It is true that you are never truly ready to have a baby no matter the circumstances? Well, I think I have to agree that no one is ever ready to add a new member to the family, it is a huge change, but you can be prepared in other ways.
You can make sure you have enough money in savings for emergencies, decide if one parent is going to stay at home with the baby, make sure you have enough income to support that decision, do you live in a family oriented area? Are there good schools nearby? Do you have a house? The list can go on and on.
Here is/was our list and why we will be starting to try in September!
- Have a house/home
- Have job security - steady/good income so I can be a stay-at-home mom
- Fix up home
- Enjoy being married for a couple of years before adding a baby (almost 3 years now!)
- Have a good amount of savings
- Run the Disneyland 10k! (which is why we are waiting till September)
It seems like a short list, but I didn't want to list every single little thing under the "fix up home" category, but we wanted to get some major things fixed before adding a baby to the mix. So all that's left is our vacation to California!
Does that mean we'll be ready for a baby? Truthfully, probably not. It took me a while to adjust to having a dog and now I love her to bits, but that first month was tough, and a baby is going to be tougher. Luckily I have the ability to be a stay-at-home mom so I won't have the added job stress. I'll be able to quit and focus on our baby. Once we adjust to having a little one, I might go back to work or see if I can find a job that allows me to work from home. We will have to see how things go, after all, the only way to find out is to dive right in!
However, I feel it is wrong to push someone into having children because they can never truly be "ready." No one should feel pressured into having children when they don't feel ready. That said, we finally do feel as if we are as ready as can be to have a baby.
Another thing to keep in mind is age. My husband was 24 and I was 21 when we got married. We had plenty of time. We didn't feel the need to rush in, despite everyone else thinking we should. We were young and wanted some us time, time to get settled down, and now, three years later, we feel ready and I'm glad we didn't give in to the pressure.
For those who are not trying yet, what's on your list? For those who are trying or already have children, what was on your list?
Attribution: Image used in blog post photo does not belong to me and was found on MorgueFile.
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