Wow I was literally just thinking the same thing while lying in bed just now!
Edit: I just wanted to expand bc I’m in the same boat. I have been with someone that I am considering marrying and potentially starting a family with. But there are some serious financial considerations that I need to be comfortable with before I can agree to either.
Only as I’ve gotten older, have I even become aware of how traumatic childbirth can be on a woman’s body. I don’t feel like it was communicated to me growing up at all. The potential health complications that can come with pregnancy and childbirth are…concerning to say the least. Having to wear iced diapers for weeks afterwards being the least of your problems! The more I learn about it, the more hesitant I am. Then there are the financial consequences. Having a child and raising a child is expensive. But even before the child comes into the world, you’re racking up medical costs with all the checkups and then leading up to the ultimate birth.
Then after the baby comes, I think of all the what-ifs. In my situation, I make more money than my partner. Will I need to quit my job? But he works a more manual job where injuries are a real possibility. What if he becomes permanently injured, has to go on disability? Loses his job? Loses insurance? What will I do then?
And then I just start to spiral into what-ifs and having a child seems like a terrible idea 😅