What made you decide?

tarapaige1

To have 2u2? We have considered only having one child. But now DH has been talking about having a second. And if we do he'd like them to be two years apart or less. What made you ladies decide to have children so close in age? I'm not sure I can get over the guilt I'm feeling about how much time will no longer be spent on DS due to a second child. Any words of wisdom would be appreciated

lwrigley2000

Although we don't have 2U2 yet, we are ready for that to happen and I look at it as giving DS a gift of a sibiling and I don't have any guilty feelings (yet) of taking anything away from him. I actually think it'll be a good thing that he won't be the only one for me to focus all of my attention on.

TonyaCody06

Well, we want 4 kids so we wanted to pace them kinda close so we don't end up mid-30's still having our family. I think you need to decide 1st IF you even want a 2nd child. That is a bigger decision than when to space them in my opinion.

kcisthebombdotcom

Here's what factored into our decision:

-Getting the newborn/diaper stage/sleepless nights out of the way quickly. The nice part about being pregnant now is that my DS recently stopped STTN, but it doesnt matter since I have terrible insomnia while pregnant so I'm up anyway. It would suck to get accustomed to sleeping well and then start all over again.

-Financially, it made more sense. I took some time off from full-time work while I raise kids since I wanted to be home until my youngest starts 1st grade. If I waited a while to have another, that would be more time I'd be taking out of the workforce. Since I have a greater earning potential than DH, it was the best choice for us financially.

-Kids will be close and do activities together. A friend of mine has kids almost 5 years apart, and when they do trips together it's challenging. One kid is riding on the kiddie rides, the other on the roller coasters..

-Less issues with jealousy. Older sibling doesn't remember life without a younger one. Kids learn to share by playing together.

Erin0922

Well, it was a surprise for us, and I still have moments of OHMYGOSH, but I think it will be great to have a companion so close in age. My older sister and I were 22 months apart, and were very close growing up!

jkelly41

We always knew we wanted at least two kids.  My husband is 6.5 years older than his sister and he didn't want that much time between our kids. He does not feel very close to her or have much in common with her. I'm close in age w/my brothers and we're very close. 

I wanted to have our kids as young as possible and get the newborn stage over with (sleepness nights).  Plus, I'm thrilled they'll have each other to play with as they grow.

Good luck!

kensbride08

The decision was made for me haha as LO was definetly a surprise and we were being very careful!

I think once you get over the shock of the idea of 2u2, it really does seem like it will be ok. I know Ill be busy but whenever I talk to adults that have close siblings they all love it so I know it will make it worth it to me.

alli2672

To tell you the truth, it was more of an emotional decision than a rational one.  We really wanted to have another baby, and we did the numbers and found that it could work financially, so we decided to just do it. 

DH really wants another one, but I am not sure I can handle it right now. 

pawleygirl77

I was initially expecting twins. We were SO excited about having twins... a boy and a girl and it was going to be perfect for us! We lost our little girl when I was 21.5 weeks pregnant. A couple of months after her loss we discussed it and decided we wanted another one ASAP. My brother and I are 12 months apart and I loved having him so close in age.....

moonfaerie

We had a few reasons. #1) My sisters and I are very close in age (my mom had 3u3) and it was so fun growing up like that. I hope my kids have the same great experience with their sibling(s). DH and his brothers are all five years apart or more and they're not very close. It makes me sad.

#2) DH wants to get the newborn phase out of the way. He doesn't deal wellw ith lack of sleep.

#3) I had trouble getting and staying pg for years, due to PCOs and endometriosis. The only way I got pg and carried to term was after having an ovary removed. My other ovary wasn't quite as damaged so they left it in and bam! DD came along to my surprise. We both knew we didn't want DD to be raised an only child so we went for it right away. Initially we were going to wait a little longer between kiddos but my body started getting screwy again pretty soon after DD, so we went for it to hopefully avoid having TTC.