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We had been married for over 3 years and have squeezed in a lot of fun activities and traveling! We moved into a bigger home (from a 2nd story condo) and the renovations on that were done. So we discussed and were ready to let nature take its course by my 32nd birthday. There's always a reason to wait, but I knew that I was ready and didn't want to be too much older to start a family and the timing just felt right.

Hmm... we didn't really have a checklist! When we got married, we had already purchased our house, so we talked about when we wanted to have kids and we agreed on around 28. Then when I was 26, one of my best friends started planning this HUGE 30th birthday party for herself, which was including a trip to Vegas. It was going to span her birthday into New Year's (her birthday is the last week in December), and I was invited. So I always knew I was going on this trip BEFORE we were having kids.

When I was 27, knowing that this trip was at the end of the year, I wanted to start trying soooooo badly! I was OBSESSED with babies and wanted one of my own! But I had this huge trip at the end of the year, so we just waited. We did go on a fun trip to the Caribbean that year, though. Then when I got back from Vegas, I threw out the birth control!

But we were already married, we owned a home, and we both have good jobs, so besides the timing of this Vegas trip, there really wasn't anything holding us back. Hubs was kind of... less enthusiastic about having kids, so I spent all of 27 talking about babies and trying after Vegas to warm him up to the idea, haha.

We knew we were ready to try shortly after we got married so that was all we were waiting for so to speak. But all of the other big things were already in place (house, good jobs, paying down debt, etc.)

It wasn't something we consciously decided together. We weren't planning on having kids for a few more years and hadn't talked about it for a while. But in the same month DH and I had this feeling that we were ready. We didn't change anything that we do, we didn't mention it to each other, and we went about business like usual. That was the month baby surprised us!

I don't know if there ever would have been a perfect time for us. Even thought we didn't plan ahead, everything has worked out wonderfully. There's no way I'd change what happened just so we could follow our old plan.

We didn't really have a check list or anything. We had been married for about 2.5 years, didn't have any debt besides student loans (and I went to law school so I have a ton of loans... knew I wouldn't be paying those off for quite awhile!) and mortgage, had our own home, had cars that were already paid for... although we could have had more money in savings and bigger salaries, we figured we'd never feel quite ready financially and we could always have more money, so thought this would be as good of a time as any

We haven't started trying yet(On the schedule for Sept 2013) but we just FELT ready. We are both young (23/24) that in itself would make a lot of people wait but we knew we wanted to be young parents (being aware of certain health conditions that I have), as we are planning it now we would be 25/26 when we have the baby which I don't find it too young at all.

It might not be the ideal situation for other people because of our age or the fact that we both just started out new jobs but it works for us. We are married have stable jobs, have traveled quite a bit, have a house (currently in the buying process) and most important to us we feel ready to take that step and the responsibility that come with bringing a child into the world.

We are in our early thirties and were planning to start our family a year after our wedding. I started to get nervous about that as a timeline a few months prior to said wedding when I saw how difficult it was for my best friend to conceive...

Then, around the time of the wedding, my husbands arthritis flared up (probably the stress) and, over the last 6 months, has deteriorated fast. The medication he requires to alleviate it causes birth defects so we had a choice - do it now or wait until a TBC date in the possibly distant future...

That plus my age plus my fears that conceiving isn't half as easy as I'd thought all added up to one thing - ditch the BCP!! We're on cycle #2 TTC now!!

We had talked about it a lot before we got married. We knew we wanted to wait a little while after the wedding, we wanted to wait until DH's job was enough that I wouldn't have to work for the first couple of years, and we didn't want to wait TOO long since we were 29 when we got married. We agreed on about 2 years after the wedding. A little over a year after the wedding I got really antsy, but DH didn't feel like financially we were quite there if we were dropping to one income. So we kept to the original plan and have just recently started trying. We don't own a home but that was never a priority for us, since we live in a city now and will move to the suburbs after having kids, not before.

@mrs. bird: This. We aren't ready by "checklist" standards, but we are READY. I am graduating from grad school in May (when we are due). DH was in a temporary work situation until recently. We have both CC and student debt. We rent. But we are ready to be parents, have great insurance and endless amounts of love for a new baby. And we have built a strong marriage that we feel is optimal for nurturing a family. Things might not be perfect on paper, but...oh god this is corny, they are perfect in our hearts. That is what matters to us. Our baby will be housed, clothed and fed. Beyond that it will be loved beyond words. That is enough for us.

@MrsHotDog: Aww YOUR post made me tear up! Thank you so much for saying that

I had a few things on my personal (selfish, I know haha) list before thinking I was ready. I wanted to find a job closer to home but in this economy, it's been TOUGH finding anything! Luckily I have a good job with decent pay and good benefits with the healthcare provider I like. I finally spoke with DH and we agreed that there isn't ever going to be a"perfect" time.. but we have good savings, we own our home and aren't getting any younger!

after being married for 2 years, we both wanted a baby, so we just pulled the goalie. first month, bam... baby on the way! like @mrs. bird, most people wouldn't agree with our timeline, but it works for us. life is short, if we waited for every single thing in our lives to fall in place perfectly we'd never have kids. my mom got ovarian cancer at 38 and nearly died, and because of that i don't wait to do my living... no better time than now!

@maybebaby: I love this! I have similar sentiments.

We also aren't "ready" by many peoples' standards--we rent, my husband's job is temporary, I'm on the job hunt, we have debt and not a lot of savings...but emotionally and intellectually, we feel ready, and want this so badly. It's also just not realistic for us to wait until we own a home, have a large savings built up, etc. We have a strong marriage and are smart and resourceful and loving, with very supportive families. We just talked about everything again a few days ago, and we will probably start trying next month!

@MrsBrewer: Thank you! I hope the same for you, whenever you start.

Last summer we were on vacation and I kept seeing all these cute families with little kids at the beach...I've never had crazy baby fever but it totally hit me then. When we got back home, we started talking about it more and then decided to pull the goalie to see what would happen. A month later I was pregnant! But I'm so glad with how everything worked out. Could we have waited and put more money towards some of our student loan debt or savings for a bigger house? Sure. But something is always going to come up and there's really no perfect time to have a baby. You just learn to adjust - you really have no other choice.