Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | when's right to start a family?

This is something I've been thinking about for the last 3 or 4 years! My husband and I will have been together 6 years next month, we've finished paying off all of our debts (including my $25,000 in student loans) and we are as financially stable as we are ever going to be. However, we want to buy a house before we have kids. The only problem is there is no way in heck that we can afford a house in the city where we live, so we are going to have to relocate. I don't want to work full-time once the kids come so that means we'll need a house affordable enough to live on one income (with a part-time income to supplement). That's a LOT to think about � hubby will have to get a new job (he's been at his current job almost 17 years), with a decent enough pay to support a family, and we'll have to find a cheap but decent house (that's getting difficult almost everywhere in Canada now, though my city is the worst). Whew.

I'm only 29 � and I know that these days a lot of women are putting off having kids until their 30's - and some even later � but I don't want to wait too long. My mother had both her ovaries removed due to benign tumours when she was in her mid-30's, and I don't want something similar happening to me before I've had kids. Plus my husband is almost 12 years older than me � I know it doesn't matter so much with men, but still. His best friend and his wife waited until their mid-30s and "perfectly financially ready" to try and start having kids, and found out that they had fertility problems. They tried all sorts of treatments but, sadly, nothing worked. They can't help but wonder whether if they had started trying earlier, would things have been different?

But as for being financially ready, one of my best friends found out last year that she was pregnant � and she and her husband were far from financially stable. But their baby is almost 6 months old now and they wouldn't change anything for the world � they are just finding ways to make it work. It's amazing how much money you realize you were spending on yourself when suddenly you have a child to spend it on instead. I read somewhere once that a whopping 50% of pregnancies are unplanned, but you don't see all those babies being aborted or put up for adoption. Parents just find a way to make it work!

Anyway I think I've blabbered on here long enough. Just wanted to let you know I am in the same boat.

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IBS-A since age 12, and fructose sensitive; with the exception of my pregnancy, have been following Heather's diet since Nov. 19, 2007.
Taking 12g of Acacia per day. Relatively stable since March 2008!

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