How old were you when you had your first child?

[Tiffann4k]

Tubes tied at 25
DH had a "snip snip" when I was 30 (We were a bit paranoid of still getting pregnant. At work I see too many cases of women getting pregnant after having their tubes tied

And here I am wishing mine would fail so I wont have to shell out a few grand when I get my tubal reversal have them send some of their pixie dust my way

 

[Tiffann4k]

To all the young parents, weren't you afraid of all the cost involved?

Doesnt a child cost the same wether your a young or old parent ?? But seariously I never thought about it, I knew God wouldnt give us more than we could handle and so far things have worked out well enough I have been a stay at home mom since before my daughter was even born , we are a one income family and we dont go without ( well unless you count not being able to go on a disney cruise every year )

 

[froglady]

#1 32
#2 42

 

[icebrat001]

Doesnt a child cost the same wether your a young or old parent ?? But seariously I never thought about it, I knew God wouldnt give us more than we could handle and so far things have worked out well enough I have been a stay at home mom since before my daughter was even born , we are a one income family and we dont go without ( well unless you count not being able to go on a disney cruise every year )

Younger people aren't always settled into their career, or they may both still be in college so children can be less affordable as opposed to when you are settled into your career and have a nicer cash flow coming in to support the child and put away for college and not live on noodles, rice and cereal.

I think part of the problem is that if I were to have children sooner (not that it could happen by mistake as we are a same sex couple) We would both have to work and then we would have to send our child somewhere to be taken care of while we are working and I wouldn't want that for my child. While we lived off of one income in the past and we were fine, I couldn't imagine adding a baby to the mix.

 

[justhat]

Lots of young mommies on these boards. I totally imagined the majority to be in the 31-33 range.

To all the young parents, weren't you afraid of all the cost involved?

Honestly, no, wasn't really a fear at all for us. We don't even have an income anymore (I worked part time while in grad school but quit when our daughter was born) and we survive just fine. Granted, we live on loans, which will stop this May when my husband graduates from medical school, but when you're taking out so much anyway, what's a little more for a baby? We have a good savings started for her in CDs from gift money she's gotten, our tax refunds, things like that, and starting in July my husband will have a salary so that will help too (okay, a resident's salary, but still better than nothing). We send her to preschool, which in DC costs a lot of money, and go on plenty of vacations every year. Yes, it does mean that we'll be paying off loans longer than we otherwise would have, but once his attending salary kicks in that won't be too bad at all. We could have shaved a good bit off of the cost simply by keeping Madison home another year before sending her to preschool, but we didn't. We also get a lot of help from my mom though and that clearly makes a difference in our lives.

The reason we decided on having kids early (remember, 24 was the plan) was that I lost my father when I was 17 and it was very hard on me and having him miss out on so much in my life was something I didn't want for my kids. Sure, anyone can die at anytime, but he was considerably older than my mom and my half sisters who are much older than me got to have him around a lot longer. If he were younger when I was born then he would have still gotten all the same illnesses, but I would have been older. Now I think about what I'll do when my mom passes away (though not for a long time I hope!) and it really bothers me and that's not something I want to raise the chances on for my kids. I want to have the best chance at being around for my kids for a very long time and same with grandkids, so the younger I started the better my chances for that are.

Now, maybe if we were in a different position, where my husband wasn't going to make a pretty nice salary in 4 years, I'd think differently, but honestly I don't think so right now.

 

[Caradana]

As someone whose kindergarten classmate was justhat (not kidding) - yup, the cost would totally freak me out at this point, and we have degrees and make great money. We have the house, the jobs, etc. but we want to spend $ and time on us right now.

 

[CharityLynn]

I was 19.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Had the first 2 months before I turned 30. The second was born at 33. I wouldnt change a thing. I'm happy I had my early 20's to play and have fun. I also love the age gap between them. They are almost 4 years apart.

 

[maryssasmom]

dd was born right after I turned 24. now I am in a new relationship of almost 8 years and waiting for the ring and then would like to have another so # 2 would be 34 or after...

 

[indigoxtreme]

I had just turned 21 on the 10th and my DD was born on the 17th. She is now 28. For my DS I was 27. Same marriage and planned this far apart. My DH and I will be celebrating 30 years this month at WDW.

 

[LoveWDW]

27 with first son, 30 with second.

We discussed children and parenting before we were married, along with attitude toward extended family, possible obligations with extended family in the future, financial attitude, and decided it was a good idea to wait 3 years until were were absolutely the marriage was stable, even though we were entirely in love, before bringing a child into the world. At around 3 years we discovered that we were very happy being just a couple. We could pick up and go and do whatever we liked. We decided then if we ever wanted a family we should start. Since we felt that at some time we wanted children, and we weren't getting any younger, we decided to go ahead. It was the right choice for us. We stopped at two because we felt we could support and educate two the best. In later years we realized that we would have liked to have had another.

 

[jim and meesie]

29 for the first, 34 for the second, 37 for the third, now I'm 47 and wish there were more!

 

[MrsKreamer]

Lots of young mommies on these boards. I totally imagined the majority to be in the 31-33 range.

To all the young parents, weren't you afraid of all the cost involved?

Well, while my pregnacies weren't planned...you still have 9-10 months to figure most stuff out. When a baby starts out they really don't NEED much. I mean yeah it is really nice to have all of the expensive things, but when it comes down to it all of their needs can be met with little cost. I know many are thinking, well what about school and college...? Well unless I have 2 little geniuses on my hands I have 17-19 years to save up for college. Everything else will fall into place. I am a true believer(especially after the year I have had) that God only gives you what you can handle.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

Younger people aren't always settled into their career, or they may both still be in college so children can be less affordable as opposed to when you are settled into your career and have a nicer cash flow coming in to support the child and put away for college and not live on noodles, rice and cereal.

I think part of the problem is that if I were to have children sooner (not that it could happen by mistake as we are a same sex couple) We would both have to work and then we would have to send our child somewhere to be taken care of while we are working and I wouldn't want that for my child. While we lived off of one income in the past and we were fine, I couldn't imagine adding a baby to the mix.

I was 24 when I had my first and cost really never were considered. I had a minimum wage job but DH had a job with the local utility and was doing o.k. Good benefits. DH wanted to have his first before he was 25 - thought that anything over that was "too old". We'd been married for 3 years at that point.

Second DS was born when I was 29 - by that time I was working a good job at a bank and had a good maternity leave.

We put both kids in daycare. I just wasn't cut out to be a SAHM. I did stay home with 1st DS until he was 2 1/2. If I hadn't gone back to work I probably would have been committed or divorced in short order. After 2nd DS I decided I did not want to have any more due to the stress with putting them in daycare....can't live with'em can't live without em...

 

[4greatboys]

I was 22.

 

[CA Disney Fans]

I was less than 2 months shy of my 20th birthday when I had my DS. Even though I was young and he wasn't planned, I don't regret having him at all. My grandfathers were able to spend time with him before passing away (one died when DS was 1; the other died this past Dec). My DS is blessed to have 2 grandmothers and 1 great grandmother in his life.

And thanks to a supportive family I was able to stay home for DS's first 2 years and not worry about costs.

Edit - I meant that my DS has 1 great great grandmother, 2 great grandmothers, 1 grandmother & 1 grandfather in his life.

 

[Mermaid02]

If I had to do it all again, I would still have dd when I was 22, but would have had ds MUCH earlier (24 or 25 as opposed to 29). I found it easier when I was younger.

 

[SunFloridaDisney]

I was 28 when my first DD was born. I was 38 when my 4th was born. It was a lot easier at 28!

 

[Barb D]

30 for the first (after 9 years of marriage), 32 for the second, and 38 for the third. Now I have one in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school.

 

[Nite0wl71]

I was 21, I was 35 when I had my last.