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Oh that's good. You are depressed, so you are going to create a little muse who can entertain you. That is a tall order for one baby to fill. Sounds like you are having a baby for the wrong reasons.
Please don't go out of your way to become a single parent, at your age it will be like taking a vow of poverty. It will be unfair to the child. It's fine to make foolish choices for yourself, just don't throw a baby into the mix.
As a single mom who plans to work full time and go to school part time...when are you going to see the baby? That is a busy, busy schedule. In fact, it's what I'm doing right now--Full time work M-F, with school on the weekends. Weeknights are busy writing papers and studying. I have, on average, a couple hours free time each week (during which I'm generally exhausted and fall asleep on the couch!)
Even if you are super-mom in the making, trying to work and go to school and take care of an infant is going to be too much. You won't get to enjoy it at all. If you wait until you are done with school and have a loving father in the picture, you'll get to relish having your kids instead of simply getting through it.
Not to mention the cost of day care...aye yay yay. My coworker pays $1800/month to put his daughter in a run of the mill group center down the street from the office. That's $20,000 year on JUST daycare. I don't know how much you make, but I know there's no way I had an extra $1800/month when I was in college.
As a single mom who plans to work full time and go to school part time...when are you going to see the baby? That is a busy, busy schedule. In fact, it's what I'm doing right now--Full time work M-F, with school on the weekends. Weeknights are busy writing papers and studying. I have, on average, a couple hours free time each week (during which I'm generally exhausted and fall asleep on the couch!)
Even if you are super-mom in the making, trying to work and go to school and take care of an infant is going to be too much. You won't get to enjoy it at all. If you wait until you are done with school and have a loving father in the picture, you'll get to relish having your kids instead of simply getting through it.
Not to mention the cost of day care...aye yay yay. My coworker pays $1800/month to put his daughter in a run of the mill group center down the street from the office. That's $20,000 year on JUST daycare. I don't know how much you make, but I know there's no way I had an extra $1800/month when I was in college.
Not to mention that a lot of CNA work nursing shifts of 12 hours so she is gonna be quiet tired when she gets home.
No offense, but I have tried to "enjoy life" but I simply can't. I have major baby fever as of now. I would get a pet if I could, but where I live, I am not allow to have a pet.
But I agree that 2k isn't enough...how much should I have saved for a baby?
You'll need the costs involved in prenatal care, tens of thousands of dollars for in-vitro fertilization (since you say you'll go through a sperm bank), which is not covered by medical insurance. You'll need the actual hospital or birthing center costs, plus the doctors' fees, anasthesiologist if one ends up being needed.
So you'll need to have around $100,000 saved up, JUST to cover the cost of being pregnant and giving birth.
THEN - your expenses will depend on the health of your child. If he's healthy, you're dealing with a few hundred dollars every month JUST for diapers. You'll have to hope you can breastfeed because you won't be able to afford formula, even if you get on WIC. Which of course means you won't be attending school anymore, or working part time, because an infant requires food on demand, not just when you get a break between classes of your 15 minute break at work.
Then there's clothes, furniture, pediatrician visits.
If your child is -not- healthy, then you could be looking up to millions of dollars, since part time jobs generally don't covering the health insurance of employees' children.
Also, your math is totally off. You say you graduated from high school last year, and you're in your second year of college. Did you have your first year of college during the summer? And you expect to get through all of this educational stuff by the time you're 20 - and you say you're 19 now. It doesn't add up.
Now of course, if you intend to go on welfare, become another leech off the taxpayers' money, live in subsidized housing, have food stamps cover your general expenses, and it doesn't bother you that you'd be raising a child in an environment that no child should ever -need-...and you're doing this on purpose because "you want" a baby..
Sadly it is a fairly common sentiment "I want a baby to love me unconditionally because no one else does". Having a baby is a lot of work, expensive, and if you are doing it on your own, there is never time off. Heaven forbid you have a child with health problems, or other needs. It's one thing to have an unplanned pregnancy and have to deal with it, but to actually plan to bring a baby into this world when you don't have the time, money, or most importantly emotional well-being is very naive and unfair to the baby. Volunteer at a hospital, Boys and Girls club, summer camps, YMCA, etc.
And please DO NOT get a kitten. Cats, contrary to popular opinion, become very attached to their families. There are tons of adult cats in shelters that are unadoptable because people got a kitten and then wanted to move somewhere that doesn't take pets.
I know you said you can't have pets, and that's good, because I think it's very irresponsible of people to tell you to get an animal in your situation. You won't be able to look after a baby and a pet is not a toy.
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