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Military Brides

Needing a listening ear...Thanks

I need some advice on how to talk to FI about an issue. You guys know that we've put off wedding planning, yadda yadda yadda until we get re-class results, hopefully before the new year. Even before that, it was always really hard to get a bead on what FI wanted from any sort of ceremony we wanted. Granted, we were only engaged about 6 weeks before we decided to postpone the planning, so we hadn't gotten very far.

Lately FI has had babies on the brain hardcore. To be fair, so do I. I'll turn 28 just after the new year, and I know that isn't really old, but both of us want a larger family (at least 2, possibly 4 or 5 kids), so that puts us in a little bit of a time crunch before I feel like things might become difficult or unsafe or at the least so I'm not pregnant for most of 10 years. We've decided to start TTC as soon as we're married, there's not a great reason to wait for us. Lately, I feel like he wants to start now, and I'm just not up for that. I'm no sexual conservative by any means, but I really feel like, at least for insurance purposes, we need to wait til things are ironed out.

I think he's feeling this way because his parents got married because his Mom got knocked up. They were both enlisted AF, his Dad was higher ranking, and basically they got married so no one would get in trouble. They had originally planned to divorce once FI was born, but they ended up falling in love, building a life, and having FI's little brother, They've been married almost 25 years. It's a sweet story, in its way, but it means that he has no real idea of what it looks like to date, get engaged, plan a wedding, and then start the family thing. He doesn't have any high-school friends who are doing it (homeschooling, and pretty cut off), he doesn't know a lot of his family, and his college friends haven't reached that point yet.

I think he thinks that if I just get knocked up, that it'll make all the decisions easier because they will happen faster. And I'm not ready to be "that girl." Even at 28, even with a super supportive family who love FI, me getting knocked up and then married would, I think, really disappoint my Mom and Dad, as well as my grandmother. I think I would also be really disappointed in myself. I'm on BC, so I'm not too stressed that anything will happen, I'm just really feeling torn, on one hand, I'd love to start that part of my life, and on the other, much more rational hand, I know that's a very bad idea.

We've talked about it before, and I've even brought up the whole, "You know, I don't have to be pregs for us to plan this thing," even before we got engaged. I don't even know what advice I'm asking for, I think I just needed to get this out there. I don't have a lot of people I can talk to about this, so thanks if you waded through.
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Re: Needing a listening ear...Thanks

  • BinxRoseBinxRose member
    500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Oh Divine! That's a pretty complicated issue to be dealing with, I'm sorry. I 100% agree with how you feel about being "that girl." I wouldn't want to be getting pregnant before our wedding either (besides the bigger issues, that means no champagne for you at your own wedding)! I'm not really sure where your FI's head is at, but I don't see how getting KU now will help make the planning any easier/faster. Unless he means just going down to the courthouse? I can't imagine that going to the courthouse because you're KU is your dream wedding. How long has your FI felt this way? Perhaps he's worried about being "too old" to parent. I know my FI is concerned about that, and we're only 23 (he was a surprise baby when his mom and dad were 21 and 23, respectively). You just need to stand firm in your morals and beliefs. Just tell him how you would feel disappointed in yourself and that's not how you want to start your life together. He should respect that. And besides, you could put together a nice wedding in 4 months, once everything is settled. Honestly, I've been engaged for 4 months and I have all the big stuff taken care of...now it's just a waiting game!
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  • IrishcurlsIrishcurls member
    1000 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Everything Binxy said. I guess I really don't see the connection between getting married and having kids, especially in the reverse order but are you sure he wants to get married? I'm not trying to be a downer but maybe something else is going on. I don't know how long you've been together so forgive me, but maybe he just wants to be with you and not be married right now and the kids thing is just an excuse? I don't know, it's a complicated issue for sure. I hope you can be honest and open with him about your needs and plans too and it works out for you guys!!
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  • melbelle24melbelle24 member
    Fourth Anniversary 500 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Divine, first off I'm sorry you're going through all this stress! Your FI sounds a little like mine. It's so hard to get him to even have an opinion on anything, much less actually talk about his opinion. Honestly, I think the best thing you can do is to get him into a neutral, distraction-free place and talk about it. Maybe he's starting to feel like there's too much pressure riding on the re-class, since now both his job an your wedding hinge on if he makes it or not. Do you think maybe starting the wedding planning would give him something positive to look forward to? Even if you can't afford to or don't want to start putting deposits down on vendors, go look. Tour venues, talk to caterers, do cake tastings, etc. I don't know if it would help, but there's my two cents.
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  • calindicalindi member
    5000 Comments Second Anniversary Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    I get that - FI has a bit of baby fever, but he logically wants to wait until he's out of school and more financially stable, which by default will be after we get married.  Still, if he had income right now, I think he'd be really pushing to start having a family even before we get married, and I also want to wait.

    The best advice I can give is be honest and direct.  Tell him when you want to have kids (after marriage) and that you just want to marry him.  If you both want to start a family, perhaps have a smaller wedding that you can plan in the coming year?  It doesn't cost a lot or take a lot of planning to have a church ceremony for nearest & dearest and then a nice punch & cake reception, or keep it to immediate family and go to a restaurant. 

    It depends on priorities - if you really want the big wedding, and you really want to wait to get married to have kids, then tell him that and figure out a timeline together for when you can make it all happen.  If he won't tell you exactly what he wants, then in my opinion, it isn't worth worrying about.  I refuse to stress myself out about what someone may or may not want when they won't tell me themselves.

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    Anniversary

  • Beachy730Beachy730 member
    5000 Comments Fourth Anniversary Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011
    I'm sorry you're going through this.  I would definitely sit down and explain your feelings to him.  I have no problem with people who do decide to get pregnant first (one of my best friends had a 1 year old daughter at their wedding), but it's not for me, and my family would have probably disowned me.

    Does he want to get pregnant and get married while you're pregnant, or does he just want to get pregnant and not get married until down the road?  If it's the former, then I would think he just doesn't want the fuss of a big wedding, and figures if you're pregnant then you guys would end up with a smaller, more simple wedding.  That's definitely something you could discuss and come to a compromise on.

    If it's the latter then I would think maybe he is just second guessing if he wants to actually be married.  That is definitely a discussion you would need to have together, and not an easy decision to make.  You both have to lay out what's important to you and your personal beliefs and morals, and make decisions from there.
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  • LetsHikeTodayLetsHikeToday member
    2500 Comments Combo Breaker
    edited December 2011

    I agree with PPs. I also think there is more of a chance of not having your dream wedding when you already have a baby. (I hate the term dream wedding but I couldn't think of anything else).

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  • edited December 2011
    DMB- I'm sorry you're going through this, but I definetly agree with pretty much everything everyone said.  I just wanted to lend some support.  H and I sort of tried before the wedding, but I mean at most I would have been like 3-4 months pregnant at the wedding. Now it's pretty much off the table for both of us.  I would just sit down and talk with him..
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  • edited December 2011
    DMB-  I am sorry you this is going on.  I agree with what every one else said.  I think you two just need to sit down.  Good Lord, H had babies on his brain before we got married and then after.  Lord knows and so do I that you can't plan a baby around the Army however, we had to sit down and talk about how I didn't want him to miss the stages and birth.  He got it finally but it did take some serious converstations.  

      
  • divinemsbeedivinemsbee member
    1000 Comments Third Anniversary 5 Love Its
    edited December 2011
    You guys are awesome, and I didn't mean to post and run like that, got caught up in Thanksgiving cooking this a.m. Yeah, I guess I have an idea of what I'd like for a wedding, but I also know that we'd be paying for it with a little help, and I'm fine with something small cost and fanciness (is that a word?) wise. Having family there is my number one thing, I'm totally willing to cut things down in order to have more people there. My best friend planned her wedding in about 5 months, so I know it can be done, but I do think that maybe looking at things would help ease his anxiety. I think if he knew what things cost (or what they didn't cost), it might be a little more soothing to have an idea.  We've been together 3 years, and I know (as well as you can) that he wants to get married; in a funny way I think he'd just like to skip to the being married part-not even skip the wedding, but just skip to looking at the photo album with a toddler way.

    Crown: I think you hit something on the head there when you talked about deployments. I know that with the number of kids we want (althought that's no garantee of anything), that it'll be harder to start trying once he's deployable. And I think he knows that and would like to have at least one pregnancy where he's there the whole time or as much of it as he can be. That may be cause for some of this. I also don't think he gets that just wanting a baby and having lots of unprotected sex doesn't mean you get a baby first time out, it can take a while even when everyone's totally healthy and normal.
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