Budgeting for Baby

[Alexis83]

Hi everyone! I'm new here. I think I made an introductory post last night, but I'm not sure it went through. Either that, or it just didn't get any replies! =P

Anywho, to give a bit of background about myself and my situation: I'm 28, married to a great guy and recently left the 9-5 job that I hated to pursue my small photography business. As I've only just started out, business is pretty slow, and the whole thing is just very unpredictable. I love what I do, but at the moment it doesn't bring in a solid salary. My husband is in a career he loves (he's a software engineer consultant) and has a pretty good salary. But Sydney's a really expensive place to live, and regardless of his situation, we're not exactly millionaires... or anywhere close to being such!

I recently told him that I want to have a baby. I've been wanting to for a couple of years, now, but I haven't said anything because I know he hasn't been ready. But now I feel like I can't really hold back much longer. Babies are all I really think about: names, what they'd look/be like, what schools we'd send them to etc etc, and I seem to get so emotional when I see other people and their babies/kids.

He's said he's OK with having a family: he'd like to be a father. But both of us are worried about money. Neither of us really has any idea of where to start budgeting for a baby, and we're not even sure whether a baby would fit in our house (which we don't own). We have SOME savings, but not enough to live off forever.

I have considered the idea of not having a family at all, considering my very unstable "career" at the moment, but that thought just makes me feel so horrible inside (I'm sure many women here could sympathise. I hope!) and makes me very sad.

So I guess my question is around budgeting and money: where were you when you decided you wanted to have a family? How did you go about budgeting? What sort of budget do you suggest? What other things need to be considered that you may not have thought of when you decided you wanted to be a parent?

Any advice and insights would be much appreciated as we begin this "journey" (which I'm also rather afraid of, I should add. I'm not good with money!). Would love to hear from anyone who's willing. :-) Thank you in advance. This forum seems really great. :-)