Aguilar, a certified financial planner, says having another child -- as they hope to -- will push their child care costs beyond their monthly house payments.
"You add up the costs ... and pretty soon you're paying more toward child care than a mortgage, and that's less than ideal," says Aguilar.
The toll of child care costsFor the past year Mariana Gomez paid nearly $5,000 a month in child care expenses for her 4-year-old daughter, Julianna, and her 2-year-old son, Ben, in Washington DC -- way more than her mortgage.
Child care is a major budget item, says Ryan Frailich, a certified financial planner in New Orleans and parent of 2-year-old Elijah, whose day care costs $700 a month.
More than half of moms scaled back their hours to save on child care costs and a quarter left the workplace completely.