How old were you when your *biological clock* kicked in?

[musey]

If applicable, of course

I've always wanted to have kids "someday," but never felt the urge to do it "now." That's been coming on rather strong lately, even though I know intellectually that I am not ready and do not want them yet (we have at least 4 years to go, which I'm sure will fly by in the end)... emotionally I'm just beginning to have a little conflict. My husband has been feeling the same way, too.


How old were you, or at what stage of life were you (newly married, graduating school, settled in a good job, etc.) when you first noticed it kicking in?

 

[Octavia]

My FI is 30, and his has been kicking in really strongly lately, especially since several of our friends have newborns or are currently pregnant. I''m 27 and still in the "let''s give it a couple more years" stage. However, I''m not so against it, and if we had an "oops" right now it would be fine. Every now and then I do find myself wanting a child, so I have a feeling that once we''re married my clock will start ticking a little louder.

 

[Shoopy]

Mr. Fiery''s came at around 25 (He''s 30 now)

I''m still waiting for mine to kick in hahaha

 

[musey]

Date: 4/22/2009 9:29:00 PM
Author: fieryred33143
Mr. Fiery''s came at around 25 (He''s 30 now)

I''m still waiting for mine to kick in hahaha

LOL!

 

[Cind11]

Well, I am probably pretty unusual, but mine didn''t kick in until I was about 31. I became pregnant at 32 and had my first child at 33. But I really wasn''t ready before that and am probably a better parent for having waited.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Well, I''m 27 and mine still hasn''t, so tough to know...

 

[LaraOnline]

Date: 4/22/2009 8:59:46 PM
Author:musey
How old were you, or at what stage of life were you (newly married, graduating school, settled in a good job, etc.) when you first noticed it kicking in?

I was around 26 when I started intellectualising the whole 'kid' thing... 27 and 28 on the backburner (but still an issue), by 29 it was a largish part of the whole 'get your act together' thing and by 30 it was a huge clanging bell in my head...

glad it's all over, with a happy ending!!! *whew*

 

[musey]

I think I''m not helping myself by tivo-ing reruns of Jon & Kate Plus 8 and babysitting our friends'' kids

I''m way too young for this "bug." It''s a good thing we can''t afford them, it''s forcing us out of even musing about it!

 

[DivaDiamond007]

I was 24 when I got baby fever sooo bad. I held it in until I was 25 and then told hubby. We started trying and got pregnant fairly quickly. I was 26 when I delivered our son. James is now 9.5 months old and I''ve got the itch again - but we''re waiting until he''s at least a year and maybe even longer depending on our financial/daycare situation.

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Date: 4/22/2009 9:29:00 PM
Author: fieryred33143
Mr. Fiery''s came at around 25 (He''s 30 now)


I''m still waiting for mine to kick in hahaha

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Good question, Musey! This topic always interests me.

Anyone have it kick in at a young-ish age? Diva, you said 24... To me, that qualifies.

I don''t know that it''s my biological clock (I''m a baby! 23!), but man-oh-man I''ve got some crazy interest in pregnancy.

To be clear: I do not want a baby now, or possibly for the next 5-12 years, I definitely couldn''t support one the way that I hope to down the road, and I''m still in my honeymoon-wedding planning-self-centered phase, which I hope to drag out for a whiiiiiiiiile...

BUT: I''m totally fascinated by pregnancy and being pregnant, would love to share that experience with J and my extended family, and really love baby clothes. (Good reason to get KTFU, right?) Babies are okay, too

, but once they start talking- I have NO interest

So maybe I''m a few years behind you, Musey? It crosses my mind, I contemplate it, but I''m nowhere near being serious about starting a family. A few years ago, the wheels were NOT turning AT ALL. Even remotely. In fact, I despised babes. I think after a friend or two gets hitched, and someone in your peer circle pops a bun outta the oven, the mommy-thoughts begin (for those who think they may want to be parents, anyway)

Ah well. Perhaps when I''m a REAL adult I''ll hear the clock

 

[SparklyLibra]

Mine is kicking my ARSE now. I'm almost 30.

I hear it beating in my ears like a drum.

I think the reason it's "ticking" to much is because I had a child at the ripe old age of 20 and so much time has passed since I had a baby.... I have step-kids but it's not the same. I just got married but DH & I have been together for 5+ years.

I guess it has a lot to do with the fact that when I was little, I wanted to have all my kids within 2 years of eachother and then just be done with it....
Right now really ISN'T the best time because we don't close our home until April '09 (the whole subdivision is under construction.)

But it seems to be ALL I can think about....


ETA: I find myself feeling disappointed when the Red Army come marching in

 

[Burk]

Mine kicked in pretty early I guess. I''ve always known I want to be a mom. I was probably 24 when I knew I was ready. I had my daughter when I was 25 (she''s now 15 months) and we''re now "not preventing" having another. I would have "not prevented" months ago if DH would have agreed!

 

[TravelingGal]

Mine never kicked in. At 34, I was kind of concerned (for lack of a better word) that it didn''t. I wasn''t sure I wanted kids. I wasn''t opposed to the idea. TGuy did want them.

So we did the throw caution to the wind thing, as many of you know. I got pregnant right off the pill.

What I didn''t expect to feel was the relief (after the initial shock and railing of fists)! All of the sudden, I was happy that I was going to be a mom as early as possible.

 

[musey]

Date: 4/22/2009 10:15:02 PM
Author: PilsnPinkysMom
Anyone have it kick in at a young-ish age? Diva, you said 24... To me, that qualifies.

I am also 24

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 4/22/2009 10:31:35 PM
Author: TravelingGal
Mine never kicked in. At 34, I was kind of concerned (for lack of a better word) that it didn''t. I wasn''t sure I wanted kids. I wasn''t opposed to the idea. TGuy did want them.

So we did the throw caution to the wind thing, as many of you know. I got pregnant right off the pill.

What I didn''t expect to feel was the relief (after the initial shock and railing of fists)! All of the sudden, I was happy that I was going to be a mom as early as possible.

BTW, at 36.5 years old, mine is now definitely ticking. Not meaning I want another kid, but I feel that the decision has to be made quickly. Weird feeling to be coming to the end of my (desired) childbearing years.

 

[lyra]

Mine kicked in at 23. I think it''s genetic, because my 21 year old daughter is already planning having kids and she doesn''t even have a b/f right now. My 18 year old just told me today she''s not planning on having kids at all. Maybe she''ll wait until she''s 30+ or really won''t have any, who knows?

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Date: 4/22/2009 10:34:27 PM
Author: musey

Date: 4/22/2009 10:15:02 PM

Author: PilsnPinkysMom

Anyone have it kick in at a young-ish age? Diva, you said 24... To me, that qualifies.

I am also 24

This is comforting to me, in a big way... I may be alone on this, and perhaps it''s part of being in grad school with VERY career-minded folk, but I often feel that young mommy-hood is disfavored in this "day and age."

My mother will be 58 this september, my dad already IS, and they didn''t have their first until the age of 32. By this time, pretty much all of her friends had had at least one child. Her age was kind of abnormal, and growing up, my friends'' parents were all much younger than my own. I asked my mom if she had any regrets about when she had us (as 35 is a normal age now-a-days), and she said that sometimes she wishes she would have conceived earlier. (They tried for 6-7 years, and were married for 10 before the first BFP... so their ages weren''t ''by choice'' so-to-speak)

There are definitely benefits to holding off, but also benefits to starting young. I want to enjoy marriage, finish law school, travel, work, and do a bunch of things FIRST... but sometimes I feel that if I have Babe #1 before I turn 30, the general consensus will be "She''s so young... She didn''t even "live life" before getting ktfu!" I''m sure this is totally irrational, esp since a lot of the women on the Pregnant PSers board are in their 20''s, but I wonder if other 20-somethings ever feel the same way?

 

[ladyciel]

I''m currently 27, DH is 26, and we got married last Sept. I''ve always known I wanted kids, but it wasn''t until the last year or two that I started thinking about it frequently. The timing probably had something to do with knowing I was going to marry DH. DH and I talk about having a baby all the time, but always in the "can''t wait until we can" way. Both of us are still in school working on our PhDs, and my research pretty much precludes me from getting pregnant until after I''m done - I work with at least one chemical known to cause birth-defects.

Despite our situation, I''ve had baby on the brain a LOT in the past few months. We went out for dinner earlier this week, and there was the CUTEST little girl, probably a little under a year old, who was entertaining our entire section of the restaurant. I spent the whole meal cooing to DH about her (his back was to her, sadly). She had a crush on the waiter, so every time she caught sight of him she would smile from ear to ear and wave at him to try and get his attention. Just ADORABLE (and as cute and flirty as she was, her daddy is in for trouble). Sigh. I want one.

Aaaaand then my landlord''s grandkids come over later that evening (she lives upstairs from us), and their noise/running/voices started to irritate me and I started to wonder if perhaps I''m NOT as ready as I sometimes think.

 

[Kaleigh]

Mine kicked in early as well. Married at 24, had DD at 26 and DS at 28. I always knew I wanted kids. Great thing about having them early? They leave ya early! JK!! We are having our golden years early, and it''s a lot of fun....

 

[Laila619]

DH and I both majorly got baby fever a few months after we were married, so now! I''m 27, he''s 31. We were going to wait a year until we started trying, but that went right out the window.

 

[monarch64]

When I was married and watching t.v. all the time (in my free time), I remember thinking that I "should" be feeling the clock. That was at ages 25-31....I left that marriage almost a year ago and haven''t watched t.v. all this time and do not feel an inkling of a bio clock ticking whatsoever. Hmm. I also take care of my baby niece every night after I get home from work...could be another reason I''m averse to bearing children right now? I usually just chalk it up to not having met the right man yet, but I''m certainly starting to wonder if I''m just not cut out for parenthood, which would also be just fine with me.

 

[AmberGretchen]

Date: 4/22/2009 11:59:54 PM
Author: monarch64
When I was married and watching t.v. all the time (in my free time), I remember thinking that I ''should'' be feeling the clock. That was at ages 25-31....I left that marriage almost a year ago and haven''t watched t.v. all this time and do not feel an inkling of a bio clock ticking whatsoever. Hmm. I also take care of my baby niece every night after I get home from work...could be another reason I''m averse to bearing children right now? I usually just chalk it up to not having met the right man yet, but I''m certainly starting to wonder if I''m just not cut out for parenthood, which would also be just fine with me.

That''s really interesting about the TV Monnie - I often wonder how much of an impact popular culture and peer group and so forth have on stuff like this. It sounds like for you that was a big factor. I think for me if all of my friends suddenly started having babies (or rather, when that happens) I might start to more seriously consider it. I think at this point it just doesn''t seem like an immediate concern - I have so many more pressing things I want to do first, like finish my degree, get established in my career, etc...and its hard to even see how those things will end up, much less imagining what might happen once I''ve accomplished those things...

 

[E B]

Right around the time I fell in love with my now-husband (then boyfriend) and knew I wanted to build a life with him, as sappy as that sounds. It was pretty early- 21, I think? But we held off until after we'd both graduated from college, lived together, and got married. We're now 25 and 26 (soon to be 26 and 27) and expecting.

 

[Linda W]

Mine kicked in early. I was 23 when my DD was born. She will be 37, this September.

 

[mia1181]

Um.... probably when I was 7 or 8!

I have ALWAYS wanted to be a mom. But baby fever didn''t really kick in until age 26. There is this intense sense of urgency all of a sudden, and I really can''t think about anything else these days. DH and I have been together for going on 10 years, so I am just really ready!

 

[bee*]

I''m 27 now and I don''t have any issues with it at all. I won''t finish college till I''m 29 so I''m not sure if it''s my head just telling myself that I can''t do anything about it till then or if I really just don''t have the urge.

 

[Dandi]

Date: 4/22/2009 10:31:35 PM
Author: TravelingGal
Mine never kicked in. At 34, I was kind of concerned (for lack of a better word) that it didn''t. I wasn''t sure I wanted kids. I wasn''t opposed to the idea. TGuy did want them.

So we did the throw caution to the wind thing, as many of you know. I got pregnant right off the pill.

What I didn''t expect to feel was the relief (after the initial shock and railing of fists)! All of the sudden, I was happy that I was going to be a mom as early as possible.

This sounds so familiar, TGal! I''m 27 now and really don''t know what I feel... sometimes I get the slightest twinge of ''wouldn''t it be awesome...'' and most other times I feel nothing on the subject of motherhood. I think I''m maternally confused

DH is nearly 34 and is VERY clucky. I''m still waiting for my clock to start ticking though... it hasn''t yet!!

 

[Margot]

I''m 25 and don''t have the urge at all. Grant it, when I see a (well-behaved) little one, I get a little twinge but I don''t see myself having baby fever any time soon. It kind of worries me because I''d like to have a family but my BF''s nephews make me want to wait as long as possible

. Being a parent is definitely an around the clock job and I''m not willing to sacrafice all of that yet. Also, being a child of divorce, I want to make sure that if I bring a child into the world, it''s into a loving, stable one. That''s my second motivation in waiting. I''d like my future husband and I to have a few years by ourselves to build a stronger (and lasting) relationship before we have to direct some of our attention away from each other for any children we may have.

 

[Pandora II]

DH''s kicked in badly at 33 - mine about 6 months after him at 35 when I joined the TTC thread and FF.

Once I ''got with the programme'' I was very into the whole thing - still not sure if it was some kind of competitive thing on my part that I was damn well going to get KTFU if it killed me. I do know that the ''oh, heck now we''re actually having a kid didn''t hit till a few weeks after the BFP''