Background:
I'm a freelance writer. I work from home, and I work varied hours, between 2 and 6 hours a day. I'm also finishing an MA. I love what I do, but it's not brilliantly paid, so eventually I'd like to go into an in-house role with a paper/magazine.
My partner works in a relatively highly paid role. We live in a two bed rented flat in zone 2 in London.
We've been together for two years, and I'm 24 (nearly 25). We know that we want to have children. My partner is in his thirties.
I started wondering this morning. Would it be such a bad idea for us to have a baby now, before my career takes off properly? I could keep working freelance until the baby was older, building my portfolio whilst he/she was very little, which would mean being at home with baby without feeling guilty/like I'm missing out on my career.
Reasons I think maybe I'm being silly:
-I'm 24 and all of my friends are still in their first jobs/ living with their parents / single. It would definitely alienate me from my friends.
-Whilst we're not broke, we're by no means rich.
-We're not married yet but would like to be.
-I know what an enormous undertaking it is to become a mother, and perhaps I haven't enjoyed my "Freedom years" enough.
Reasons I think it's a good idea:
-There's a history of fertility troubles in my family, so starting earlier can only help.
-I'm ambitious, and once I really hit my stride in house I wouldn't want to leave, which might well lead to pushing back on having babies and leaving it too late.
-I know I want to have a child with my partner, I just don't know when.
-I love children (have worked as a nanny for two years) and I know that I want to have them with my partner, who I think will be a brilliant father.
I'm told that there's never a good time to have a child, but how do you recognise when it's an unselfish/practical time?