Surprise Pregnancy (For Me), How Do I Handle My Leave?

[Miss Lindsey]

Ok...funny story. My oldest is almost 10, youngest is almost 5. So we decide we are done having kids for sure, and hubby gets a vasectomy. 2 weeks later...i'm LATE...and 5 weeks pregnant! We had to have conceived 2 days before the surgery! SURPRISE!!! #4 is due February 14th. I am now 11 weeks, 4 days pregnant, nauseous, exhausted, and frantically trying to figure out what to do!

A few questions for those of u who have had a baby while doing daycare:

1. Do you schedule an induction for ease of scheduling for parents?

2. How long do you take off after baby is born?

3. How did you adjust when all the dck returned along with your newborn?

Just wanting to get a plan in place so I can tell all my parents what to expect.

Thanks in advance!

[Country Kids]

Ok...funny story. My oldest is almost 10, youngest is almost 5. So we decide we are done having kids for sure, and hubby gets a vasectomy. 2 weeks later...i'm LATE...and 5 weeks pregnant! We had to have conceived 2 days before the surgery! SURPRISE!!! #4 is due February 14th. I am now 11 weeks, 4 days pregnant, nauseous, exhausted, and frantically trying to figure out what to do!

A few questions for those of u who have had a baby while doing daycare:

1. Do you schedule an induction for ease of scheduling for parents?

2. How long do you take off after baby is born?

3. How did you adjust when all the dck returned along with your newborn?

Just wanting to get a plan in place so I can tell all my parents what to expect.

Thanks in advance!

No inductions for me. I'm a firm believer that the baby needs to come when it is ready not for the convenience of schedules, days off, etc. Unless there is a medical reason no scheduled babies is my believe.

I took off 2 weeks with #3 and one week with #4 or vice versa. I always forget which way it went.

It was hard going back to work because I was sooooo sleep deprived. With #4 I was up almost 4 days straight and then when we came home I still had 3 older ones to take care of.

Having a baby when you run a childcare is hard because you don't get to take the usual 6-8 weeks off. I soo which I had that with my younger two. I feel I didn't really get to be with them when they were born.

[MamaJ]

watching this because I'm in the same boat! I'm 14 weeks and need to tell my parents this week. I'm afraid they'll freak out.

I'm unsure of how much time to take off. I've heard some just take 1 week, some 2 weeks. I could never do just 1 week. 2 weeks...maybe but that scares me.

is three weeks asking too much???

[MommyMuffin]

First off congratulations! What a blessing!

1. You do not need to schedule an induction for the ease of the parents. You do what YOU want to do regardless of the ease of the parents.
2. I took 2 weeks off, but if I had a C-section things would have been different. I did this unpaid because I know I couldnt afford to pay 2 daycares for 2 weeks if I were the parents.
3. My baby was 5 weeks premature and is now 1 month old. He still sleeps almost all the time. He doesnt really require much attention but if he needs something I will drop everything to tend to him. I try to wear him at least 1 hour a day. During nap time I try to wake him up and read to him. You just have to fit in time.

You will find what works for you.

[cheerfuldom]

1. Do you schedule an induction for ease of scheduling for parents?
Do not plan anything like this for the parents. You need to research your options and do what is best for you. The parents will just have to have backup care and the world will keep spinning so don't feel like you have to plan everything for them. I ended up with an induction but it wasn't because of the daycare parents.

2. How long do you take off after baby is born?
I closed completely for 1 week, had an assistant work part time for the next and was back to business as usual by the 3rd HOWEVER this delivery and post partum was by far easier than the first two. Give yourself lots of cushion and dont rush back if you are not up to it yet.

3. How did you adjust when all the dck returned along with your newborn?
The adjustment went well because I have a baby that sleeps great and does fine with our small group of kids. If you have any problem children or parents, now is the time to start cleaning house or doing whatever you have to do to make your life with the baby as easy as possible. You need to get strict on your illness policy and that type of thing.

[SimpleMom]

Ok...funny story. My oldest is almost 10, youngest is almost 5. So we decide we are done having kids for sure, and hubby gets a vasectomy. 2 weeks later...i'm LATE...and 5 weeks pregnant! We had to have conceived 2 days before the surgery! SURPRISE!!! #4 is due February 14th. I am now 11 weeks, 4 days pregnant, nauseous, exhausted, and frantically trying to figure out what to do!

A few questions for those of u who have had a baby while doing daycare:

1. Do you schedule an induction for ease of scheduling for parents?

2. How long do you take off after baby is born?

3. How did you adjust when all the dck returned along with your newborn?

Just wanting to get a plan in place so I can tell all my parents what to expect.

Thanks in advance!

1. I didn't schedule an induction. Parent's were aware of the due date and made arrangements for care around that time. I had back up just in case I needed to get somewhere fast and worked up until baby was due--I think the last one I worked until a few days before.

2. I took 4 wks the first time---NOT enough time. 8 wks with the last one--could have used another 4 weeks.

3. The adjustment was easiest the longer I had for maternity.

[SilverSabre25]

First, congratulations!

1. no scheduled induction for me, I'm with CK on this one. I did end up with an induction though, due to being in labor for 2.5 days that was stalling and not progressing. It was voluntry, though, not planned.

2. 1 week off, unpaid. Wanted more, but *I* couldn't afford it.

3. DH had two weeks off work. Dcks came back during that second week and DH did everything. I was still off. It helped me adjust because as the week went on, I picked up more of the work. Also, I'm blessed with a magical baby that sleeps like a log, even during the night, since about week 2.

If you can find someone to be an assistant for the first couple weeks you're back, I highly recommend it. If you can birth absolutely as naturally as possible, I highly recommend it. Seriously--especially try to avoid an episiotomy. My recovery this time was SO much easier. I barely tore, not even down the old episiotomy scar, and I was almost pain free by two weeks post-partum. If you can manage self-directed pushing in any position you want, that would help too. Your body tells you when you need to push and when you need to stop to let things stretch. If you can take a Hypnobirthing class or at least read the Hypnobirthing book, that could help a lot with regards to avoiding pain meds (not having to kick drugs out of your system, risk complications from an epidural, etc, will help aid in a speedy recovery).

[SimpleMom]

No inductions for me. I'm a firm believer that the baby needs to come when it is ready not for the convenience of schedules, days off, etc. Unless there is a medical reason no scheduled babies is my believe.

I took off 2 weeks with #3 and one week with #4 or vice versa. I always forget which way it went.

It was hard going back to work because I was sooooo sleep deprived. With #4 I was up almost 4 days straight and then when we came home I still had 3 older ones to take care of.

Having a baby when you run a childcare is hard because you don't get to take the usual 6-8 weeks off. I soo which I had that with my younger two. I feel I didn't really get to be with them when they were born.

exactly. I took the chance and spent time with mine the last time around. NO regrets. You never get that time back and your time is so limited once back to work.

[GretasLittleFriends]

1. Do you schedule an induction for ease of scheduling for parents?
I did schedule an induction, but it wasn't for the ease of the parents, it was for us. My husband owns his own trucking company and is often gone. My thought was it would be much easier to schedule an induction and plan our time off. Baby was due May 6th, induction was scheduled May 3rd. Baby was born April 28th.

2. How long do you take off after baby is born?
I chose to take the week before the induction off, just in case, glad I did. I took a total of two weeks off. April 25-28 no baby, April 28 - May 9 (mother's day that year) with baby. I started back to work on May 10th. I was more than ready to get back to work.

3. How did you adjust when all the dck returned along with your newborn?
My mother-in-law came up and helped for 2 weeks, as she is retired (from doing close to 30 years of in-home daycare). I just got lucky there that she had the experience. Adjusting was fairly easy. I will admit I would rest when the littles napped, the big ones were in school during the day. I think the hardest thing was nursing since while nursing I couldn't do much else. The kids quickly learned that the baby needed to eat during these times and they usually kept themselves busy for the 15-20 minutes and out of trouble.

[jen]

Ok...funny story. My oldest is almost 10, youngest is almost 5. So we decide we are done having kids for sure, and hubby gets a vasectomy. 2 weeks later...i'm LATE...and 5 weeks pregnant! We had to have conceived 2 days before the surgery! SURPRISE!!! #4 is due February 14th. I am now 11 weeks, 4 days pregnant, nauseous, exhausted, and frantically trying to figure out what to do!

A few questions for those of u who have had a baby while doing daycare:

1. Do you schedule an induction for ease of scheduling for parents?

2. How long do you take off after baby is born?

3. How did you adjust when all the dck returned along with your newborn?

Just wanting to get a plan in place so I can tell all my parents what to expect.

Thanks in advance!

Yay! Congratulations!

1. No, that isn't necessary. They should have back up ready to go whenever you go into labor.

2. I took off 3 months, didn't lose a single client. If you do, I'd rather replace a lost client because you can't replace that time with your baby.

3. No problems with adjusting!

[Crazy8]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

I had a scheduled induction for one, and the other happened to come on a Friday evening. The scheduled induction wasn't planned the entire time though, I just went for my appt. at about 38weeks and dr. mentioned it was an option and I decided it would be better - I was very worried about not getting to the hospital in time - none of my labors have been long.

I took 2 weeks off with each of them. Couldn't afford any longer and I was really fine physically after the first week (no c-sections or epidurals to heal from).

Adjusting wasn't very hard for me. I was used to having a baby around and we just took it easy for the first few weeks. Parents were ok with some tv time, etc.

GOOD LUCK!!

[Michael]

Lots more info here: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...aternity+leave