[konfyoozed]

My husband and I are 28, and don't plan on having kids for another 2-3 years... once he's out of grad school (and once I drop the weight!). I think this is perfectly fine, women in their 30s have babies every day. Meanwhile people of my mom's generation are telling me I need to have kids NOW before I'm too old!

So, I'm just curious, how old were you when you had children?

[98DaysOfSummer]

I had my daughter when I was 33 (and also, very overweight. I don't recommend it but when you reach a certain age, if you want kids you can't keep putting it off based on "I hope I lose weight" because the clock WILL run out on you). There were pregnant women and women with newborns at my 25 year class reunion. A friend of mine had both of her kids in her 40s.

There are advantages either way - have your kids when you're younger and you may find you decide to have more.

Have them when you're older - you'll have had time with your SO to know yourselves as a couple and you'll probably more more financially stable.

There's no right or wrong choice. It'll work just fine either way.

[Micki k]

I had my daughter at 38. I wasnt at my highest weight ever, but not too far off. Other than some pretty extreme morning sickness in the beginning I had a very uneventful pregnancy. I actually lost 17lbs in the beginning and only gained back 8. The doctors were very good at scaring the crap out of me about my age. There are risks with having a baby over 35, but if you take good care of yourself you can minimize those risks. Definitely start taking a prenatal vitamin as early as possible.
In 2-3 years you still have plenty of time to have a safe, healthy pregnancy.
Good luck!

[mandalinn82]

I'll be 29 when this one (my first) is born.

It's all very personal! We were in a place in our lives where we were ready...if we weren't, we wouldn't have made this decision, you know? You have to trust your instincts a bit!

[konfyoozed]

waiting until he graduates gives us the opportunity to enjoy being a married couple without children. we also won't have to deal with me being pregnant, or carting around infants or toddlers in the THREE more times we're moving over the next few years. and the most important one: it allows my husband to finish grad school and start his career... meaning financial stability and medical benefits. we've had this discussion multiple times over the last couple years from when we talked about possibly getting married, through our engagement, and most recently when i realized we'd been married for 9 months and if we had conceived on the honeymoon, we'd have a baby by now.

i just get those "i want one..." moments when people are all BABIES SOON?! and i need to remind myself that we've got a plan, it's a good one, and things will happen as they should.

[cherrypie]

I had my first at 34 and my second at 37. I don't think my age was a problem exactly, but it took me 4 years of trying to have my first. I always shudder when people want to wait expecting to have a baby 10 months after the day they start trying. Unfortunately it isn't always as easy as they led you to believe in high school. Waiting till your early 30's isn't much of an issue but when I hear people putting it off till their late 30's I always fear they will have issues and just run out of time.

[suzukigurl]

I was 31 when I had my son... For me (and my husband) it was more about what was going on in our life more then age. We had been together for 12 years, married 5, I was done with nursing school, we finally had a house etc...

[chickadee32]

We began trying a little over 2 years ago, when we were both 31, but couldn't conceive. This summer we identified the reason for my infertility after surgery to resolve an ectopic pregnancy, and now we're going through IVF to get pregnant. I wish that we had begun trying earlier, as my condition is a progressive one and is worse now than it would have been had we identified it 5 years ago. But, our situation was different than yours, and your reasons for the timeline you've chosen seem perfectly logical. As long as you have no solid reason to suspect you might run into an issue with fertility (like close female relatives who had difficulty conceiving - mother, sister, aunt, etc.), then I don't think starting in your early 30s seems late at all. My friends are all in their early/mid 30s and all still having babies.

[astrophe]

I was 28 when my child was born.

I met her father when I was 18, and married him at 22.

So she was planned to come at or around our 10th year together if we had good luck so we had plenty of time bonding alone as a couple first.

I started preparing for TTC at 26, it took us a year to get pregnant, then the time to BE pregnant so even with the PCOS weird cycles it worked out quite well.

If I didn't have PCOS issues, I may have put it off a bit. My sister just had her first at 32.

But since I did have extra issues, I didn't want to put it off too long in case TTC took years and years like for some PCOS ladies. Mostly, I was aiming for between 28 and 35 to have her.

And one high risk PCOS pregnancy was enough for us. I would have liked 2, but not so much that I want to struggle like that again. I had an easier TTC than I expected, but one miscarriage, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and emergency C-sect was just a lot to handle.

I was so glad my sister had a nice boring pregnancy with natural water birth in her hospital like she wanted!

HTH!
A.

[konfyoozed]

my doctor diagnosed me with PCOS a few years ago, but last year she told me that it doesn't seem to be affecting me much if at all... she put me on birth control pills for a while, but i couldn't afford them after about a year and a half... and between going off the pill, and going back on the pill about a year ago (almost 2 years), i didn't miss a single period. the doctor told me that was a good sign, and that if i managed to get the weight off of me, i would likely have a much higher chance of conceiving than if the PCOS was severe. i didn't think there were levels.

[astrophe]

There's various types of PCOS patients - at least 5.

I'm one of the ones that doesn't ovulate much. For TTC, that could be a prob!

A.

[shishkeberry]

I guess I'm the youngin' here! I had my DS at 21 and my DD at 27. I'm 28 now. Even though I don't think I was ready at the time when I had DS, I'm glad I had them when I did. I'll still be in my forties when they're both grown.

[ValRock]

I was a youngin' too. I had my first at 21 and my 2nd at 24. I'm 28 now and they're about to both be in school all day! I can't believe I'm at this place in my life already! It was REALLY hard when they were young. I was still figuring myself out and trying to raise babies. I'm glad now, but MAN sometimes I wished I'd waited.

[sacha]

I was 25 for #1 and 27 for #2. If I had known my husband earlier (we met I was 23) then I would have had them earlier. I really wouldn't want to be any older (even 27 is a bit much for me now) but that's just my opinion.

I will be selfish and say that I want my kids out of the house by the time I'm 50 LOL

[Laura78]

I had DS at 25 and DD at 27. I would have head them earlier but DH wanted to have some time for us as a couple. I will be in my mid-forties when they are done high school.