If you wait until you're financially ready, you'll never have a baby. Unless you've got as much money as Oprah or Bill Gates, I don't know of anyone who ever feels completely and totally 100% financially ready. I actually used to say the same thing - Josh and I had discussed me going off the pill this January and starting to "try" shortly thereafter... but Someone had other plans and I actually got pregnant while still ON the pill. When people ask me how thrilled I am, I tell them I am but that we are a little nervous about the money situation because we *just* got married and bought a house last year - we're nowhere near where we wanted to be, financially speaking. To that, everyone replies, "Oh honey, if you wait until you think you're financially ready, no one would ever have children!"

I do know some friends of friends who waited until they felt they were better off financially and they didn't have their first child until they were in their mid-upper 30s. Once she had her first baby, her desire to have more was very strong but because of her age she had difficulty conceiving again and once she did, she was considered "high risk". Now she has two beautiful children, but she's 44 years old and not as able to keep up (or "rebound" as necessary) from tireless children so she wishes she had started her family when she was younger.

I thought I was ready for a baby, but once I actually got pregnant I realized that I wasn't as ready for it as I thought I was. Babies change EVERYTHING. These are little beings who will always be in your life in some capacity. Not only will they change your relationship with your spouse, but they will also change your family forever. It'll never just be you and your husband again... it'll always be you, your spouse, and... There will always be that "and". You just don't realize exactly how big that one 3-letter word is until you find out it's inevitable. I'm not saying I wish I weren't having this little boy... I just wish I had had a much better understanding of everything becoming a parent entails before it happened.

But that's a Catch 22. I don't think anyone realizes exactly how massive a change it is until it happens to you. People say they realize it all the time, but until it happens, they really don't.

So anyway... while you should take finances into consideration, don't let it dictate when you and your husband start your family.