Just One More Thing for Women Who Want to Have Babies to Worry About

Photo by Melanie Brown.

I just came across this article, called How to Time Your Next Pregnancy to Reduce Health Risks, and my first thought was, "oh for pete's sake! Can we just let women who want to have babies take five seconds without feeling pressure to do it perfectly???"

If you want to have a baby, you're already supposed to stop drinking before you've even gotten pregnant, get fit, avoid stress, eat and sleep well, and take prenatal supplements. You should also have money and a job and a stable relationship, be happy and full of love, hopeful for the future, and feel like a life-giving goddess. You need to know exactly what is going to happen with said job and be prepared for the judgement you will inevitably receive no matter what your choice is.

Then there is the timing. The TIMING! Did you know that if your baby is born in January they will probably do better in school? Is your work seasonal and therefore you should ideally be starting maternity leave at a particular time of year? Do you have other life events to work this pregnancy around? How old are you? Are you too young or too old? Trick question! You are both! At the same time!

And now, into the mix: the timing of your subsequent children.

I don't know, guys. Can we just chill?

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