Warning, this post may offend some of you. If it does, we are all entitled to our thoughts and opinions, and these are simply a few of my thoughts.
Recently, my newsfeed on facebook has been peppered with people announcing their pregnancy or welcoming their beautiful babies into the world. With all the baby cuteness, it is enough to make my uterus feel lonely; feel like it is missing out on the party. I frequently have an internal battle about wanting babies right now, and then reminding myself that really isn't what I want at this juncture. Andrew and I are coming up on our three year anniversary this September, and I feel like some people find it mind boggling that we don't have kids yet. We talk about kids, we know we want them, but we aren't ready yet. I know, you are never ready. But, I feel there are stages of readiness.
Call it selfish, but we like our life right now. We have the money and the time to work on our house, travel, go out to eat, go to the movies, go out on a whim with friends, or simply sleep in on the weekends. I can't tell you how many weekends recently we have spent a good chunk of the day sleeping. These are things you simply can't do when you have kids. Right now, I don't want to get up at 7:00 on a Saturday morning because my child is hungry and wants to watch cartoons. Rather, I would like to sleep in until 10:00 and get out of bed only because my body hurts from being in bed too long, and the dogs need to go outside. With two recent nights of minimal sleep while our foster dog adjusted to being in our house, I had a glimpse of what not sleeping through the night would be like. I didn't like what I saw; I like my sleep.
Life is not a race; I'm learning this with each passing year. When I was younger, I couldn't wait until I was 16 so I could drive. Then, I couldn't wait until I graduated high school or until I turned 18 and could vote. When I was 18, I couldn't wait until I was 21..... Once I hit college, peoples obsession seemed to turn toward getting married and having kids. I felt like life became a race. Get married, buy a house, have a baby, that was the way life was supposed to go, right? I got married, we bought a house, and then we got a furry child.
Recently, there seems to be an increase in the number of articles in news magazines discussing the declining American birth rate. I find these articles refreshing rather than alarming. Many of them point to the fact that people are getting married later in life, and therefore having kids later in life. As a result, it seems people are also having fewer kids. These articles calm my nerves and anxiety about feeling like I missed the baby boat. I'm reminded that the boat hasn't completely left the harbor, it is simply circling around at a leisurely pace, waiting for us to decide when we would like to board.
I wrote this post not to chastise those who had kids right away, but to encourage those who have decided to wait. It often feels lonely in the world of waiting to have kids and I find comfort in knowing there are other couples out there like Andrew and I who have postponed parenthood.
