Two things

Should ideally happen before I get pregnant:

• I get promoted
• Yan passes the CFA exam

Both are due this June. I think we are on track, as my generous supervisor has told me she's putting in a promotion for me, and Yan has thus far passed two out of three of the exams required to earn the CFA designation. After each of these events occur, we'll be in relatively good financial shape, as we'll both (eventually) command higher salaries and I'll be able to coast for a while in my current job without expecting to be promoted again for a couple of years.

The twist, of course, is that if one or both of these events doesn't happen for us, I'm not sure that I'll want to put off trying. I suppose that I read too many infertility blogs, which I've learned so much from, but I'd like to find out sooner rather than later if I can actually sustain a pregnancy (I know that I've been pregnant before, but that's no guarantee that I can carry a pregnancy to term). I figure finding out at 30 is that much better than finding out at 35. It's weird and not at all unusual, I'm sure, to feel personally ready but not quite professionally.

What's also weird is that I'm famous for jumping the gun and haven't yet. (When we got Mandy, we said we'd get a second dog after we'd moved into our new apartment, and then after we'd come back from vacation, but I couldn't wait. I found Mandy on PetFinder.com a few weeks before our vacation and then had a friend stay with her while she peed on the floor every single day.) I've gotten all checked out, I've gotten prenatal vitamins, I even bought a few classic Winnie the Pooh prints on Charing Cross Road while we were in London; in short, I've done everything but actually have unprotected sex. Yan seems to be leaving things up to me, then panicking a bit when we do have a pregnancy scare, but on the whole, I think he's tentatively on board. (Mari's husband Ed is the only man I know who actually seemed to want a baby more than his wife; when she unexpectedly got pregnant again only 9 months after their first son was born, Ed was all "YEAH!" and pumping his fist in the air while Mari has remained in shock practically up to her due date this April 7.)

There are a few other factors, which I'll go into later, including a possible semen allergy (lucky, lucky me!) and a move to London (which actually would be lucky).

In any case, that's it for now. If I had any readers, I'd ask whether anybody else felt this way before starting a family, but I suppose that would involve actually telling people other than Yan about this blog. So, for now, I'm left to my own devices. But if you're out there, post a comment--please!

Comments

[KidKate]

Wow, my first spam! My first impulse was to delete it but I think I'll keep it for posterity...