Yesterday was Quinn Padraig's 6th birthday and I'm feeling a bit melancholy about how quickly the years are passing. I am slightly overwhelmed by how rapidly the 6 years have flown by since my last labor and delivery episode, and am sad to know that those gestational days are completely over for me. As a woman who absolutely loved being pregnant and delivering my babies, the knowledge that I won't experience either of those incredibly empowering adventures again occasionally causes a pang of sorrow, however, after Quinn's birth, I absolutely knew I was finished with birthing babies. I don't mean to suggest that Quinn's birth was difficult or particularly long because it wasn't. It was actually the most ideal birthing experience I've ever had - completely natural, on my body's schedule without any drugs or interventions. Yet, despite it being the most perfect delivery I ever had, I just
knew that I was closing that specific chapter of my life - which was a relief, I'm sure, to my husband.
I was reading a blog
post recently about the tick-tock of a person's biological clock and found myself reflecting about my own experiences with pregnancy, birthing and breastfeeding. Despite my fondness for pregnancy, and my insistence upon having a third baby (although I had always previously believed that two was a perfect number), I don't think I ever heard a clock ticking. Maybe I'm more in tune with my intellect than I am with my purely emotional instincts? I mean, I knew that I
wanted children and I had an age in mind for when I was hoping to get started (30), but I never felt as if my body was
craving to procreate. Is this what people are referring to when they speak of a biological clock? Can DelSo readers help me to understand this phenomenon? How did you decide when and/or whether to have children?
Ask my wife. I'm pretty sure she can describe it to you in detail.
ReplyDeleteThe same drives that led you to hook up with gentlemen, get married, seek economic stability, etc. etc. are what people are referring to when they are talking about the biological clock. It has very little to do with your conscious decisions, but your reproductive drive is directly related to many of your actions nonetheless. If you're a normal person, you made the decisions your uterus wanted you to and manifested justifications out of whole cloth with your intellect to make it seem like it was your idea.
ReplyDeleteLove that both responses are from men!
ReplyDeleteD - Good luck. There's never a perfect time, may as well give it up now.
Mr SL - Thanks for asusming I am normal. I do try to resemble that remark! And I appreciate your thoughtful comment.
Don't you just love the six-year-old boy? Great energy. Loves his mummy. I highly recommend them.
ReplyDeleteI believe the biological clock ticks when you are in a good place in life, feeling safe, loved, happy, and ready to pass those feeling on to a little one.
It's also sad for me to know that the baby days are over. I miss having a little body attached to me.