I. Have. No. Idea... None!
I am seriously clueless about what we're going to do. I worked like crazy before dd and ds were born - 80+ hour weeks - then after they were born I took 1 year off (mostly unpaid leave). I went back to work part-time when they turned 1, a schedule that remains now a year later -- I work three 6-hour days M-W and am off Th and Fri, and I do a couple hours work at home while they're asleep to make it 20 hours/week (the minimum at my company for keeping full benefits).
We have an amazing, kind, very AP nanny who takes care of dd and ds while I am gone (everyone's always like "Wow a nanny that must break the bank" but it's cheaper than daycare when you have more than 1 baby/toddler).
Anyway, I really love what I do, and it also is good that I'm continuing to pay into a 401K, plus we have terrific health benefits through my firm. The downside is, after paying the nanny, there's not a ton of take home pay left - not so much anyway that we couldn't survive without it if we really scrimped. But... like I said, the health benefits (the benefits through dh's work are TERRIBLE) are really good, and the impact of paying *any* amount into a 401K at this age cannot be underestimated. And with the economy the way it is and so many friends and their dh's getting layed off... it's a financial back-up: I could go back to work full-time tomorrow and be the primary breadwinner for as long as it took dh to get a job, without losing the house, the car, the savings, the benefits... Plus, and this is highly personal and admittedly a little patheticly pessimistic, and, oh I'll just come out and say it, it totally freaks me out to be 100% dependent on dh financially - yes we love each other so much but something like 65% of marriages end in divorce and I would feel sort of irresponsible not to mention terribly vulnerable if I gave up my career and stopped growing and staying current, making re-entry into my job market difficult, and then dh and I started having marriage problems. So the last two get at the financial security aspect, which is a big issue for me. MY own issues, I know. But there it is, out in the open.
Sooo.... ok, back on topic (sorry for my venting about not knowing whether to stay working or not!). I literally cannot imagine going back to work any sooner with this baby. If I do go back to work (and would not be any more than 3 part-days like it is now), we would use our current nanny as childcare for all three kids. I plan to send dd and ds to preschool next fall (when they're 3 and 1/2), and there would only be a couple of months at most where our nanny had to take care of all three. Not that she couldn't handle it, but obviously, the fewer the better. But, dh is looking for a new job right now and if he gets paid enough $$ then I may just quit altogether. I truly love being home with them in the mornings/afternoons M-W then all day Thurs and Fri, and when our nanny goes on vacation, I take off from work to stay with them for a week or two (sometimes unpaid leave since I don't accrue that much vacation working part-time) and I am always terribly sad to go back to work.
So, um, what I said before: I have no idea what we'll do.
(Sorry for the looong response - guess it felt good to get it all out "on paper" to see.
)
