried again and was pregnant with younger daughter 1994...
She was born August 1994 so daycare had been open exactly 2 full years..
I had morning sickness that last ALL day for the first trimester.. no full out vomiting.. just mild constant annoying yuck feeling..
after that .. I was home free..
Closed for 6 full weeks.. 1 week before.. 5 after...
lost a client or two..

[Heidi]

I was pregnant and doing daycare with 3 of mine. I have to say, the last 2 it was a bit of a struggle for me because I had terrible insomnia the last months of each pregrancy. I also think my patience was much shorter while preggers, at least I know with my duaghter it was (that would be #3).

I only took off 2 weeks with each one, but some parents didn't come back anyway, and another family had a family member take the kids a little longer, so I only had one kiddo when I first started back, then eased back into a group.

My baby care style is pretty relaxed, and all my kiddos were fairly easy-going, so having other kids here once they were born was not an issue for me.

[nanglgrl]

I was pregnant and doing daycare with my last 2 children. I had more doctors appointments than what is typical because my first 2 children delivered early. My third and fourth were also a month early and with the fourth I had gestational diabetes. All of these factors made things incredibly unpredictable! I was tired a lot with my last two children and purposely kept enrollment to a couple of easy toddlers who's parents were understanding. With the 3rd child I went into labor on Thursday and went back to work on Monday and for the 4th I took a week off. My labors were easy, my children were healthy (even being born early) and I only had a couple of clients so it was doable.

[AfterSchoolMom]

Me, though I didn't have a mixed group the way some here do (I was caring for an infant and a group of SA's).

The beginning can be challenging due to fatigue and morning sickness...though you could be one of those that doesn't get sick at all. I found that the middle was relatively easy. I take off during the summer, so I don't have any experience with the very end - I didn't do DC after the seventh month. My maternity leave started when school ended, so it worked out well.
I actually took several months off after the baby was born as well. This is our last and I wanted time to enjoy him alone. Now I just have my own kids and a group of SA's - no littles other than mine. I'm finding it to be a great situation!

[mrsnj]

I never had morning sickness. Easy 9 months. Easy labors. So I never had issues. I did what I could n had easy days when I couldn't. I set up help for two weeks but went back to work pretty much after returning. I just had help during that time. I was lucky I think. If I had closed for 6 weeks I wouldn't have had clients to come back too

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I am currently 17 weeks pregnant with my miracle baby. happyface
Since I was a high risk pregnancy during my 1st trimester, I had to go to the Doctor every 2 weeks. I enjoyed it but that's something to consider should your pregnancy be a high risk pregnancy.

I also experienced miscarriage #3 while I was doing daycare. I delivered the baby at in the wee hours of the night and delivered the placenta a few hours later (while children were present) and had to make a mad dash for the bathroom. I didn't close at all. But, that's something to consider as well should you have the unfortunate experience of losing a baby. When I lost baby #1, I was working at a daycare center and I stayed at home. It was an early loss (so no "real baby" to pass) and it took many days.

My 2nd trimester has been just as exhausting if not more than my 1st with this sweet baby. I'm not sure if this is because I am getting up to pee at night so frequently, or if I am just tired from growing a human in general. I also had "morning sickness" at night (nausea and throwing up) in addition to heartburn my 1st trimester.

I will be closed, without pay, for 2 weeks after this baby is born. I will then resume working with my Mom as my helper. She has also been covering for me when I have Doctor appointments. happyface So far, no one has left over this fact. I have actually been gifted some baby items from the parents! I do think this is making it harder for me to bring on new clients, though.

I advise you to find a helper/assistant if you don't already have one. That person will be so helpful for you when you need to go to appointments (which are TYPICALLY every 4 weeks, then move to bi-weekly, then move to weekly) and when you start back up again.

I wish you the best of luck! Trying for a baby can be a fun time as well if you let it be.

[Springdaze]

I was pregnant with my son and hired someone for mornings to help and she was available for appointments. I had another young girl help her while I was in the hospital and a few weeks after. I was of course still there but not there! Luckily, I had him on the weekend!

[JLH]

My advice to you would be to find a helper first. I'm about 6 and a half weeks along with baby number 4. My hubby is my assistant but we never leave him alone with the kids. I have no one to cover for me to go to the doctor. This is my family's sole source of income so I can't close down and risk losing clients. I've been having problems with spotting and cramping for the entire pregnancy and the only way I can go to the doctor is if I go to the emergency room at night. I've been there twice already. Ugh! It's not been fun! My mother in law was supposed to cover for me but she backed out when I told her that she actually had to get training to legally be allowed to cover for me. Now it's been nothing short of a mad dash trying to find someone qualified to cover for me to go to the doctor. I still have not been able to see an ob/gyn to make sure the baby is okay. I still have not told the parents, as they are going to have questions about who will be filling in, and I do not have answers for them yet. This was a planned pregnancy but we definitely didn't plan things out well enough. This being said, learn from my mistakes and I wish you the best of luck!

[DaycareMom]

I opened my daycare when my daughter was 8 months old. Got pregnant when she was 18 months old.

It was awful. I had morning sickness ALL day for the entire 9 months, and I was exhausted looking after my daughter, plus 3 other children.

I only took off 1 week after my c-section and lost 2 of the 3 children I cared for (they were siblings). My husband took some time off to help me out.

If it's possible to wait to open your daycare until after you have your child then I would do that. If not, definitely find a helper!

I hope everything works out for you! Good luck!

[KDC]

I got pregnant in 2007 & 2009... Both times I as pregnant, my other client was pregnant also, which made for sticky situations over taking on an additional infant (I did so both times). I was lucky and did not experience any morning sickness, and I did have large babies (9+ lbs.) - they're both peanuts now, ! both C-sections. I was truly lucky and 'timed' them so I would be due in May, and I had teacher parents... so I was able to take off the summer to adjust to my new family and gear up for taking on two 3 month old infants while caring for other children. It was definitely a challenge, but totally do-able.

[AmyKidsCo]

I have 6 children; the youngest 4 while I was doing family child care. I have very easy pregnancies so I never had a problem working while I was pregnant, but some women aren't so lucky. Since this is your first you don't know how you'll be so you'll probably want to have a back-up system in place, just in case.

After I was closed for a week, then had help for the next month or so. The first time a friend helped out, and with the other three my mom came to help out so I didn't have to worry about paychecks, social security, taxes, and all that.

[slorey]

I was pregnant for my 3rd child while doing daycare. It was difficult, but mostly because I also had gallstones so had frequent gallbladder attacks throughout the entire pregnancy (I had to wait until after I delivered to have surgery to remove the gallbladder). I couldn't eat much, would lose a lot of sleep at night due to the painful attacks and was miserable! My dh is my substitute and thankfully he was very understanding when he had to miss work to cover for me. I stayed out of work for 8 weeks after I delivered, but still offered services during that time, as my dh was temporarily approved to be an alternate provider and he took family leave from his job. It worked out well, as I had the time to heal from my c-section, as well as the gallbladder removal, which happened 5 weeks postpartum. I would say it will all depend on how your body handles pregnancy whether it is difficult for you.