Providing care through pregnancy and after delivery

Hello everyone, I posted this in caring for children but unfortunately did not get any responses... hoping to get some feedback.

I am 5 months pregnant and a home daycare provider to two full time kids and two part times school age kids. A new child will be starting with me at the end of the month; he will be 11 month old. I have a 20 month old son of my own.

As the daycare, the kids and the parents are all so important to me, I have decided to keep the daycare open throughout (with the exception of a two week vacation after delivery). My husband will be taking parental leave for 6-9 months and will be taking on the challenge of being a daycare provider with me. Has anyone gone through a similar situation? Any advice, tips, thoughts?

All the parents are onboard with this... I am even taking on a new little guy with the parents knowing what is to come. I am quite positive this will work out, however more challenging as the school kids will also be home during the summer (my due date is at the end of June). I personally think the biggest challenge will be spending 24/7 with the hubby :)

Looking forward to hearing feedback

If your husband is going to be there with you then you shouldn't have an issue because even if you are up through the night with the baby you can get a nap during the day. I am mom to four. i started daycare when my second child was 4 months old so two of mine were born while I did care. For both I had a week off and parents knew that for the next month or even 2 the basic needs of the daycare would be met but programming would be mostly halted and it would be freeplay. They were more concerned that the children maintain continuity that what they learned academically for that period. "Back in those days", there was no such thing as paternity leave so I did it on my own and the key for me was having my hubby let me take a nap after dinner while he watched the kids. I had to be careful not to sit for too long or I was likely to dose off and that was my primary concern. I used the playpen more for the youngest I had in care just in case.

In your case what you might want to do is suggest the school age kids go to summer camps or a dayprogram for this summer as you won't be wanting to do much with them and it would means a quieter afternoon as little ones would nap.

I was wondering how I would be able to have a second child now that I'm running a daycare. I have started my daycare while being On my mat leave with my first child. My plan is to hire a sub to give me 3-6 months mat leave with the second. Not sure what kind of other options I have. My husband can't stay home so it would need to be me.

I found I was ok for the day until afternoon naptime and then it was too quiet to keep me awake. I stayed busy in the morning with the kids and then half my group went to afternoon kindergarten and the two toddlers went for naps. My own baby slept, ate, etc during that time too. I managed but in retrospect it probably wasn't good for my health. What you could do is hire a high school student just as you would hire a babysitter for an evening. Have them come as soon as school is out and stay till suppertime. They are cheaper than hiring an adult and also means when you do want to go out you will have a knowledgeable babysitter. The problem is what to do if you end up with a C-section meaning you are unable to do daycare or pretty much anything for a month. Have you thought of simply closing your daycare for a month or even two with the idea of interviewing in advance to fill your spaces after your maternity leave is over. It means no income but if you keep it just to the minimum needed to catch up you have a year to budget for it. To have income the other option is move to a school age program so that you would have the children before and after school but they would be gone all day to school leaving you with just your own children. Since this is a second child you will still need to care for your first child so it means staying awake anyways. I found my own children were better behaved and playing with the other daycare children left me free to care for the baby and sit and watch the play for the most part. Just make sure you adjust the numbers and ages of children in your daycare to reflect your new workload. Parents need to be on board and know exactly what will be done and what won't such as how much programming, cleaning, outside play, etc will take place and have them sign contracts accordingly if necessary.

Hi there! I became pregnant with my second, 2 weeks shy of my daughter's first birthday. My daycare had only been opened for 2 months when I found out. I was very fortunate to have an easy first pregnancy, which lead me to believe that I could handle working til the end while pregnant with #2.

At the time I had my oldest, plus 2 others that were all 1 (within a few weeks of eachother) and an older 4yr old boy. My plan was for my last day of work to be my actual due date of July 24. The 4yr old's contract was scheduled to end at the end of the school year in June, thus leaving me with three 18month olds. Yes, there are some days you are a little more tired, but I didn't find it to be that challenging.

As planned, I worked straight up to my due date, and took my 2 weeks vacation and hoped that the baby would come quickly, so I could have recover time before daycare started back up. Needless to say, baby had other plans and was 6 days late. My daughter was 10 days old when my daycare opened back up. My husband was off for 7 weeks, which were challenging to say the least. The day he went back to work, all the kids went back to napping properly and I was able to sort out our new routine.

Looking back, I would do it again in a heartbeat, but send hubby back to work earlier.

That is just me though and what worked for us.

Best of luck :)

First, Congratulations!

I totally think it is do-able. I have four kids, so after having my kids I was right back into the swing of caring for my kids- and if I can do that... anyone can do it.

One concern of mine would be what happens if you go into labor during day care hours? Do you have a plan?

Thank you all for your feedback, it is giving me more confidence and helps confirm that I am not crazy going into this.

To mamaof 4, my hubby will be here two weeks prior to my due date. This will allow him and the kids to get use to each other and the routine before baby comes. It will also help out for sure if my contractions start during daycare hours, especially since my first one was so quick, I won't be able to wait around much. I will likely talk to all parents and have them agree that the first one over may have to stay around with the others... if I really need to get to the hospital fast. I have a really good bunch of parents and all kids know them well so if needed that will likely be my plan.

If you have any consern about going into labor during daycare hours just make sure that you have a good plan in place. At about 35 weeks of pregnancy have the parents update their emergency contacts and find out what plan they have in place in case such a thing happens. You could always arrange with a friend/relative/neighbor to be YOUR emergency back up (in case you need to leave before parents can arrive to pick up their children).

But remeber, you have done it before and believe me I am SURE you will recognise the signs of labor. :)

When did you tell your parents that you were expecting? I've just found out I'm expecting #3. I'm not worried at all about my older kids, I'm concerned about one family who will start with me in Sept (teachers) and will be 17m when my baby is born. I feel like I owe it to them to let them know ASAP, that there will be a period of time that I will need to take off only a few months after they start. My plan is to keep the older kids as they will occupy my own kids, but I'm unsure what I'm going to do about the younger ones (the 17m old and a 21m old).

I am in this same situation right now. 5 1/2 months pregnant with baby number 4. I have been running my dayhome for almost a year now, most of the families have been with me since the fall. I told everyone at about 8 weeks along, and only because I really felt like I was beginning to "show". I got a plan in place first, though, so that I could tell the parents "this is what's happening, this is what I am doing, etc".
I am due on Sept 10, so will be taking that entire month off. Without pay, of course. I will then have (hopefully) a little bit of time before baby, and a couple weeks after. I fully expected to lose a family or two, as a month is a significant time to find alternate care. So far though, every family has said they will be back when I open the doors again in October. I am a little concerned about sleep deprivation, etc. But my mom is retired, and has said she will be available as an extra set of hands. My hubby has a fairly flexible position as well.
I have let all the parents know that should baby come early or late, my mom and husband will be there to assist. However, I have also told them that no matter what, they need to have a backup plan in place. That is what I recommend to parents anyway, as you never know what is going to happen in life in general! :)
One of the great things about this job, is that once baby is here, if I need to have a pajama day or sit on the couch a little bit more, then I can!!

Forgot to mention that for me; so far the toughest thing about being pregnant is the diapers! :) You know how it's just a little bit icky-er when it's someone else's kid.... lol
And I had it pretty rough the first little while (well, the first 17 or 18 weeks unfortunately). Another reason I told the parents a little earlier, so that hopefully there was some understanding if I was looking a little more drawn-out than usual.

Hey lilac, I told all my parents around 3 months in. It was getting hard to hide it and I imagine some of my parents were suspecting it, however I wanted to be in the safer zone with pregnancy when i made the announcement and wanted to have my plan in place. I started with all my families in June-August 2010, so had been caring for their kids for 4-6 months. They were all really nervous when I first announced it but felt reassured right away when I told them the plan. Since being pregnany I have a family with a 11 month old who joined knowing exactly what was in the future for us.
Good luck and sorry for the late response, I really haven't had much time to browse the internet lately... taking more time to nap!

I told my teacher parent.... she decided not to bring her kids in the fall... oh well, what can I do right? I told my other teacher parent and she told me if I needed more time than I thought it wouldnt be a problem! But that they would totally stay. So that made me happy. I'm 9 weeks and I guess b/c its my 3rd, its getting obvious..... I was going to try to wait a little longer but, the parents I told said they had noticed my tummy but they werent going to say anything!! LOL! Oh well.... I suppose its time!!

I am almost 6 months along, (due in Oct) and I am having a hard time finding new children (obviously!) I have 2 full timers and a part timer adn desperately need more income and was hoping to get 2 full time spots filled. I have been advertising, and meeting people and talking thru email etc. As soon as they find out I am pregnant, they seem to 'find someone else' or 'think I have have my hands too full'. I am 26 yrs old, I haev a ton of energy, this is my 2nd child and my husband will be taking 9 months when this new baby is born so he is essentially going to be a 2nd care provider as he loves the kids and they love him.

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Originally Posted by KingstonMom

, this is my 2nd child and my husband will be taking 9 months when this new baby is born so he is essentially going to be a 2nd care provider as he loves the kids and they love him.

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Be very sure when you speak to people to tell them that your husband will be there to deal with the baby which frees you up to do the daycare.While this isn't likely how it will end up being it could be that some parents are feeling uneasy thinking your husband is going to be the one dealing with the daycare while you deal with the baby. There is still a lot of stigma issues about having a "man" in the home during daycare hours. I interviewed a family a couple years ago that was so paranoid that when my son was coming home from university for his reading week they pulled their child.

Thanks playfelt, good point too. I know what you mean and I myself would not be sure how I woudl feel about the situation if the tables were turned. He has one rule for me: he doesnt do diapers except for our son LOL. The parents meet him whenever we have interviews and they have clearly expressed to me that this arrangement is 100% fine. I asked them how they would feel if my husband did the "morning shift" when the baby is here. He would get them in the morning, take them on morning walk and tak care of snack. I would get to sleep in as much as possible after being up every 3 hrs in the night etc. They love the plan and are, truly okay with my husband. When he is not here, the kids ask for (my son's name)'s daddy. He is home everyday at 2pm so the parents see him all the time at pick up.
Anyways, I thank you for the concern and you can never assume if parents are okay with men, as you pointed out.