Who is planning on hiring help

[waiting4two]

Hi everyone, I was just curious how many of you are planning on hiring help after the babies arrive. I am currently interviewing nannies but I dont know if I want full time or part time. Im also feeling a little guilty because I dont want to appear to be one of those moms that has the nanny raise her children. I just think Im going to need an extra set of hands, at least for the first few months. Anyone else doing the same?

[proudmomoftwins]

My husband has been home with me since the boys were born two months ago and its been great. If he hadnt I wouldve been exhausted. I think if you can afford a nanny, go for it so you wont be too tired and you can enjoy the early months because they grow so fast! I love feeding and changing and playing with them but sometimes I feel like turning to someone and saying, i am going to sleep all day today so you watch the kids. So my husband will watch them while i catch up on sleep.

Dena
Calvin and Jacob 6/14/2003

[Sheryl-Lynn]

Hello,
I'm wondering if I'll need some sort of hired help as well. Personally, a nanny is not for me. It would just be hard for me to find a stranger I felt I could trust or be compatible with.
My husband did recommend that we find a home cleaning service to help keep the place tidy and to do laundry. Hiring help is not really in our budget, but a cleaning service is affordable.
Sounded good to me, as I hate cleaning. I know when my boys arrive, it'd be nice to have a little help. If it means keeping me and my husband a little saner/happier in the early months....Its a done deal!

[Lrobins]

Coming from someone who had twins a week ago...HIRE SOMEONE!!!!! If you can afford it do it. We have someone for the nights and I am a much much better person for it. For the first month we are going to do all we can to make sure that I have an extra set of hands around. We plan to hire some help and get as much help from family and friends as possible. Being the parents of twins I have learned fast is a very tough job and it's so important for parents to have sleep in order to do the best job possible.

[brooklynmum]

I'm due in Feb with twins and have a daughter who will be 2 and am also unsure about hiring help. Everyone suggests it and it seems like a good idea but I have concerns...

First of all, money is a concern for us and babysitters/nannies are so expensive. Is this the kind of thing that we should splurge on?

Second, I'm just having a really hard time with the idea of someone else taking care of my little ones. I know this is so silly and I need to get over it, but did anyone else go through this before they hired help? And did you find that it was worth it in the end?

[A Hunter's wife]

Yes, we plan to hire someone to help out for awhile at least. Actually right now we have someone to be here during the day while DH is at work, but it does get old having someone here all day & now that I'm almost 33 weeks, I told her not to come as early & she leaves about an hour before DH comes home from work. (We have a 14 month old who is just starting to walk.) However my sister has consented to coming from Va. to help us out approx. 4 - 6 weeks after the babies are here.

[2babies]

My husband has been really pushing me to get some kind of help lined up. I too am a little uncomfortable having someone else care for the babies, at least right away, but have no problem with getting help for other things like cleaning. :) In order to keep costs down, I hired a young girl from our church to do housecleaning. She is happy to have the work and of course much less expensive than a professional service.

Another area that we will get help in is having meals provided. We will be getting a freezer for the garage, and I plan to make several big batches of meals that we can freeze ahead of time, in addition to signing up for a service that provides meals (example in our area is dreamdinners.com). This can also be a great shower gift if people are asking you what you want, esp if several want to go in together on it.

My family and my husband's family all live within about 45 minutes, and we plan to have someone come out for at least 2 days a week to start with and see how it goes from there. From what I have heard, that will be especially helpful for our daughter who will be two when the twins come.

[Cheri]

When our first son (19 mos old now) was 4 months old we hired a Nanny because my husband was in grad school full time and I had to return to work part-time. So, even though it was a difficult decision and we had many concerns about another person caring for our child we did it. She works 2 days/week for us and we do not regret our decision one bit! He's getting great care in our own home and I'll say that it's refreshing to have someone with such energy take him to the park, zoo, museum, etc... when we're feeling exhausted at times! I used to be a type A personality, but have learned to accept help when needed.
It's been especially important now that I'm preg again with twins and on bedrest. At least I know he's got consistent care and he clearly has bonded well with her. We plan to increase her to full time in a few months because I'll be even more restricted (most likely) and she can help us get ready for the new babies. Even though I may not return to work at all, I think we can use the extra help (even just taking one or two of the kids out at a time) for awhile. A friend of mine with twins about had a meltdown due to trying to "do it all" during her first year. If we had immediate family close by to help, we might have decided on only part-time.

[froggy]

So I am curious - how much does it cost to have a nanny. We are talking about someone coming in to help but not live in help. Anyone know this kind of stuff or even where you get info?

[Cheri]

Prices are certainly dependent upon where you live. I happen to live in the Bay Area (CA) which is expensive, so the Nanny rates range from $ 14.00-16.00 per hour (non-live in).
You can search for info several ways....friends, co-workers, yellow-pages or internet. I used the internet since we were new to the area. I contacted several agencies, interviewed them, had them send me info, etc... & after comparing went with an agency which worked out great! Unfortunately going through agencies costs more because they "screen" all the potential nannies, do the background checks, etc... You pay for them to do this, but it was a matter of security for us which made it worth it. Each charges a different amount, but ours was about $600.00 for the "finder fee" to the agency. Now, we just pay our nanny directly.
Some agencies also have "nanny-on-call" services (which I've used on occasion for date nights). You pay a fee to belong and then anytime you need a nanny they send you one (usually it's the same person).
Believe me, we're not rich by any means, we've just made sacrifices in other areas to do this because we wanted in-home care by an experienced and professional person.

[mamalooshus]

we live in dallas and my husband & i work full time, so the 2 days a week that our 3 year old is not in school, we have a nanny at home with him. she is $10/hour- that is the going rate here. she also cleans the house, which makes more time for me to be with him when i'm not at work. once i have the twins, i plan to quit work but keep our nanny- just cut her back to two half days per week.

i got her from a friend who uses her 1-2 days a week, so she was a trusted source. i am a recruiter who has hired domestic help for wealthy families before and while most agencies do a criminal background check, i do not think many of them screen carefully for your needs. it is sort of trial and error and you need to make sure you get along with their personalities. some are great with babies but horrible cleaners (obviously the babies are the priority). some just have bad judgement and that is nothing an agency would know necessarily. i think getting recommendations from friends is the best way- tried and true!

my parents are giving us a baby nurse for the first 2 weeks, which is an expensive gift, but lots of women around here with twins have had them and said it saved their sanity (and even helped their working husbands get more sleep). they help preparing the bottles (even if you pump) in the middle of the night and get the babies on a good schedule. so you probably get a little more sleep and the babies are hopefully on a schedule when she leaves.

if we had to pay for it ourselves, i am not sure if i would sacrifice the cost or not... it would be a luxury for a short period of time but then you might feel overwhelmed and helpless when they leave! who knows...

[jessicaNJ]

I am definitely planning on hiring help after my babies are born. I am due on March 8th so I have a little time to do some research.

My plan was to hire a doula to prepare for labor and be wiht us through my delivery (may seem unnecessary but it took me a while to get pregnant and I want to enjoy the experience as much as possible!) Then I'm planning on hiring a baby nurse for the 2 weeks after they're born. As far as the doula is concerned, I have some good contacts through my yoga teacher but I guess I'll ask the hospital for recommendations about baby nurses who specialize in twins...