Thanks
Thanks all. Very useful, and surprisingly encouraging. Yes, it is helpful that I am in Dubai already from a lifestyle perspective.
And, sittingidly, I will take you up on the offer to explain 'differences'. My wife has already noted the hours (current airline is significantly less then EK) and the fleet woes (Airbus vs Boeing, and who has it better, or how bad the 330/340 fleet really is).
We've just had our first (and probably last, for a long time at least) child, so that shouldn't be a problem. Her airline, interestingly, let her fly until she was about 20 weeks or so.