We have gone back and forth on having a 3rd kid for the last 2 years. Well, I got a positive pregnancy test yesterday, so I guess the decision has been made 
I feel anxious about it and a little excited. My other kids are 3 and 5. Anyone else gone for 3 and want to tell me how it went? Also, any recommendations for good due date forums? The due date forums here don't seem very active anymore and I can't handle babycenter (& similar) forums.
You might also enjoy...
-
Congratulations! There's a lot of us here, actually! In short, it's nice. We have the same age difference, and my older kids are already used to sharing my attention and are very loving to baby.
I've just come back to work so we're still figuring out the logistics of that.
I don't know any good due date forums, sorry...I was on What to Expect for a while, but it... I don't know... doesn't feel like home. Too many people, maybe!
-
I also went back and forth about it and we are due end of June with #3! I found a lot of helpful perspectives on here and the search function is helpful with that. Our older two will be 6.5 and 3 (they were 5 and 3 when we found out). DH and I both work full time so I’m sure it will be crazy, but I’m surprisingly calm about it. I’ll check back in a few months to share how it turns out!
-
Congratulations! We have 3 and it’s great. It’s quite busy and they’re all 2 years apart and under 5, but I’m so happy we have them all. I feel it was harder to go from one to two babies than it was from two to three.
No advice on forums. I’m in Facebook group that I love from my second baby, but that’s it. Good online groups are hard to find I feel.
-
Congrats! I got a little pang of jealousy about having a 3rd. We are most likely done but it's so hard to be. Hoping the due date boards can be more active here...
-
Congrats! Check out the due date groups on Reddit. Also if you use facebook, the reddit due date groups for each of my kids have had great facebook groups. I end up using those more than reddit. ETA: There's a list of the upcoming monthly groups here: https://www.reddit.com/r/BabyBumps/wiki/index
-
@Alexandra603: Congratulations! We go back and forth. I want a third more times than not but afraid of a few things so we will see!
-
Congratulations!!! I’m right there with @josina:. We have two already (5 and 3), and while we’re most likely done, part of me would still love to add a third.
-
We just had a third this year--boys were 6 and 3 (turned 4 a month after her birth). It has been the most fantastic thing for our family. The boys adore her, my husband (who wasn't so sure about #3) is totally smitten, and we fell easily into a rhythm with all 5 of us. It's probably been the easiest transition out of all of them.
-
@Alexandra603: Yay! Congrats! We were in the October 2016 group together (and are still in that FB group). I'm expecting #3 in March so I can't attest to how things went after the baby arrived yet but I had a lot of feelings when I first found out I was pregnant. I was really worried how my older son (7 year old) was going to react since I saw a new baby as something that would hold us back from big kid activities. I was also worried about being older this time (just turned 40!). I've had 7 months to get used to the idea, though, and I'm starting to get excited to meet our new little guy. No suggestions on an alternate forum but I do really miss the support of our October 2016 moms. My current group posts really infrequently.
-
I have three kids. My older two were 5.5 and 3 when the third was born. Now they are 6, 4, and 9 months. I think a bigger age gap would make things even easier.
The transition from two to three was much easier than the transition from one to two, because I was already used to dividing my attention, and the kids were already used to sharing my attention. The older two can play together when I am busy with the baby.
I do feel badly about how much the baby gets dragged to the older kids activities, starting pretty much at birth, and at 9 months it really interferes with his naps. But the baby loves his big brothers so much.
-
Thank you all for the wonderful replies!! I am worried about the bigger age gap (will be exactly 4 years between my #2 and #3) but I also think it will be nice having two older kids who have some independent skills rather then a baby and a 2 year old like before. There seems to be a lot of people in the should we/shouldn't we camp re #3 so I'm happy to hear I'm not alone
It will be interesting telling our parents as I'm sure they think we are done (we both come from 2 kid families). I think we'll wait a while to tell. When did you all tell family and close friends? We told pretty early (6-8 weeks) with the first two.
@Shantuck Yay! Maybe we need to start another fb group.
There must be other people from that group that have 3? Please let me know how the transition goes so I can learn from you! I am also having a lot of feelings and I think it will also take me some months to fully adjust to the idea! -
@Alexandra603: That is almost exactly our age gap (just one month shy of four years) between 2 and 3 and it is marvelous! They are independent and a great help. I can trust them around the baby. My 7 year-old is almost as helpful as my husband!
This time around we waited until 12 weeks with everyone (including our kids, because there's really no point in telling them but hoping it stays a secret
). I had the blood testing done, so we waited until we found out the gender, and then announced all at once. I had a mc between 1 and 2, and it made me much more careful about sharing info. We went to the doctor for the initial appointment at what we thought was 8.5 weeks. We were nearly 10, so we decided to wait for test results.
-
@Alexandra603: Congratulations!! We just had our #3 in November, and so far it’s been great! Our older two are 5 and 2, and they are so in love with their little brother. Honestly, so far the transition to three has been pretty seamless. I’m sure it’ll be more difficult once I go back to work and once baby is mobile! One of the best things for us is how content we are. I always knew I wanted three, but was a little afraid to go for it. It was such a nice feeling going through pregnancy feeling content that it was my last time, and I’m so happy when I see the kids together and know that our family is complete.
️
As far as telling, I think we told our family around twelve weeks, but we didn’t tell a lot of people until much later, and never made a big announcement on social media this time around.
-
Congrats!! I was also in the should we/shouldn’t we camp and now #3 is almost 2 years old. Agree with everyone above it was the easiest transition we’ve had, helped a lot by the older 2 being much more independent when #3 was born. (They were 5.5 and 3).
DH and I both work full time out of the house, and this baby has actually improved our marriage tenfold because I finally reached the point where I refused to be alone in the whole mental load / invisible workload arena. DH and I had some big talks when #3 was born and continue to have them when I’m struggling, and the result is that I really feel like we are 50/50 partners now. We both prioritize time alone for ourselves throughout the week because we know it’s important, and we each take a 3 or 4 day trip alone or with friends every year (because none of our family wants to watch all 3 kids overnight yet).
I think the biggest thing having 3 has taught me is that I can’t and don’t need to be supermom, and my kids still think I AM supermom just keeping them happy and fed. Case in point I spent hours making homemade heart crayons for #1’s first daycare valentine party, and now am totally fine letting them pick a box of cards at Target. You need to figure out what you’re willing to let go as you get there. Oh and I also learned to stop saying YES to every volunteer / special event help request. I only do what I know I can handle, and what I know I won’t regret signing up for.
Good luck! Our third has been such a joy and really completed our family in a way I didn’t think possible. He’s already the peacemaker between the older two, and our comic relief!
-
@JESS1483, @LEMONJACK & @HAPPYBAKER - you ladies are making me so much better!! I love hearing about how the transition from 2 - 3 was easier then 1 - 2 and how much you love your #3's. Thank you for sharing!
-
@Alexandra603: We have a 4.5 year age gap between LO1 and LO2 and I think it made the transition so much easier. When I was nursing LO2, my bigger guy could get himself a snack or turn on a video for himself. Now at 3 and 7, they don’t really fight much and are super sweet with one another. My age gap was due to fertility issues / repeat miscarriages so I was initially sad to have such a big gap but it ended up being a great thing for us. We’ll have a 3 year age gap this time so I’m hoping it goes as smoothly as before. Yay! I’m super excited for you!
). I had the blood testing done, so we waited until we found out the gender, and then announced all at once. I had a mc between 1 and 2, and it made me much more careful about sharing info. We went to the doctor for the initial appointment at what we thought was 8.5 weeks. We were nearly 10, so we decided to wait for test results.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
16 comments