How do people have children? I mean: how can people possibly afford children?

My husband and I were doing pretty well before I became pregnant—two well-paying, full-time jobs, a nice affordable apartment in a neighborhood with trees, plenty of disposable income after saving our monthly 20% for a rainy day. I guess this fooled me into believing life would be easy after I left the commuter class to stay home and take care of the baby. Not so.

I’ve been home with my son since the day of his birth – so almost ten months now – and it’s the most unbelievably wonderful and difficult work I’ve ever done. (That corny “hardest job you’ll ever love” saying is true.) But instead of being paid for my new 24/7 job (with six hours allotted for sleep every night), I am hemorrhaging money.

My husband has a good job, but not the six-figure salary it seems we would need to cover our expenses as a family and live comfortably. I know my experience is specific to a living in an expensive city, but I’ve been trying to do the math on alternate living situations and honestly… I can’t see how any families survive in America without both parents working full-time.