im not, i have decided im will stay off as long as i can afford too.
i no some people have to and that may apply to me in time, but as long as i can im staying at home. so i told work not coming back!!!
i wanted to leave my job anyway as its shift work and unsociable hours and i have had enough of those and dont want to do them with my baby born. so if i hadnt of planned for baby this year i would of been looking for another job anyway.
i think i will go back eventually when LO goes nursery.

I'm not either... I was kind of in the same situation, fed up of my job, but got my bfp just in the nick of time in a way or I would of been looking for a new challenge too.

Also I am having twins and I think even though I have not looked into it, my wages versus childcare costs for two, I'm guessing I'd be working for peanuts afterwards. I am very lucky to have a husband with a good job I know, but i doubt i'll be attempting work until my 2 are in nursey either.

Em x

Hi ladies i dont work as my eldest has learning diffs but i think if you can afford it its fab to be at home with lo.
My dh doesnt earn a lot but we get childtaxcredits and this helps, to be honest though id rather live on less money and be at home than be well off but not be able to see my childrens firsts and take them to school.
To be with them all the time can be quite draining sometimes as my lo only just started school and im enjoying the time withot her but by 2pm everyday im waiting for the school day to end its all go then but i love it!

Hi,

I didn't go back to work after my 17 month old son was born. I was fed up with my job too (but I've have stayed at home anyway) so it was v handy!

I have been feeling fairly isolated since a lot of my friends with children have gone back to work, but I can't drive yet so I don't think that helps. I've just started driving lessons- gulp!!

It is great to be able to be the main carer for your child, and I'd definitely recommend it if you can afford it.

My son will be starting nursery on Wednesdays from the week after next, but the rest of the time he'll still be with me (unfortunately we have no family living nearby to help out). I think it'll be good for him now he's a bit older to do something different, and to be honest it'll be nice for me to have a little break mid-week, especially as I get bigger and tireder during this pregnancy. It'll also be handy when our new son comes along, as I'll be able to spend some one-to-one time with him too, which he won't otherwise be able to have.

Enjoy your special time with your little bundles!!
xxx
21+4

Hi there - well its just occurred to me that I haven't worked in 8 years!!!

My eldest will be 8 in October & I went on maternity leave about 8 years ago now, I did train as a childminder a few years ago & did that for a couple of years but gave it up last summer so I am a "lady of leisure" (I should be so lucky )

I feel I am so lucky to be able to stay at home & hope that one days my children will appreciate it!

Sarah
xxx

I have not yet decided - I am fed up with my job and would prefer to be a stay at home mum and maybe get a weekend job or even working from home would be good!! I should be taking mat leave from 19 dec.

We shall see. Has anyone gone on maternity leave then decided they dont want to go back so give their notice in anyway whilst on mat leave?

I'm not sure, I want to stay at home as I didn't with SBJr. I was a single mum and from around his 2nd birthday I worked all hours I could to provide for us both and get off benefits. It meant I missed out on a lot and I was always jealous of other mums picking up kids from school but I felt I had no choice. Very proud of myself now though and SBJr understands that I worked hard to get us into a position where we were secure and he has also grown up understanding that you sometimes have to work hard for your family. I'm proud to say though I never missed an assembly, play or sports day, oops no I missed one sports day but that was cos SBJr didn't tell me when it was!

However, Takers knows how I wish I could've been home more when SBJr was smaller and we're hoping that I can do that this time. Also means I will be home with SBJr in the afternoons as well which I can't wait for! We'll just have to see how we're managing financially on whether I go back or not. Fingers crossed xx

I'd love to have the choice about whether or not to go back. Unfortunately, I'm the main bread winner in our family, and we've just taken on a huge mortgage, so I won't even be able to afford to drop my hours. Wish I could at least go part time, but it's just not an option. One of my next jobs is to start looking for a lovely nursery for Bean, so at least I'll know my little one is being looked after well.

Hiya

I am already a stay at home mum and I love it. It is such hard work and I do miss adult conversation but I know I'm lucky to be in this position.

When Casper was born I had a year off, I went back to work when he was 11 1/2 months. I hated having to go back as I didn't like the thought of leaving him, it also didn't help that I hated the job I was going back to and was planning on leaving before I found out I was pregnant.

It made sense to stay there and take advantage of my discount though as it was Mamas and Papas!!

I was back about 6 months and found out we were expecting Alex, I suffered from OC with Alex so I left there at 29 weeks last September. I was due back at the beginning of June this year and had contacted my manager to arrange it and then we found out I was expecting this one so me and hubby talked about it and decided that I wouldn't go back after all.

I do wish I had gone back this time, if only to get maternity pay with this one, it would really help us out. I knew though that I would struggle with working again with Casper only just nearly 3, Alex just gone 10 months, being PG again, very likely to get OC again this time and hubby working 200 miles away Monday-Friday. Absolutely all responsibility for the kids and the home would be on me on top of working. I knew I couldn't do it and luckily with a few notches tightened on our belts and hubby's salary I've been able to stay at home.

One thing I did do for Casper was to keep him with his childminder after I finished work to have Alex. Although it was hard leaving him when he first started going he didn't have any problems and loved her from the start, I didn't want to disrupt his routine with her so I kept him going there but just dropped some hours since he was only really there to socialise and not out of necessity. She has converted the whole of the upstairs of her house into one big play area for the kids so it's more like a nursery, she runs it with her daughter and provides pre-school nursery education too which is funded by the government. Casper starts this the week after next so will be going to her for free!!

Alex will be taking over Casper's current hours so he gets the same chance to meet other children and socialise that Casper did. He got so much out of it and if I do say so myself is really intelligent and out-going for his age, not a child genius or anything but I definitely think him going to his childminder is to thank for it. So I will have both of them with her 2 (Alex) and 3 (Casper) days a week and will have some me time to just relax and do what I want, which will probably also involve lots of cleaning and boring household jobs! I'll be able to concentrate on getting organised for this baby too as I think sometimes I could forget I was PG, I'm so busy running around after the 2 I already have!

Sorry for such a long post, started rambling there! What was I saying about not having adult conversation, think it's getting to me!!

Kelly x

OH and I had many a heated debate about this. I've said right from the beginning that I would stay home until all the children (however many we are lucky enough to have) have started school, then work part time. He wasn't so keen.

However, when we got pregnant, it was his idea for me to give up work straight away (stressful job that I hated). We went through a lot to get preggy in the first place, and didn't want to do anything which would cause unneccessary risk.

it's causing some financial reshuffling, but I still plan on being a stay-home mum for as long as I can.