Should I hire some help?

hey all, I'm expecting a couple of ladies in March and I'm concerned for my wife's sanity as well as my own. I'm wondering if it will be worth while to hire a housekeeper for the first few months to clean, cook, laundry all the household stuff so the mrs can take care of the kids. I'm assuming she'll be doing nothing but breast feeding for a few months straight?

anyone done this before? thoughts?

 

You sound like a saint! DO IT!!! The cooking and cleaning and laundry are the things that need to be sorta "let go" for a while so she can get the hang of dealing with 2 babies at the same time!! Good for you for thinking of it!! :hug99:

 

QUOTE(beagledad @ Dec 11 2007, 06:31 PM) [snapback]529787[/snapback]
hey all, I'm expecting a couple of ladies in March and I'm concerned for my wife's sanity as well as my own. I'm wondering if it will be worth while to hire a housekeeper for the first few months to clean, cook, laundry all the household stuff so the mrs can take care of the kids. I'm assuming she'll be doing nothing but breast feeding for a few months straight?

anyone done this before? thoughts?

Hi

I had my mother-in-law here for nearly 7 weeks when the babies came along. She cooked and that was a big help, otherwise I think my husband and I would have eaten a lot of cereal and frozen pizza. I did the laundry but she helped by folding it. I have someone who comes to clean 2x a month and I had her come more often while my mother-in-law was here, so that the place was a little cleaner.

If your wife is breast feeding, household help is more useful than hired baby help. In the beginning you don't want to use a bottle and there isn't much for a baby nurse or that type to do, in my experience. And nothing is better than you (DH) for baby help.

I personally got a little tired of having someone in the house all day every day (my mother-in-law) but we are new to our area and had few friends to drop in with food or other help.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your girls. Everyone will tell you how quickly time flies and to enjoy each moment. All I can say is that at 7.5 months I already wish I had focused more on the early months and on enjoying them (but I was too darn tired to do it!)

Enjoy!

Sotto

 

If you can afford help, GO FOR IT! You guys will be busier than you can possibly imagine. Having someone else cook, clean, and get groceries will be a lifesaver.

Big thumbs up to your wife for planning to breastfeed! Let her know there's a great BFing forum here!

 

DO IT. We had a cleaning lady (still do), had food delivered from a couple of local bistros on a regular basis (for about 2 months), my DH took 2 weeks off of work, and then my mom came to stay for 3 weeks. I was "alone" for 2 weeks then the nanny started. Seriously, any help you can afford is well worth it!

Congrats and welcome - you're in for one wild ride!!!

 

Yes, yes, and yes!!! I will be a lifesaver!

 

YES! YES! YES! She is going to need as much help as she can get. It's better to have too much help and cut back as necessary than not enough help. I was totally unprepared for what bringing home twin babies would mean. If I could go back in time I would have:
-hired a cleaning person once a week
-hired a mother's helper for daytime support
-hired a night nurse at least every second night for the first couple of months
-hired a lactation consultant so I could have been successful with breastfeeding
-hired a food-delivery service so I didn't have to cook a thing for the first couple of months.
-forced my husband to take a paternity leave of at least several weeks
No, I'm not rich. But I would have gone into debt to avoid the very difficult post-partum experience I had. Your wife will really benefit from this kind of support and so will you.

 

Bless you! My DH hired a housekeeper to help me out 2x a month, and I honestly don't know what I'd do without her. She does the deep cleaning, and I maintain it. I wish I could get a little laundry elf to come and fold my laundry for me too---but alas, I haven't found one yet. You are so right about the BF'ing. I did nothing but feed babies for the first few months. Your wife will be a MUCH happier woman with some help!

Reyna

 

Absolutely! So great of you to be thinking ahead like that. I BF my boys and it WAS an all-consuming activity for about 3 months! If I could have just slept & BF'ed, and cared for babies my life would have been so much less stressful!

DO IT!

 

If you can afford it, go for it! We have a cleaning service but I would have loved to have someone here to cook too. My mom and sisters brought us some food, but we definitely over did it on the takeout those first several months (and previously when I was on bedrest).

If your wife is breastfeeding cleaning/cooking type help will be more beneficial than baby help.

What a great daddy!

 

Definitely will make things easier...and cleaner!

 

I agree with everyone else that you should definitely do it. That will allow your wife to focus on learning how to deal with two babies at once and make her life a whole lot less stressful.

 

As if everyone hasn't said this, but I thought I would chime in -- YES, if you can afford it, go for it. I had my mother-in-law and parents at my house (we lived in Japan at the time) from 6 weeks until 3 months, so they did the majority of cleaning, so we didn't. But, that would be a wonderful thing to do!!!!!!

Erica.

 

YES!!! Help with housework and cooking will be wonderful!!!
Please keep being this considerate with your wife - she is veeeerrrrry lucky!!!

 

Definitely!! If you can afford it, you should!!