Does anyone have two children close in age?

Question

My daughter will be 7 months on the 24th. My husband keeps mentioning wanting a second child. I have no idea how to feel. I have always been on board with two kiddos, but I thought they would be like two years apart. He is 11 years older than me and worried about “getting too old” and wants the kids out of the house by the time he retires. 
I have a lot of worries. I don’t know if I am being dramatic or not. We just sleep trained our daughter and I am finally getting rest and our relationship is back to normal. I think back TJ the newborn stage and cringe. I didn’t sleep for like two months! I can’t imagine trying to care for a toddler while caring for a newborn. How do you manage toddler behaviors while dealing with cluster feeding a newborn? 
My husband works full time and is in the reserves. The majority of parenting falls on me. I would need way more help if we had two kids. What if he gets deployed? Caring for two kiddos all alone? 
And the pregnancy. My first pregnancy was super easy. What if the second isn’t? 
I also am finally happy with my body. I was a size 14 pre-pregnancy and am now a size 6! I finally feel confident. What if I don’t lose the weight a second time around? What if my stretch marks are worse and my tummy looks gross? I know that is all superficial, but I feel like I got lucky this time. 
I just get so stressed thinking about it all. He thinks I am being silly. But I don’t think he fully understands all I went through being pregnant and caring for a newborn, or even what I do all day. He said he won’t pressure me, but I can tell it is important to him. I feel like I am being selfish. Maybe I am just not ready? 
Does anyone have kids close in age? How did that work out?

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Following

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I was pregnant when my first turned 1 so they are 19 months apart. I wouldn't change it now, but honestly it was and still is harder then I would have liked and thought. I probably would have waited another 12-18 months...

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Everyone in my family is close in age. Siblings are 13 mo this apart, 16 months apart, 15 months apart, cousins are 10 months apart etc etc etc. 
our kids will be 13 months apart if we’re lucky (if I go full term which we’re not expecting). First pregnancy was horrific. This time around has been not awesome, but not as bad. 
I’m excited to ha e all of our kids close in age (ideally). I have no interest in doing diapers for 10 years, or prolonging other things. It’s hard, but everything is hard before you figure out a system. 
To each their own.

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Yes mine are 22 months apart. It’s hard as hell, especially the first few months were... but I’d never change it!

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we just started ttc #2 last month. still not pregnant but baby #1 is 6.5 months. I am exclusively breast feeding so I know it may be a lot harder to get pregnant again. I'm also a sahm and hubby is in the army (active duty) so parenting is mainly just me. we dont have any friends or family here but we feel like it's better to have our kids close in age and we want them grown before we are too old. when baby #1 would turn 18 I will be only 38 and hubby will be 45.

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You should definitely think about it and keep discussing with your husband. Maybe there is a way for you to get help from, family, friends or a paid nanny/babysitter a few days a week or more full time if you decide to have baby 2 sooner. 
We are going to start trying soon. Our 7month old will be 8 months on nov6. So at their closest they’d be about 18months apart. Though we know very well it may take a while to get pregnant so in all likelihood it will be more space between. 
Our reasons:
- while the newborn stage is supper hard we’d like to get it over with sooner rather than later. We feel like getting one potty trained and off the preschool and us regaining a bit of independence again, then it would be really hard to go back to newborn crazy mode. Especially now that we really understand what newborn mode entails. 
- Right now we have the help of my husbands aunt and mother to watch baby while we are at work. It’s so lovely to see the bond our little one is forming with them. Unfortunately they are not getting younger. So it would be great if #2 could also be cared for by them. This also helps us financially. 
- our obgyn said with an uncomplicated vaginal birth which we had we can start trying again anytime really
- and yes we’d like them close in age so they always have a friend and playmate. It will be easier developmentally to have 2 of similar age for activities, family outings, toys, etc. 
And to respond to the other response- yes it’s possible the kids wouldn’t be friends as adults but that can be the case with siblings of any age spacing, so I’m not worried about that right now.

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My first labor was great, my 2nd I had no pain meds cause I came in too late & my 3rd my water broke on its own at 3 am lol my stomach is still stretchy but I earned my stripes (:

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I have a step daughter who is 7 years, my son is 6 years (autism), my daughter is 5 years & my son who is 7 months lol its crazy. It does get stressful but always worth it in the end lol I am a stay at home mom so every chance I get to get out of the house, I do lol kids are great don't get me wrong but escaping is good too lol

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It’s not selfish to do most of the work and not want to be saddled with a second right away. How old is your husband? Doctors don’t recommend you have another pregnancy for 24 months in Between because they drain a woman’s body so intensely. For your health, it’s best to wait at least that long. I see a lot of girls want babies close in age but I don’t understand why. Close in age siblings doesn’t mean they will play together. My husband is close in age to his brother growing up they were not best friends. They aren’t close now. They have no issues but they just weren’t close like people seem to assume. Men are fertile into a much older age and 3 years isn’t gonna make a huge difference. My dad was 20 years old then my mom and retired the whole time raising me. It was great I got to spend a lot of time with my dad.

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This doesn’t sound selfish to me. If the childcare is pretty much all on you, you have to be confident you will have the support around that you will need. I only have one baby as well, I imagine there is never a perfect time to have two babies as they will always be going through some sort of stage...but...you want to feel as ready or confident as you can for sure. 
I think it’s really hard for men to fully grasp what we go through...
What are your options for support where you are? Could you have some help with baby #2?

Does anyone have two children close in age?

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