First kid I won't lie it is tough but sooo rewarding too! My twins where 15 months when ds3 was born and I am now pg with #4 and actually looking forward to having 4 under 4! I don't let the little things get to me. So long as the kids are dressed and feed it has being I good day!! I very rarely get to clean my entire house but it is getting easier as they get older. For a while there I couldn't even leave the room without disaster striking!! I found cooking in bulk and freezing a godsend in the led up to ds3 arrival and the first few months after. We are very laid back in this house so in the mornings I feed all the boys cereal together to cut down mess and time. Lunch is usually a sandwich or fruit. Dinner is always a cooked meal eaten at the table. I try my hardest to get my dishes done straight after dinner and a load of washing on while stripping them down for their bath. Outings can be a nightmare in my own but I just take it as it comes and am not afraid to pack up and leave the shops/zoo/friends place if all hell breaks loose. My twins have started childcare one day a week just so they can do fun things like pasting and painting which doesn't happen often here. At the end of the day it all comes together some how. Maybe you can ask at your next hospital app if there is any home help available when you get home? I went to my 26wk app yesterday and they ask that question as a standard. Also do nit be afraid to tell them about your fears of PND and use you maternal child health nurse for your own well being as well as the kids. Take care.
Firstkid I hope you don't mind me hijacking your post, but I am in exactly the same situation as you. I had DD3 2 weeks ago, and I have a 4 1/4 year old and a 2 year old. This is only the second day that I have run solo with 3 kids - my mum left Saturday and my DH started a new job yesterday (and I had a bout of mastitis Sunday!) So far I have managed to get the essentials done (you know, food and stuff ) and have ventured out to take DD to dancing and to pick some things up from the shops.
The baby is easy, apart from the fact that she doesn't seem to like her bassinet at night time. It's the two older ones that I am struggling with! The constant fighting, hurting and general screaming between them is doing my head in! They can and do play nicely, but in the blink of an eye it can turn nasty. I know this is normal behaviour for these ages (the two year old has only found her horns in the last two weeks). Tiredness and diving hormones have meant that I am not coping with them as well as I would like to, and resorting to being a yelling, ranting and generally not-very-nice mummy. I get to the end of each day (and the same in later pregnancy) thinking I am just not doing a very good job with them. This is not the mummy I want to be.
I am just wondering, for those who have been there and done that (or are in the midst of it at the moment), did you use daily routines to get you through? How did you manage the fighting? Is there anything in particular you did to start your day well?
I have good intentions, thinking I will get super organised when the kids go to bed, but by then I am simply too tired! I really want to enjoy this time with my beautiful girls and feel like I am enriching them every day instead of 'putting out fires'.
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) and have ventured out to take DD to dancing and to pick some things up from the shops. 
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