To work or not to work?

Hi there. I run a small childcare buisness from home and absolutely LOVE my job. during our long journey to conceive and longing for a child, most days it felt like 'the next best thing' having these gorgeous children in my home each day and watching them grow and develop. other day I have to admit were difficult, especially as we got further through the IVF process, as it was just another reminder of the fact that none of these precious ones were mine. After a long journey though, our prayers have been answered and we had a successful IVF outcome and I am now in my 7th week of pregnancy!   My dilemma now is, to work or not to work? It was always the intention, that I would continue to work and have the children (up to 4 a day) until at least 8 months, but obviously playing it by ear as the pregnancy progresses. The problem is even at this early stage I'm quite ill with the "all day sickness" and very tired and obviously not able to give 110% into my job. I am riddled with guilt when I have to take time off as it puts alot of pressure on the families who either have to take time off from their jobs or put the children in alternative care. Most of the children have back care that I already organised as the IVF meant I needed time off throughout the process, but it does mean inconsistency for the children too.   Financially, and for the buisness' sake I need to keep working. We could survive on my husbands wage, but theres so many things and people to consider. Any advice from people in similar situations?

You may start feeling better around the 12-14 week mark when the morning sickness and tiredness normally stops, so perhaps you could ask the families to hang in there with you till then. Also 8 months might be quite hard looking after 4 kids a day. I had intended to work till 36 weeks with my first but in the end struggled to get to 32 because of the manual labour, being on my feet all day nature of my work.

Could you maybe cut down the number of children you look after? That way still earn some money but take the strain of a little.

yeah, it looks like easing the load a bit might be the answer. I just hate the thought of letting people down, and feeling useless. As for finishing work, I'm due and of March/ beginning of April so with the summer weather I may need to look at finishing earlier in the new year.
Thanks Cuppatea.....I think I might go and make a cup now!

hmmmm i wouldn't call it quits just yet. I had awful sickness (the type when you cant eat anything and are therefore so weak u cant do anything) til I was 10 weeks. I then got a job and managed to work easily til 30 weeks (working in ECE as well)
Lots of women feel better in the second trimester. I certainly did, and apart from having to have extra toilet and snack breaks I was just a good a teacher with as much energy as the non-pregnant ones! This pregnancy is the first one after a MC so thats another reason I didn't start working til I was past the date we had miscarried earlier.

I imagine itd be quite tricky though. I see you've been TTC for so long that this baby is an extra special gift. Nefertiti makes very good points about what aged children you look after and stuff. Kids are very understanding lol. Feel free to tell them why you don't feel good if they ask! You don't necessarily have to say ur pregnant (that can lead to interesting convos that are probably best left to the parents). If you have to rush off cuz u were gonna be sick, tell them so! The same with if you are feeling particularly tired so want to have a day of quieter activities.

The thing with worrying about childhood diseases though is what do you do when you have no 2? I have had every bug under the sun this time around cos of Spencer catching them and passing them on, including hand foot and mouth but there's nothing you can do about it, I can't ban Spencer from getting near me.
If you work around children all the time you would probably already have a strong immunity to the childhood diseases, it's people like me who are more at risk.

Hi there Ella, thanks for your thoughts, I guess i'll just wait it out and see how I feel over the next couple of weeks, but reducing hours maybe definately be a solution.  If I make any rash desicions I ma regret it and I'm not exactly feeling "rational" or "clear headed at the moment - is it possible to have mummy brain at 7 weeks?????  Hopefully once the morning sickness eases and I start feeling better - thinks may pick up.  Sleeping 10 hours a night has got to be good thing too....