To Stay Home or To Not Stay Home

I am contemplating staying home with the baby after delivery. I have not made up my mind 100% but I have time to think so I wanted opinions. Hubby has said it is 100% up to me and he supports whatever I decide.

I work at a hospital and we could use the daycare on-site at the hospital. Even after paying for daycare I would still be bringing home good money. We can 100% live on just his income. I wouldn't be buying a brand new Lexus or anything but we could keep our current lifestyle and be ok. No extravagant trips, etc.

So, the decision comes down to should I or shouldn't I? I want to try and breastfeed for a year. I have always said I wanted to bond with my child and raise it for the first five years to have it be a good start into school.

I worry about the normal stuff - will I find a job when they are in school, how will I do being a stay at home home, will I miss adult interaction daily by being at work, etc. 

So, I would love your feelings on the topic.

Traci

I am so jealous and would die to stay home! With that being said - Josiah loves his daycare and in the year + that he has been there has never cried when I left and gets excited when we pull in her yard. My wish would be to work part-time. I love that your husband is on board with whatever decision - perhaps he can call mine and put a bug in his ear...

Is part-time an option for you?

Hugs,
Erika

Not at my job. But, I could find another job in the hospital and just work weekends that way one of us is with the baby. Or, I could find something else part time. But, I guess for me if I was going to stay home it would be so the child is not in daycare and would take them to mothers day out, mops, or etc.

I don't know. I won't make the decision until I have the baby but it is such a hard decision. I guess because I am not a mom, have never had a child so I can't imagine it all!

Traci

Personally, I would LOVE to be a SAHM if I could.  It's not in the cards for us.  We rely on both incomes and I'm the bigger earner so if anyone was going to stay home it would be my husband.

If part time was an option, I'd probably look into that.

I am a SAHM but I was laid off when I was pregnant.  I have to say that 95% of the time I LOVE IT.  The other 5% of the time I want to go hide in the closet.  Matthew is very clingy at times....sometimes I can't even go potty without him sitting on my lap.  I keep wondering if this is because of me being at home all the time.  But, he loves everyone and never meets a stranger which is great.  I do miss having my "own" time and having adult interaction.  My dh drives a truck over the road....he's gone 23-27 days a month.  So my situation is I'm sure different than most. 

I think that if you can do it and it won't hurt you financially then I would probably try it for the first year or even part time would be good.  I'm actually looking now to find something part time so that I can just get out of the house. 

I would DEFINATELY be a SAHM if I could. Unfortunately like Sarah we need both incomes and mine is the larger of the 2 - I am also the one that carries our insurance (my employer pays it 100% - if we went through Chris' it would be $100 A WEEK!)

I would imagine that since your plan is to breastfeed for a year that it would be easier if you were home. Of course I am not an expert as I am a first timer here too. But if it was a possibily for me I Would do it in a heartbeat.

Maybe you can just take a year or 2 off then go back. I think that daycare is great socialization for toddlers.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

Add me to the "jealous" list.  I SO wish I could stay home, but we need my income also.  I'm really lucky in that I work the back half of the week and hubby works the front half.  Our little man is with Grandma only 1 day a week, and the rest of the time, he's with one of his parents.  Not perfect, but it works.  But if I could, I'd definitely stay home!
Good luck whatever you decide.

I'm laid off right now... and so I guess I'm a SAHM...... I'm definitely not cut out for the job... maybe if I didn't have to stress about money etc I might be a little more relaxed. 

My hubby on the other hand would make an excellent stay at home dad.... I wish he and I could flip roles as I was the larger income provider :(

Only you can make this choice... I'd say a majority of moms would want to stay home with there kids if they could :)

 I want to be a SAHM.  Right now I am on one YEAR maternity leave.  Thankfully, this is  paid at 55% of my income.  I have a few months to work on running numbers and seeing if staying home is in the cards for us.  We'll have to cut a lot of stuff and I'll probably have to work part-time.. But you gotta do what you gotta do...

You are very lucky.. you actually have the option that a lot of families dont :)

I would not enjoy being a SAHM.  If I had the option I would cut my hours back to part time.   Like many of the other ladies I earn more and carry the insurance.

I hope it's an easy decision for you!
Amy