I’m a lot younger than you but so far I feel the same way about children.
Reading about the shattering grief some women feel over infertility — the way it seems to consume their lives and their marriages, the way they feel broken and unwomanly, and end up hating their pregnant friends — I understand their pain is real, and I feel sorry for them, but I don’t understand it. I can’t empathise. There is so much more to life than motherhood.

And if you REALLY need a kid, isn’t adoption a thing? I understand it’s lengthy and difficult, but so is IVF!

Why is it so essential to so many people to have a biological child?

I can’t understand it personally.

My partner and I have talked about kids and while we like the idea of raising a child and passing on the best of our experiences, we also feel we’d be equally happy without children.

I feel so deeply ambivalent towards motherhood, and it’s not just because of all the logical reasons (the fact I am genetically predisposed to preeclampsia and prolapse, the pain, the way your body changes forever, the horror of childbirth going wrong, the fact so many couples with children grow apart etc). My friend feels fear over childbirth and yet she still feels an intrinsic desire to have kids of her own.

I don’t feel it. And I wonder sometimes if there’s something wrong with me for that.