Wedding Etiquette Forum

Baby on the Brain?

I have to get this off my chest and I really don't want to talk to friends or my mom about it because then, it's out there.  And I don't want to go to the Nest because well, it's the Nest.  I have babies on the brain!!  Agh!!  There was a time when I never thought I would, but I think about it all the time now.  I said I wanted to be married a few years before I had kids, but we're coming up on our first anniversary and I'm thinking about it.  We've talked about it enough to know that it is life changing, relationship changing, hugeness and that we do want to have at least one.  Chris said he's basically just waiting for me to come to him and tell him when I'm ready to start trying, although I know he thinks/would prefer later rather than sooner.  The thing that makes me so scared is how much I enjoy our time now without a baby.  We are so spontaneous.  We come home from work and relax and say, "okay make dinner and watch a movie or go to the bar?" and then we just do whatever we feel like.  We sleep in on the weekends, and if we're hungover we'll get up, make breakfast, and go back to bed.  We do whatever we want whenever we want.  Can we really give all of that up?  When do you decide you are ready to give all of that up?  Ugh, who else feels this way?  Or just has advice to give or things to think about?
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Re: Baby on the Brain?

  • I'm not quite to this point yet (babies on the brain), but I have all those same questions running through my head as you. I'm interested to see what people have to say on this.
  • I think most women who want have babies have some sort of biological clock. H and need to wait three years for financial/school reasons, but I still think about it all the time. It is a scary thought though, even though you know you are 100 % ready, your life will change forever.
  • Nooooo!!!! Dani, not you too!! I think you should talk to Chris and you should decide together if you're both fully ready to start trying, or if you're just going through a short baby phase. Maybe makes a pros/cons list for how your life would change in the short term as well as the long term, and go from there.
  • I'm there too (and I'm not even married.) I started to read What to Expect and now I'm less than thrilled about the idea :) The biology of things isn't appealing, though I already knew all of it. It's just so...overwhelming reading it all at once and actually applying it to my life. That's my advice. I can't really speak for the spontaneous thing...we aren't very. We have livestock to take care of, so we're pretty much out of bed at 7am on the weekends, even if we don't want to be. We have a little selfish time, but FI's idea of quality time is throwing hay. My life rocks!!
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  • *20s were amazing, not was
    BFP(1) DD1 born 4.17.10 @ 33w5d due to pPROM
    BFP(4) DD2 born 2.14.13 @ 35w5d due to pPROM

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  • Can you offer to babysit your friends child for a whole weekend? 2 nights in a row?  They might like that, and you get some real experience. My DH and I dont want children and watching my twin infant niece and nephew def. reinforced that for us :)
  • I should add the best way to stop the baby craving is to look after a young child- one who isn't fully potty trained yet is best.
  • everyone always says tho that "its different when its your own" so while you may find kids you babysit a ton of work and very frustrating/annoying, what if the quote above is true? many also say that your "feelings change" once you give birth and hold the baby, particularly for the female.  but again, hwat if your feelings dont change and you find yoruself annoyed (or worse, burdened) by your own baby?
  • See, I love my nephews and niece and wish we saw them more.  They are by no means perfect kids, but being around them now makes it difficult.  Especially seeing how good DH is with them.  :)
    BFP(1) DD1 born 4.17.10 @ 33w5d due to pPROM
    BFP(4) DD2 born 2.14.13 @ 35w5d due to pPROM

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  • Do you have a realistic mindset about what having a child will be like?  As long as you aren't looking at having a baby as some glamorous thing that is going to be pure happiness from the time you give birth and you still want to, then I'd say you are ready.  You will still have your freedom, just in smaller doses.  That is what grandparents are for!
  • I do spend a lot of time with my best friend and her one year old, and have since he was a baby.  I haven't ever been someone who fawns over babies or loves kids in general, but that doesn't mean I don't want my own.  My husband is the same way.  We both feel like we would be good at it.  As far as day care, my MIL retired and is dying for us to have a baby.  I think that I would be able to use her for daycare, but I'm hesitant to ask because I don't want her to know that I'm thinking about it yet.  Otherwise, I do know we could afford daycare next year because our credit card will be completely paid off in January and we're comfortable financially as it is.  I would love to be able to stay home with a baby, at least for a while, but I don't see that happening.  I make almost twice what Chris does, so I would have to go back to work unless he magically gets some high paying job, which we don't expect in the near future.There are a lot of things to consider. I like the list idea.  I'm going to do that.  That might help me see the benefits to putting it off longer.  :)
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  • I'm not ready.  Not at all.  Thought I was - this weekend, we were visiting MIL and she was watching my 8 month old niece.  It was amazing how vigilant you have to be w/ a baby.  It's like you have to watch them every second of every day.  (good thing DH is going to be a stay at home dad)  I started to think about how nice it was to just have the cats and the dog - that I could leave them for a full day and not have to worry about them.  So, I totally understand where you're coming from.  I don't think that you are ever "ready."  But, at the same time, your priorities change, as will the things that you find joyous in life.  There are a lot of things that I am looking forward to - her first trip to Disney is on on the top :) 
    Holy Crap. We survived the first year!
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  • jayjoejayjoe member
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    Hi Danielle :) So, although i dont have baby on the brain, all the reasons you give for possibly not wanting one are all the reasons i have as well. I am NOT trying to compare but Joe and i just got a puppy a week ago :):) Golden Ret., he just turned 8 weeks yesterday. Now, the breeders already had the litter going to the bathroom outside so, thank god, he is semi-house trained (only pee accidents in the house, never poop). Because of this, when he has to pee he wakes up and barks. He is a puppy with a small bladder and sometimes he doesnt always have to poop right after he eats. Joe and i get up to a crying barking dog and walk him constantly at 1 am or 2 am or 3 am. He is up and at em between 5 and 6 am everyday, including weekends. When i was hungover last weekend it didnt matter. I was up at 6 and dry heaving as i walked him. Joe and i are EXHAUSTED and its only been a little over a week. When he is awake and alone he gets lonely and barks and our landlord doesnt like that so someone has to sit with him. In one week our house is messy, we have spent little time together and no sex because we are falling asleep at like 8 and waking up all through the night. Joe has already mentioned that this has actually turned him off to kids (which makes me happy, BTW). So i hear you on the being scared about a kid disrupting your spontaneous life. Our frigging dog is doing it LOL
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  • I do too and I have dreams that I'm pregnant regularly. I NEVER thought this would happen to me and didn't even decide that I wanted to reproduce at all until I got together with FI.Ditto salt.
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  • Talk with FI, if you're ready, you're ready. I'm 36 (and have said that a million times here, but whatever) so FI and I are going to get busy trying to make a baby as soon as we get married. We're both really excited about it. I have 9 nephews & 2 nieces so I feel like I know what I'm getting in to. One piece of advice...don't be half-a$$ed about TTC.  I did that in my last marriage and it was really stressful.
  • Dani- you are sooo not alone.  Like Salt, I never thought I even wanted kids but now I have started thinking about it a LOT.  I have about a year until my wedding and I would like a child-free year of marriage and that sounds soooo far from now.  Then, on the other hand, I totally love being selfish/sleeping in/etc.  Who wants to give that up??
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  • jayjoe is right, a puppy is good kid practice :)
  • I completely understand. FI would be happy to start right after the wedding. When we get married he'll be 31 and I'll be 28. I thought i'd be ready to start by the fall after the wedding but now I'm freaking out! We want 2 or 3 but taking the actual step to say for sure is really scary. Like you and FI we enjoy our freedom. We travel a lot and we really enjoy it. It's hard b/c a lot of our east coast friends have kids but none of our west coast friends do. My sister will be trying for #2 shortly after our wedding and I would love for us to be pregnant around the same time. It seems like most people have some sort of internal struggle w/this. We have friends who live in OR and are in their mid 30's. They are our travel buddies and the wife was recently told by her Dr that if they wanted to have kids they better start trying. We said that maybe if we had kids around the same age and we were both doing the kids thing it might calm our anxiety. I'm a bit stressed about the whole thing.
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  • We talk about it and I think about it randomly - but we're both more on the logical side right now and have bigger desires to travel. I'm with you on enjoying the spontaneity! I have either been in my undergrad, masters, or wedding planning since we started dating so this is a nice change of pace for us.
  • Pirata - you're almost 40?  Damn, girl, you look great!  I would have never guessed.
    BFP(1) DD1 born 4.17.10 @ 33w5d due to pPROM
    BFP(4) DD2 born 2.14.13 @ 35w5d due to pPROM

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  • sucrets, i was thinking hte same about pirata!  lookin' good!
  • Thanks, ladies!  Yeah, I was blessed with good genes somewhere along the line. I think because I look younger, my brain is there also. FI is 7 years younger, so I think balances nicely!
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  • I don't know if anyone is ever 'ready' to give that up... but from speaking to my friends with children, it seems that though your life changes, the things you gain from having children make it very fulfilling- even if also quite different.
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