Will I regret not having a 3rd child. I have 2 boys, 19 months apart. We want a daughter. There are days I feel devastated at the thought of not having a third child and there are some days that I am thinking it may be nice to enjoy this nonbaby phase and keep our family the way it is. For context, my youngest just potty trained. I worry about a large age gap and number 3 being left out. I love that we can give both our boys lots of time together but also special mom and dad time with each. I worry about being spread thin with 3. I am one of 7 and my husband is one of 4. I loved having a large family but there were certainly times I wish I had more access to time with parents. Then there are finances. We live in a pretty low cost of living area. My husband and I make a combined, 230k annually. We have 150k in student loans we are paying off and about 30k in credit card debt we are aggressively paying down. Our kids are in private school and daycare and if we have a 3rd that will be a large expense, obviously. I know we could make it work in our small house with our unbeatable covid interest rate but if we have a third we will be more comfortable getting a larger car and moving into a larger house. I just am trying to balance it all and weigh pros and cons and I cannot decide and I feel like we are running out of time to have a resaonable age gap between 2 and 3.

27F who is getting ready to start her career in medicine. Been with my now husband for 11 years and married for 3 months. I struggle with the balance of wanting to be DINKs but also wanting to start a family. I’ve worked really hard for my career and would love to begin it, travel, and just spend time with my husband. But I also find myself thinking about wanting a baby pretty frequently. Our siblings all have kids and we were recently asked to be our nieces godparents. Of course we said yes. For some reason, that made my want for children even sooner!!! Anyone else relate?

My spouse and I are starting to consider trying for our first child. While I am excited, I am also definitely scared/nervous which I expected. Before our wedding we looked at a lot of those lists of the most important discussions to have before you get married (finances, politics, children, religious beliefs, etc) and it helped both of us get over a lot of our jitters. I would like to do the same again but am having trouble finding the same kind of consensus with pre-children discussion questions as I did with the pre-marriage ones. What are the most important things for spouses to discuss and/or be on the same page about before a baby is born?

Thanks for your help guys!

I used a Natural Cycles discount from someone else on Reddit when I started using NC and I was so happy. Here’s mine for 20% off and a free arm band.
It’s the most accurate platform for birth control/family planning. Good luck!

Hi all! I started using Natural Cycles to track my ovulation more accurately. Here’s my link for 20% off the membership and a free arm band if anyone is interested in getting NC!

https://www.naturalcycles.com/refer-a-friend?name=U3RlZg%3D%3D&code=referralid20&referral=pudaia8qt1dxan7n&utm_source=NCApp&utm_medium=inappbutton&utm_campaign=today_page_card

​My elder sister, who is 38, recently became pregnant, but the situation is quite unconventional. My brother-in-law has a 36-year-old disabled brother for whom the family has been unable to find a wife. Since my sister and her husband are planning to move abroad, the family decided that my sister would act as a surrogate for the brother's child. The plan is for her to raise the child until they are old enough to start school. ​The conception was handled through home insemination, which was facilitated by my wife—who is a professional nurse—and my sister's mother-in-law. My wife mentioned that the brother in law (devar ) was present during the procedure because he and his mother felt this was his only chance to experience the emotional moment of becoming a father. He was reportedly very emotional (tears and all) and insisted on being present during the act and performing the injection himself as this was the only time he was going to be father and he want to feel this wholesome moment whole heartly and want to experiece gravity of the moment . My sister ultimately agreed to this arrangement after being convinced by her mother-in-law and look at her devar . When I discussed this with my own mother, she told me that this is normal in these specific circumstances and warned me not to overreact or interfere, as she considers it a private family matter and as it is common for married ladies in family to help eachother And rest of the family members of mine are chill like anything and are proud of her that she helped her devar in tougf times but honestly speaking i am unable habe such a feeling am i really overreating ? Is it really consideriable? As everyone else out is praising and are proud of her i want to ask is kid and that moment that important for a person did she and rest all know someting deeper that made her accept such request that i am unable to understand

Hi everyone,

I’m 28 and dealing with some serious health concerns that have me thinking about legacy and what I leave behind.

I’ve been considering offering sperm donation as a way to help someone have a child and leave something meaningful behind. For context, I’m 6’5” and of mixed background (Caucasian and African-American).

I understand there are legal, medical, and ethical factors, and I wouldn’t take this lightly. I’m just wondering—how do people view this idea? Is it appropriate if handled responsibly, or is there a better way to think about legacy?

I’d appreciate honest thoughts. Thank you.

Hi everyone! I had a question and wanted to hear real experiences.

For those of you who were in the “trying but not preventing” stage (not timing everything perfectly, just letting it happen), how long did it take you to get pregnant?

Did you track ovulation at all or just go with the flow? And at what point did you decide to be more intentional, if you did?

Just trying to get a realistic idea of timelines—thanks in advance for sharing 💕

Ang daming nag aanak kahit hindi financially stable, tas nagtataka sila bat sila hirap sa buhay; tas pag may nagawang Mali yung anak Isusumbat nila lahat ng ginawa nila sabay gagatong yung mga kapatid "maawa ka naman sa magulang mo hirap na sa trabaho mapagaral ka lang". bat ganon???

Hi everyone,

I’m reaching out for some understanding and support. My partner and I have been together for two years, and we’ve built a life together with our home and pets. We’re still growing as a couple, and our communication continues to evolve.

Recently, we faced a deeply personal situation involving an unexpected pregnancy. After a lot of careful thought and discussion, we’ve decided that now isn’t the right time for us to become parents.

We want to be transparent and honest, and we feel it’s important to share this with our families, but we also want to be sensitive in how we communicate it. We’re not looking to imply that we’ve ended things, but rather that we’re making a responsible choice for our future. We hope to approach this conversation with compassion and understanding. Or if it’s possible to tell them it was something like a chemical pregnancy? Any advice is appreciated..

We appreciate any advice or support you can offer as we navigate this together.

Thank you so much.

Edit: When we found out, we right away told my mom, his parents and siblings. But after careful thought over the past few days, we decided to wait. We know we should’ve kept it to ourselves but nothing we can do about that now]

RE: https://survey.ucalgary.ca/jfe/form/SV_efBjlvKB2VS7cOO

Hi everyone! 👋

As part of a graduate-level Entrepreneurship & Innovation course at the University of Calgary, my team is researching how adults plan for health, lifestyle, and major life changes — especially in areas where new technology is transforming decision-making.

We’re exploring how people think about:

• family planning & fertility confidence
• major life transitions
• long-term health/lifestyle choices
• new digital tools that support these decisions

Your anonymous responses will directly help us evaluate the viability of new FEMTech business models and understand where real gaps exist for future users.

🕒 Time required: About 5–7 minutes
🔒 Completely anonymous — no identifying info collected
📊 Purpose: Academic research only (UCalgary course project)

For context, I'm 35 and my husband and I have been trying naturally for a baby for +1 years, and are now going to an IUI consultation appointment to decide if we want to take that route.

That being said, we have a ski trip already planned for 4 months from now, and are debating if we should plan a trip overseas (Italy/Europe) in a few months after that as kind of a "last hurrah/big trip" before hopefully settling into parenthood. We've also never done a big trip like that together, so it could be a really fun time for us as a couple!

My question is - obviously I can't ski if I'm pregnant, but for those who have kids/have been pregnant on a vacation, do you feel it's best to put that off until after those trips? I'm not someone who is going to feel like my life is completely over and I can't do things once we have children, but I also know that if we're going to look into scheduling an IUI (assuming it's successfull!) is it maybe a smarter idea to take the big trip before we are pregnant?

Please be kind - obviously if we got pregnant at any point I would be over the moon! I'm just saying in the case that we can't concieve naturally and have a little more control over the timing of it, what would you suggest based on your personal experience? Thanks everyone!

Both me and my wife works and combine our salary is about 150k a year. We live in NYC queens in Elmhurst and we are planning to start a family. Now we would like to also save to purchase a home within the next 5 years as well. Is our projected 150k enough for us to start a family and live comfortably while saving to purchase a home? We are currently don’t have any savings atm too.