Congrats. Its great to be still young when your child is old enough to hang out with you. When the child is 20 you are only 44. Better then he is 20 and you are 64.
OP, congratulations to you and your wife. I hope the pregnancy goes well.
Being a dad has been the hardest, most important thing I have done in life. I became one at the age of 30, and like you, there were a lot of things I wanted to do like improve my Chinese or do a PhD. Having a child has slowed all of that down, but I have no regrets about it whatsoever. In fact, having a child has forced me to re-evaluate just how worthwhile a lot of my previous goals were, and has caused me to set a few new personal, non-fatherhood-related goals. It has also caused me to mature in ways that I otherwise would not have. I bet a lot of other dads would say the same, and I bet that 6 years from now, when the little one is in primary school and you finally have a chance to catch your breath, you will have similar feelings about it all.
Like Omni, I never planned to settle down. I traveled a lot in my formative years (spent two years in Australia growing up), spent over half my life as an expat or international student, and used to frown upon breeders who seemed to live life to have babies/concentrate fully on family. 
All I can say is that it changes when you find the right woman. I left a pretty awesome gig in Taiwan to come back to North America so that my stepkids could enjoy great schooling and a stress-free educational system. My wife had a new baby in 2010. Since sheâs had that baby, we still have had a few international trips so that I donât get too bored. I miss the internationalism and diverse expats in Taiwan, but watching stepkids thrive in new educational settings, watching my toddler play in a large backyard surrounded fully by extended family, and having the time to sail, bbq, own a home/enjoy home improvement type of projects, and work in a fulfilling job with work-life balance has made me think I made the right decision for the family.
I miss being selfish though and living the nomad lifestyle. However, there comes a time where you have to put others first. 
That the OP will be going through this at 24 makes me think heâll grow up pretty quickly. I held out to my late 20s (not as late as Omni).
And that, my friend, is where we differ. I had my first chance at around 40. Alas, she was taken from us after a mere nine days of heartache. Took a decade to get our current bundle of joy. I wouldnât wind back the clock for anything in the world. Irrational, madness? Maybe. But that little shit fulfils me in a way I would not ever have believed possible.
Itâs been wonderful watching you get joy from the little shit too. 
Congrats to the OP. :bravo:
Many Thanks for all of the truly amazing responses. You have all transformed a great day into a truly fantastic one.
Welcome to the club! The good thing is now youâll never have to think about if now is the time. I met my wife at 24 but we had our kid at 29. If your wife is the right person for you I think that the timing could never be better.
Donât buy tons of new stuff. Give a lot of love. Meet nice people. Be aware that you need to give yourself some time alone and with friends. Be aware that your wife needs it too. Never forget why you love your wife and make sure she knows it.
The biggest day still has to come when most share a tear seeing the unborn born. 
A lot of great advice as words from all posters.
One said once to me (having been in your place at a later stage in life)
"Whatever you did for yourself will take a dramatic but positive turn of events as you will do anything for him or her.
Bummer! Iâd love to say congratulations, but I wouldnât be feeling it Iâm afraid. It always sounds like a ClichĂ© when I hear it. Just like when people tell me that pregnant women look beautiful. Thatâs actually the only thing I donât think when I see a pregnant woman. Sorry ladies. I know that sounds cruel, but it really is what I feel, and Iâm only trying my best to be honest.
Kids are stress, financial burdens, worries, messes, and full of restrictions in life. If I could do it all again, then I wouldnât have one. Of course its hard for most people to say that once theyâve had a kid, because you love it, and then donât want to give it up, even though it provides all of the above.
My best words of advice, based on my own feelings and experience is âdonât have kids.â I also think the world has enough of them already.
Sorry for the downer. Please ignore me if I upset you.
Hey, just sometimes though, you might have the time to appreciate having one, in between all the business of looking after it.
I prefer turtles. They are cute, they can go for weeks without food, and they donât scream when theyâre bored, tired, hungry, too dry, too wet, just grumpy, or anything. They donât demand that you spend weeks on end choosing the right school, redecorate the spare room, spend countless mountains of money on STUFF which you never would have dreamed of needing. They donât need you to tuck them in and read them stories when youâve just pulled a fifteen hour work day in order to meet the rising costs of raising them. Hell, you donât even need a second job to raise turtles!
And if you really, really get sick to death of them, then you can always pass them off to a friend who thinks theyâre cute.
I had a great time with my turtles, while I had them. And I only needed to clean their tank once a week! Almost bliss!
Oh, I forgot to mention⊠My wife never turned me down for sex, due to the state or situation which my turtles were in.
Turtles wonât affect your love life at all! Your wife will still think that you are more important than your turtles, and you wonât be mad at her for playing with them and even cleaning them out once in a while. Turtles donât make you the second most important person in the room after everything else!
My friends also loved my turtles. They would take them out and play with them when they came around for a BBQ. The turtles would just have a great time, scampering around on the floor while everyone else got stuffed full of food and got drunk. The next day I could lay in bed as long as I wanted, if it wasnât for my kid who needed my attention. My turtles never moaned that Iâd been up all night drinking, but shit! My kid certainly would let me know about it!
I never once had to take my turtles to the vet, and I didnât need insurance to keep them for the fear of an astronomical hospital bill.
On quite a few occasions my turtles got colds. They would actually sneeze every time they got one, and they would be off their food for a day or two. I didnât once take them to a vet, and they got well, all by themselves.
My kid? Crap! If he sneezed once, my wife would have him straight down to the doctor and stuff him full of powdery substances and gooey liquid. I donât know what the hell it was for, but apparently is was necessary. Also, apparently I didnât care enough for his health because I didnât actually want to send him to the doctor at all. This was a big 'No-No" and it proved what such a careless father I was. :eh:
Never the less, my turtles trooped on and didnât seem to die at all. Not even a hint of death was there in the turtle tank, and even amongst all that poo that would sometimes build up.
My kid had to have twenty plus immunizations before he was allowed to go to school in Taiwan. Over twenty I tell you! What were they for? I donât know. I just know we had to take him to the hospital every now and again, and he would cry, and we would be there to comfort him and offer him words of comfort to let him understand why in fact we didnât really know why he was there either, but the government said it was necessary.
My turtles didnât have a single jab. Not one! Imagine that!
I canât even figure out how turtles even exist these days without jabs!
My kid got into a fight at school not long ago, and this led to quite a few kids at school fighting. I had to visit the school and explain that I was concerned. We had to find him another school. A rather more expensive one too!
My turtles would rarely fight. I think they did once or twice, but then the bigger one won, and then the smaller one didnât bother again after that. I didnât even bother to buy a second tank and social services didnât seem to care at all. I didnât get any phone call, or even a single letter. It just shows you what the government think about turtles. A damned travesty if you ask me.
Why arenât there turtle councilors? Surely there must be a market for them?!
Mate, I donât have much to say atm, but perhaps Iâll come back later (after the weekend) and give you some more words of encouragement.
That said, Iâll leave you with this: I totally understand how you feel. Take a few deep breaths. Tell your wife you love her. Hold her tight tonight when you go to sleep and know that no one is ever really ready.
Congratulations! As others have already noted, there is nothing you will ever do that is harderâŠbut also nothing even remotely as rewarding as fatherhood. Your young and sound as though you have your head on straight - your going to be fine.
My own experience constrasts sharply with yoursâŠunmarried into my 40âs and quite happily so. Then marriage to a wonderful Taiwanese woman and two planned children (boy and girl) after 50. My job situation was solid, finances good and yet my reaction to fatherhood was nearly identical to (what have I gotten myself into?) but from a completely different perspective. I too was worried about my age (what do I do when I am 60 and they are entering puberty?!? Will my finances hold out to secure a solid future or will I have to work into my 80âs? What if I get sick? Etc. Etc. All valid concernsâŠas are yours. But that is life. Had I remained single and/or without children the questions, concerns and risks would be different - but they would still exist. So, yeah go ahead and give some thought to how you will make it work knowing that in the end you WILL make it work. In the meantimeâŠalso know that everytime you see your little one running toward with arms wide open and big smile on his/her face all those concerns are going to melt into obscurity. Savor those moment because THAT is what life really is all about.
Best Wishes.
Congrats. My advice to you is to stay with the in-laws. (assuming you guys have a good relationship and you can stand them.) At least for a little while, maybe a year or two. Pitch in for the utilities. They may or may not accept, but the gesture would be appreciated. Youâll be able to save a bit more by living with your wifeâs folks and more importantly, they may/will help you when the baby comes. This will not be free, mind you. Theyâll have their own opinions and do some crazy ass superstitious shit sometimes. But theyâve been there and done that so they do know a bit more than you. The first few months are the hardest and having someone experienced around to help can be invaluable. Youâre wife would be able to go back to work and whatever you decide to do, work or school, decide quickly and stick to it. Half-assing between the two will only waste precious time.
If it were me, I would get that masters while the wife is pregnant. You have 8 or so months during the pregnancy and hopefully youâll be able to get it quickly and use it to get a higher paying job. Babies are expensive but toddlers + school = crazy expensive.
OP I had both my children before thirty. And after Pregnant with the first one I thought, thatâs it. My life has ended. No trips, no fun, nothing, no oneâs ever calling me a beauty, I am never going to have any money, I have to become the sacrificial lamb and all that. The n the baby came. Nothing happened. I went to work, dined, went to restaurants, went to concerts, if it was a movie, I went alone or with friends while the hubby babysat, and then I did the same things when the second one came. Yes there are numerous hospital trips, and more things to buy and more trips to the library and you have to earn more monry to send them to school but guess what??? Everything is more, more pleasure, more satisfaction, more learning about yourself, more compassion. Just MORE. And More fun. We used to be a happy couple, now weâre a happy family!
Due to the very strong and supportive response that I had on this forum I think that it is only fair to post an update. It is with sad regret that I have to inform you that my wife lost our baby at 8 weeks. This was caused by a mole in the womb, the baby not having a heartbeat and eventually a miscarriage.
My wife will go in for an operation next week to have the mole removed.
We are both shocked and upset. Over the past couple of weeks since the original message I had come to enjoy the âwe are having a babyâ feeling however this news has turned everything upside down. We are staying strong and just want to get the operation over with.
Once again thanks for all of the kind words which were posted all of those weeks ago.
So sorry to hear about your loss. Did the mole form because of the pregnancy? Good luck with the operation and the difficult grieving process. Weâre here for you!
Condolences.
Iâm terribly sorry to hear that, Milky. All the best to you and your wife.
Sorry for ur loss, milkybar kid. I hope milky wife is ok.
Iâm so sorry for your loss.
Sorry to hear that.