CORRECTED: From a commenter who signs himself “Overtaxed” on thehousingbubbleblog.com website:
My wife wants to have a child, I pretty much never have and don’t want to now. We have a great life together, plenty of money/time to enjoy each other, good vacations, good family, and, generally, what most people would consider the “American dream” (absent the 2.3 kids).
I don’t want to have a child for a bunch of reasons; cost is pretty high on the list (I’ll come back to this), but also, I don’t really like kids that much. I’m a solitary person, I like being in small groups and quiet environments. I work from home (so a child would be a constant interruption). We live 1000 miles from family, and, to be frank, the thought of either her or my family spending a lot of time here (after the birth or to help with the child) makes me want to bang my head into the wall. We both work 8-12 hours a day; I travel a lot for work (~50-75 nights on the road a year). And, finally, I just don’t see much upside in it; I’m not really sure how our lives could be much better than they are right now; we’re on track for an early retirement, we have great hobbies and time to enjoy them.
Now, onto the financial discussion. This is where I think I may have made a mistake in the conversation, but, honestly, I wanted to see what others thought of this. My wife told me, if we had a child, she’d like to stay home and take care of him/her. I told my wife that, I too would like to change jobs and scale back to something that gave me more time with the child, less stress, and, of course, less money. She looked at me like I had 3 heads. 
Why would you want to make less money if we have a child? The idea just didn’t seem to sink in at all that, if we spent all this money and time on having a child that I might actually want to know him/her, and not just be the guy who comes through, reloads his suitcase, and is on the road again. I’d sell our house, scale back dramatically to make up for the lost income (hers going to 0, mine going down to get a more balanced work environment with less travel) and spend our time with the child, rather than trying to get to early retirement (and amassing as many toys as possible).
This idea, let’s just say, went over like a lead brick. My wife wants me to work at the job I have now, doesn’t want to scale back the house (and probably not the spending) at all, and stay home with the child. Talking about the costs simply doesn’t compute; her staying home for 5 years (assuming she could go right back into the workforce at her current salary) would cost us about 300K. The child, to 18, would cost us about another 200K. And then college, figure around 100K. So, all told, we’re looking at somewhere between 500-700K for the child to age 21 or so.
Then I made a terrible mistake. I asked my wife, if I wanted to buy a Ferrari and stay home to enjoy it (quit my job) would she think it’s reasonable that she would still have to work at her job for 50-60 hours a week to help pay for said vehicle? She hit the roof. People aren’t cars, you can’t compare the 2, the whole deal. And I understand where she’s coming from, but, at the same time, I think her request is just about as unreasonable as my hypothetical.
Anyway, let’s just say that conversation didn’t go well. I spend my days marking the calendar until we can retire and the child discussion adds a solid 10-15 years of work before we can consider it, and, at most likely a lower standard of living. I’ve often thought that children were for the rich and poor (because, in both cases, it doesn’t really impact their standard of living), and, the more I look at the numbers, the more convinced I become that my initial thought was probably the right one (at least financially).
Please keep the flames to a minimum, I love my wife and want to make her happy, and, I’m sure she feels the same way. So save the “leave her” and “your a misogynist pig” responses. 
Thanks to listener Jim Palmer.