Brooding on breeding

This is so un-PC, but honestly, if one more person tells me they are pregnant before year's end, I'm afraid that instead of offering them my congratulations, the words "Oh for fuck's sake!" will involuntarily escape my lips.

This year - 2010 - has gone from seeing the very first one of my close childhood friends getting pregnant and having her baby, to a sudden flurry of reproductive enthusiasm that has now gripped what seems to be every woman I know. This includes (in order of The Grand Announcement) a Uni friend; my boss; my very best friend from my twenties; my younger cousin; and now his older sister is the latest to announce the forthcoming arrival of her offspring. And these are all Confirmed Sightings, they do not include those I know who are currently, shall we say, in the market!

Meanwhile I am still ambivalent as hell about whether or not I want to bring a child into this world, and be its parent. Selfish? Maybe. But it's nobody's damn business except me and my husband. What I'm certainly NOT looking forward to is the forthcoming Family Christmas, where I will be the only female of reproductive age NOT sporting a baby bump and tales of morning sickness and swollen ankles. Oh, I simply cannot WAIT for everyone to ask me when C and I are going to start spawning, and telling me about how my fertility is declining with every passing day.

Seriously, when you've had that conversation with your Mum where she suggests you think about having your eggs frozen, you just don't need to rehash it with the rest of the family.