MomsTalk: How Long Should You Wait to Have More Children?

My daughter, Macy, just turned 19 months old, and she is absolutely the best thing I've ever done, although I'm sure we all feel this way about our children. I was with her father for five years, and though we are no longer "together," we are still close. He lives a block away from my home and sees his daughter all the time. (If any of you are wondering, we broke up over financial issues we couldn't agree on.)

We have a strange relationship in that we can hang out and barbeque and then go to court the next day (regarding him not paying support). A lot of people give me grief over this dynamic and wonder how I can tolerate being around him when he does not always fulfill his end of bargain. As long as we don't discuss money, we can get along just fine. I would rather have our daughter see two happy and loving parents interact together and leave the rest (money) to the courts instead of always fighting and using our child as a weapon.

My question today kind of ties into this. Since I am a "single mom" for definition's sake, how does that affect having more children? I am watching my baby grow up right before my very eyes and it gets me thinking about if I will ever get to experience all those special "baby" milestones and moments again. I will be turning 32 shortly, and I wonder if my time with that was a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Not being married to her father makes the question even harder.

A lot of people wait a couple years to have more children. As far as I can tell, it typically happens when the oldest is around 2, although my mom is an exception--my sister and I are almost 10 years apart. I wouldn't really have any qualms about it if her father and I were still together, but since we are not at this point, I guess it wouldn't be a good idea to have another child. Especially considering the current money situation. Don't get me wrong--Macy has everything under the sun and is in need of nothing. But it has been a struggle to get him to contribute his share.

But then I think of how we get along well involving everything else. Then I think of how I would like our daughter to have a sibling one day, and more importantly, how I would like them to have the same father. I am at a standstill on this one because I am starting to miss the "baby" stuff, and I would want my children to be close.

I guess my questions about this topic are:

1. How long do other people wait to have more children?
2. Do other moms ever go through the "my baby isn't a baby anymore," and the "I'm going to be too old to have another if I don't do it soon," stages?
3. Does being a "single parent" make that big of a difference in how it all plays out?
4.  Also, to those parents that have only one child, do you ever regret not having a sibling for your child?