Hopping the Fence
Since the other post is obviously going to be a discussion about my personal choices I've decided to reassert the questions that were meant to be the focus of the post here for our discussion.
For those of you who identified at one point as childfree but went on to have children: When you/your partner got pregnant and you made the decision to keep the children, how did you reconcile your stance/mentality with the reality you WOULD be a parent?
A common counter and aggravation to someone saying that they're childfree is, "Oh, you'll change your mind." What happens though, when you do change your mind? Is it a sudden realization or a gradual shift?
The choice to have or not have children is a political, social, and moral one these days in many cases, rather than a mere question of biology -- there's complex issues like global overpopulation, carbon footprints, social standing, etc. Were these things or others like them a part of your original decision and/or your decision to change?
For those of you who identified as wanting children but found out that you are/your partner is infertile: How did you reconcile your stance/mentality with the reality you would NEVER be a biological parent?
Technology today has allowed us options that weren't available before such as in-vitro fertilization, surrogates, and cross-continental adoptions, but these things are often somewhat controversial, and all prohibitively expensive and therefore only accessible to certain class levels.
Does the fact there are options, even if such options are somewhat inaccessible to many, impact how you handle or did handle the realization of infertility? Were you determined to have a biological kid (such as through a surrogate) rather than adopt or determined to adopt an unwanted child rather than go through the medical route? If so, why did you make that choice?
For those of you who identified at one point as childfree but went on to have children: When you/your partner got pregnant and you made the decision to keep the children, how did you reconcile your stance/mentality with the reality you WOULD be a parent?
A common counter and aggravation to someone saying that they're childfree is, "Oh, you'll change your mind." What happens though, when you do change your mind? Is it a sudden realization or a gradual shift?
The choice to have or not have children is a political, social, and moral one these days in many cases, rather than a mere question of biology -- there's complex issues like global overpopulation, carbon footprints, social standing, etc. Were these things or others like them a part of your original decision and/or your decision to change?
For those of you who identified as wanting children but found out that you are/your partner is infertile: How did you reconcile your stance/mentality with the reality you would NEVER be a biological parent?
Technology today has allowed us options that weren't available before such as in-vitro fertilization, surrogates, and cross-continental adoptions, but these things are often somewhat controversial, and all prohibitively expensive and therefore only accessible to certain class levels.
Does the fact there are options, even if such options are somewhat inaccessible to many, impact how you handle or did handle the realization of infertility? Were you determined to have a biological kid (such as through a surrogate) rather than adopt or determined to adopt an unwanted child rather than go through the medical route? If so, why did you make that choice?