Family planning is relatively new. "Babies used to come when they wanted," says Carolyn French of Salt Lake City, Utah, the mother of five daughters. French experienced her first unexpected pregnancy in 1958, and French's grandmother had 12 unplanned pregnancies. Parents today have the luxury of planning their families, but how can couples decide on a perfect family size? And what about spacing between kids?

"There are several factors to weigh when you're trying to decide whether or not to have another baby," says Ann Douglas, author of The Unofficial Guide to Having a Baby (John Wiley & Sons, 1999) and mother of four children. She offers the following tips for deciding if you're ready for another child.

• How stable is your relationship? Having a baby won't "fix" a broken relationship.
• How steady is your job? Consider postponing another child if you or your partner will be unemployed in the near future.
• How healthy are you? For example, diabetics will want to time pregnancy so that blood sugar remains in control. Significantly overweight or underweight women may want to target a healthy weight before attempting pregnancy.
• Are you physically and mentally prepared? Do you have the patience and energy required to care for another child, especially a baby with a fussy temperament or medical challenges? Not all pregnancies end in picture-perfect happy endings.

Douglas recommends taking folic acid and kicking bad habits, like smoking, drinking or taking street drugs, before trying to conceive.

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