Thoughts on having 3 children

At 27 weeks now, and having recently moved back into our house after our building work, I guess we’re certainly feeling more settled, and along with that has come the  dawning realisation that (all going well) in exactly 3 months our new baby boy is due. And with that comes the additional realisation that this means we will have 3 children.

Three.

Three of the little devils!

I think because we’ve been so busy, and possibly because with him being the 3^rd we’ve got a little blasé, but it’s actually only now that I feel I’ve had time to stop and think about what having 3 children actually means, as well as a chance to now get excited about his arrival.

Both Adam and myself are the youngest of 3 children, so to us 3 always felt like a fairly natural number of children to have within a family. However, after having Freddie and Sasha so close together (there’s only 15 months between them), and possibly because we’d had a boy and a girl (and therefore everyone telling us that because of this we didn’t ‘need’ anymore children), I kind of put the idea out of my mind.

Having two so close together wasn’t actually that bad in terms of logistics and day-to-day life, in fact I thought it was easier sometimes- two toddlers into the same things, same naptimes, same nappy changes, but it was still enough to make me think “3, no thanks!”

Fast forward 4 years, and having ditched all of our baby and toddler clothes and equipment (SO annoying!), I started wondering if we did, in fact, have room for another member of our family, and after much discussion we decided to just go for it. I’m not going to lie, I was, and still am, a little nervous when it comes to future family logistics like days out and holidays and the cost implications of these, but right now I think I’m just in denial! We’ll make it work somehow.

I’m a little worried that the gap between our baby boy and his siblings, 6.4 and 5.1 years respectively, will be too big, especially when F and S are so close to one another. But on the other hand I feel that this baby will benefit from the bigger gap and having siblings who are excited and hands on with their new sibling. Not to mention the fact that I will have a lot more time, what with the other two being at school, and I’ll hopefully have the experience and confidence of the 3^rd time parent to really enjoy the baby stage this time around.

So here we are, and whilst I’m a little nervous about the change in our family dynamic (things were JUST getting easier!) and the logistics of coordinating things like baby’s feed and nap times with after school clubs, we’re also SO excited as well. I’m hoping the children continue to be enthusiastic about their new baby brother’s arrival, although I think the novelty of waiting now is definitely wearing off (“But WHEN will be actually come out?” followed by a big *sigh*)

I’m praying he just ‘slots in’ like so many people with 3 children say, and is fairly easy going (in fact, there’s lots of things I would probably sacrifice right now in return for a chilled out, sleeping, baby this time around!).

All going well with the this little chap, he will certainly be our last baby, and we want to enjoy every second of the build up to his arrival.

Stay healthy baby boy, and stay put for now- we can’t wait to meet you!