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He worked 7 days of midnight shifts during my maternity leave and I thought I was gonna go crazy...I was on baby duty 24 hours a day. I have tons of respect for single moms!

Good luck!

Next week will be our first time. DH is going to be on a work trip. It's going to be more common over the next year or so. Not looking forward to it!

The longest I've been alone with Lo was 10 days!! She and I were both sick and I thought I was going to die. Luckily she was young and not mobile at the time!

This seriously is my #1 fear/worry!

I am pretty much a single mom five days a week. DH works swing shifts, so he sleeps most of the day and is gone every night before I get home from work. My best advice is to plan meals, etc, in advance. It really helps me to survive during the long weeks. Good luck!

Dh had to have surgery and stayed over a week in the hospital to recover. But my mom is close by so she could help out.

Well I was basically "single parent" for the first 2 years of lo's life due to our circumstances. Then dh had a job that he had to work out of state for the week and I only saw him on weekends for a few months. Then he worked night crew when we first had #2 so I had to take care of both lo's by myself for the most part.

I'm planning on taking LO with me to San Diego for a week for training for my new job. The original plan was to leave LO with DH for a week, but I just found out that there is a daycare option for free, so I'm taking LO with me. I feel better having LO with me for a week then leaving him with DH for a week. My best friends husband travels a lot and she also has a demanding job and she manages to make it work with 2 kids.

My husband went on an 8 day business trip when our baby was about 8 months old. It was the worst of her sleeplessness, and without him to send in, I was up all night with her. I was with my mother who was supposed to be helping, but really wasn't any help, at all. And he was in Florida and got to spent a ton of time just laying around the pool, and I was enraged. I told him next time we're coming, or he's staying home.

@PrincessBaby: They all ended up staying at home. It is a great blessing that the jobs pay so well (plus, cost of living in my hometown is really, really low) My closest friend in this situation just gave up a great nursing job. Granted, she absolutely loves staying at home and after seeing how much she enjoys being with their son, she has absolutely no regrets. They end up taking a short trip most of the time he is home which is really nice and fun for them. A little time away for their family to reset.

You may continue to work and you may not. There's no need to decide now. There's no way to predict how you will feel when your LO arrives. You'll know what's right

My husband had a work trip when LO was 5 months. He was across the world (8-hour time difference) for 6 days. Thankfully my LO slept decently that week and everything ran smoothly. He also went camping a couple of weeks ago and my LO had his two best sleeps he's ever had. He totally spoiled me but it only lasted two days!

I can't imagine being in some of the situations described in this thread. I feel super fortunate that my husband doesn't travel often for work these days (a couple of years ago would have been a different story). You are all super mamas (or mamas-to-be!).

I am currently alone with my two kiddos for four days while DH goes to visit his Grandpa (probably for the last time, his Grandpa is in hospice care....). It is very intimidating but I'm holding it together!!! Our family is far away, but I feel so lucky to have neighbors and friends who are taking good care of us.

The first time Wagon Sr. left us overnight was to go to his best friend's bachelor party. I think it was two nights. Wagon Jr. was 3 months old. He started teething and was up all night long. I remember Wagon Sr. calling at 3:30am because his friend was drunk and wouldn't leave the casino, and I answered the phone with a screaming baby in my arms. I specifically said "you are never allowed to leave us alone ever again."

The next time was supposed to be for two nights again, because he was running an event (in our city, about 30 min drive from home) and he had to stay overnight at the hotel where the event was. The first night Wagon Jr. was vomiting nonstop. Wagon Sr. ended up driving home at 10pm and drove back to the hotel at 5am. He came home the next night.

Since then he's done a night here and there for random things, but luckily neither of us travels much and he pretty much doesn't travel at all for work. I would NEVER make it as a single parent. I'd have to move back in with my parents.

Yep. DH is in the Air Force in a pretty high-deploying field (he works with bombs/explosives/etc). He's been gone a few times already since C was born, the longest being 2 weeks. We know he probably has at least 2 more 2 weeks trips before April and then he's getting deployed in April (right after her 1st birthday) and will be gone for 7-8 months.

I was fine for the week-long trips. I stayed busy. C and I had a lot of quality time. The 2 weeks trip was rough though. It was right when she decided she needed to be swaddle-weaned so neither of us was sleeping. It was rough. If her sleep had been normal, I probably would have been fine.

He's never been away overnight, but he works a lot so there are days he's out of the house at 7am and not home till 1am. Those days can be tough

@Rainbow Sprinkles: I actually have already jumped on the Cleaning Service bandwagon! When I was on bedrest in the first tri due to my subchorionic bleed, I had them come out to deep clean the house bc I couldn't do it and I realized how worth the money it is b/c they can do in 2 hours what would take me an entire day.....And the more pregnant I got, the more useless I got:) So I just kept up with having the service every couple of weeks... So you're right, that will definitely help! And I'm under the impression that a lot of nannies do light housework anyway, like while the baby is sleeping or something. And when DH is home, I will just have the nanny for like 20 hours a week or so. I ran an ad on Care.com and said that it would be 32-36 hours a week when he's gone and I would guarantee a minimum of 20 hours when he's home. That way he can still get to spend a lot of time with her on his own, but will also be able to take care of stuff that are "his responsibility" like our yard, our pool, and go do stuff like get a haircut or play golf if he wants to when he's home. I was worried that schedule wouldn't be attractive to a lot of people but I got an overwhelming response, so hopefully one of them will work out!

@Rainbow Sprinkles: DH and I are trying to figure that out...My last day of work is Nov 21st and I'm off the week after Thanksgiving (using vac time), and then H is supposed to get induced on the 2nd and my maternity leave will officially start. So I was kind of thinking of trying to do interviews that week I'm on vacation. DH thinks we should get her here and get settled in, and then do interviews in early Jan or so. I go back to work mid-Feb, so he thinks we have plenty of time. I've just been telling people that I will let them know when we get our sh*t together and interview. I'm actually pretty anxious about the whole thing. Oh, and I'll want to hire someone far enough out to use her a few times to see how H does with her...Like maybe watch her for a couple of hours a few times while I'm still on mat leave so that we all feel better about things:) Okay- me. So that I feel better about things:) So we haven't decided when this is all going to go down...DH thinks hiring in Nov is too soon for a job that won't start until Feb or so, but I don't know....