Is 3 the new 2?

Family Tales & Shenanigans

by admin | on March 7th, 2010 | 7 comments

OK seriously people, I’m having a hard enough time keeping my head above water and you all have to go out and have your 3rd child proving it is humanly possible and make me crazy wondering if I (we) should follow suit.

In September, I came back from the summer break and there were 4 moms in our preschool expecting their 3rd and a few other friends and mompreneur acquaintances have done the same, most of them as they are turning (or about to turn) the big 4-0! Is anyone else noticing this trend?

A part of me thinks if they can do it, I can do it and a part of me thinks they are off their flipping rockers. Our kids still don’t always sleep through the night or make it through the day without having accidents in their pants. Then there is the jam in the hair, spilt milk, scrapes, bumps, bruises, fighting, whining, tantrums and general chaos one would expect with two kids under the age of 5. The house is a permanent gong show and our lives are ridiculously busy. The kids share a room, are super close in age (Irish twins born 17 months apart) and don’t know lives without one another. What would it do to add a sibling to the mix?

I’m not getting any younger and there is definitely an urgency and a “it’s now or never” reality to this whole child bearing thing. It’s not like when I’m 50 I can say, OK, let’s go for it, I’m ready now, our kids are in high school so let’s jet to France and have some fertility Doctor perform miracles. Gawd, I barely have the energy now, let alone then so the deal is, if we don’t have a 3rd before I’m 40, it ain’t going to happen. That leaves us just over a year to decide, try, conceive and then 10 months of pregnant bliss.

I do miss the baby stage, I miss breast feeding and I miss being pregnant (while the first 2 trimesters anyway). I would love to see our kids interact with a younger siblling and having grown up with only one sister, a part of me has always wanted a bigger family. The other benefit would be that I would get to use/test out all the baby gear from Raspberry Kids. I’m seriously looking for any excuse to use a Beco Baby Carrier!

So when I have chatted with (grilled) these brave moms who have had their 3rd recently, not a single one has said they regret having another child. Phew because that would really suck for their new little bundle if they did. On the flip side, a few of them have expressed how freaking tired they are and that nighttime feedings are getting the better of them and how their body isn’t bouncing back into shape like it did after their first 2 kids.

I’ve done the pros/cons list in my head 100 times, chatted with husbando who is happy no matter which way we go, so I’d love to hear from you … the folks who have had their 3rd by choice or by accident (one mom of a 3rd-to-be once told me that all thirds are accidents!), those of you that say 1 or 2 is enough and those of you that are on the fence like me.