You'll be equals.

While it's true that we've come along way from the days when women were expected to be June Cleaver and men had to bring home the bacon, we are almost never equals in our marriage. At different times, you each will be shouldering the bulk of the responsibility. When couples have young children, women often end up being the primary caretaker. When you have a full-time career, your caring for the kids, and you are still holding up your end of the household chores, you are probably doing more work than your spouse.

Then again, while you were pregnant and on maternity leave, hubby might have been paying the bills for everyone. In the end, it is probably about even. But, on the way, during one of those times when you're doing more work, you might feel resentment. It's best to confront those feelings from the get go before they damage your marriage. Just don't be naive and think you'll both be equals - and taking on the same amount of work - all the time. That's simply not realistic.

Baby will fix everything.

Babies can definitely bring joy and satisfaction to your life and even your marriage. But parenting and caring for children adds additional pressure to a relationship. Changing diapers, 2 a.m. feedings, and additional expenses can all make an already vulnerable and struggling marriage implode on itself. The victim when a couple has a baby as a means of repairing itself is the child. Don't do that to your baby. Have children because you're in a loving relationship and you want to share that love with your kid not because you want to fix something that is broken.

Your marriage will be stronger if you lived together first.

Living together before marriage might be convenient. Two people can more easily pay rent or a mortgage than one. It might even help couples get used to living together (who will do what chores, rules to establish) so it won't be as much of a shock post marriage. But research suggests that living together does nothing to improve the chances of having an enduring marriage. A report by the National Center for Health Statistics, which was based on the National Survey of Family Growth, a sample of almost 13,000, found that couples who lived together before marriage and those that didn't had about the same rates of success, according to a story in USA Today. In other words, it doesn't help or hurt to live together first. You'll be challenged by marriage either way.