If you think the decision to have a baby is hard, I think the decision to NOT have one is even harder. That's a decision we're wrestling with right now.
There are pros and cons to both, but the big con is...how do we pay for it? The thing that stumps me is, I've asked around and no one seems to be able to tell me what they do to afford 2 kids. I've asked working moms, I've asked stay-at-home moms and I have yet to get a single straight answer. Do families use credit cards? Do they cut out everything in their life? I don't know and I can't quite figure it out.
With one income we'd have to figure out how to pay just for the basics of survival...the mortgage. Food. Diapers. Cars and the insurance for them. Clothing. Of course, all the utilities that go with running a house (power, gas, water, association dues) And we aren't poor, but we don't use credit cards. We'd have to cut out pretty much everything...TV, internet, cell phones, all extra spending as well as cutting our grocery bill down to next to nothing and I just don't know how we'd do that?
Assuming I could work, I'd then have to put 2 kids in day care. 1 kid for 5 full days a week is around $600/month minimum. 2 kids? That's my entire paycheck so then we're right back where we've started.
That's the biggest problem. And it's a terrible problem to have, because I don't want Carley to be an only child, I think she'd love a sibling. But the cost for us to even get pregnant is pretty high, and I've been told that the meds for it have recently doubled.
So what do we do? I wish nature would make the choice for us, and maybe it will, but it's a decision that has been heartbreaking to think about.
If we didn't have any more kids, we know we could give Carley a good quality life. And that makes me happy. It's wrapping my head (and heart) around that decision.
