Into the Woods "Money before a child" line

I have been wondering this for a while. In Into the Woods, the Baker's Wife says to the Baker, "You would take money before a child?" I always thought it just meant "You would take money from a child?" and the "before" part was an old medieval way of speaking. But now, I wonder, does she mean, "You would take money from this boy to sell back the cow before you would keep the cow so we could lift the curse and have a child?"

Well, thoughts? Answers?

Updated On: 12/11/19 at 01:11 AM

Thank you very much for answering my question.