Do you have any family members who can come over some time especially during the first half years after your baby is born? It could be a big help.
My mother-in-law is planning to spend the first two months with us. (She's awesome, so it's a good thing.) However, that's about how long I'm planning to stay home. Both sets of grandparents live a longish drive away (closest is three hours away). Husband's brother's family live in town. They have two small kids, and mom currently stays home. But she's planning to reenter the work force soon. We also have a cousin who lives in town who nannies part time.
Husband and I both have good leave policies at work that accrue monthly, so one of us will be able to stay home with a sick kid when necessary. I'm on the waiting list for the (comparatively) cheap daycare associated with my workplace. Assuming we get in in a reasonable time, it will be very high quality care very close to my work. There are two locations, and one is across the street from my office. If we get into that location, I'll be able to go across the street to breastfeed at lunch. If the waiting list is long, we'll have to figure out something else for the short term.
I'm not really nervous about working with the new baby. I think we have that figured out (as much as is possible). It's just the possibility of taking on a new position where there will be a learning curve that I was having a hard time deciding about.
There are four people in our department including myself, and the next person isn't likely to retire for another ten or fifteen years. So I'd either have to wait that long or hope someone decides to leave for another reason before a new position opened up for me. (Or move to a different company, but my skills are pretty specialized and it's a small field.) I'm not particularly ambitious about my job, though I do like the field. There isn't that much extra pay for promotions (it's a nonprofit). If I knew that another opportunity would come up in a few years, I think I'd pass on this one. But I'm not sure how I'll feel about being in an assistant position ten years from now.
Thanks for sharing your experiences. It's really helped. I'm strongly leaning towards applying for the new position at the moment.