If you don't live in a village, don't ask her

This blog is written by a woman who has a PhD, a full time job, and an active brain that have helped her resist the claims of society and family to make that thing which ensures the survival of the species: a baby.

Since getting engaged (2006) the questions about progeny have been constant and incessant. From taxi drivers in Malaysia to the assistant at the frame shop, everyone wants to know: no children? why?

And then that dire warning: don't wait too long.

Don't wait too long because then you'll want something you can't have. This is the modern woman's curse. She finally has it all and then has to weigh all the hard work against the fact biology has designed women's bodies to conspire against them in modern society.

Men don't help either what with ending twenty year old marriages for the secretary who was born when he met his first wife.

But I'm considering doing it. I'm considering having a baby because I know it's something I would regret not doing later - like completing my PhD would have haunted me my whole life.
Not that I relish the idea of giving up my good airport etiquette, or applesauce free hair, or losing the battle against the extra ten pounds the advent of the 30s brought with them.

I have more free time now and perhaps the silence seems to call to be filled with the cries of something young, something growing, someone new that will then be able to keep me company while my husband spends yet another late night at work.

So we begin. We are ready to go down this road. Getting healthy, purchasing the sticks, taking vitamins, talking to mothers of all ages.

I begin the journey to motherhood, still a bit unsure I want my stomach to balloon out like a mushroom or that I want to rush home from work instead of going out to dinner.

Join me. Share your advice. And help me figure out what the heck an ovulation cycle is.