You know, the conception of a child is a beautiful, natural thing too, but thank goodness nobody has ever seen fit to show me pictures or video of THAT! I don't see any harm in taking videos or pictures during the birth, but I think they are intensely personal and should just be enjoyed by the mother and father. I was completely unconscious when my daughter was lifted out of my tummy, and that's fine with me - I don't feel like I missed anything.

We just had our office remodeled where I work, and instead of individual desks with cubicles, we now have one continuous U-shaped countertop. Each of us has a chair and a file cabinet and a little slice of Formica . The bigwigs decided that everyone's "workspace" should look uniform and sterile, so they provided us with identical matching photo collage frames that we were allowed to use if we insisted on putting up PICTURES (God forbid) of our personal life. Well, of course my frame is filled with Sammy and Dudley, and the lady I share a desk with is currently childless but blessed with 3 kitties, so our workspace is the kitty palace! People have chuckled over the fact that we have no other "family" pictures up (although I did have pictures of my daughter at my desk when it was actually a desk ). I just like to look at my kitties when I'm at work, because unlike my family, they relieve my stress, not contribute to it .

As far as why to have or not have children, I am one of those who had no maternal urges and was uncomfortable around babies and children. I was content being an auntie, but my husband was an only child of an only child, so he wanted to have at least one. We were at a point in our marriage where the choice had to be made, because he had said that if I didn't want any children he would have to think about divorcing me. I had told him from the beginning of our relationship that I didn't care for and didn't want any children, and he married me anyway, so did he think I was kidding?? Maybe he thought I would "outgrow" my attitude, I don't know. Anyway, divine providence stepped in right about then, and I "accidentally" became pregnant (carelessness on my part one night - 'nuff said).
I will admit I was VERY unhappy when I found out I was expecting, but I went ahead with it because it was pretty much my own fault and my husband was so happy about it. I wanted to be sterilized immediately following the birth, but my doctor was an (expletive deleted) and said he never sterilizes until after the second baby. I saw this doctor every year for the next ten years, and every year I reiterated my desire to be sterilized. I guess he finally realized I was serious the 10th time, so he finally did it. I think I adapted to motherhood pretty well, although if you ask YLL she'll tell you different . She's right about the "bad genes" in our family too; almost every female on my mom's side of the family is mentally ill with either depression, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, you name it. YLL and I have so far managed to avoid the family curse, so I don't think her kids would get it, but who knows?

And one last observation - it seems so far that a lot of the "cat people" here prefer to not have children - wonder if there's some kind of correlation there?