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Thursday, April 6, 2006 12:00 AM

Daddy dilemma

My fiancee is 70 percent against kids. The clock is ticking, and it's up to me to convince her to do something I'm not sure about either.

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  • Thursday, April 6, 2006 03:54 AM

    He's actually in a good place!

    This author could have been my husband, and Piper could have been me, 4 years ago when we got married. Our feelings about having children were, in a word, ambivalent. Neither of us could make up our minds at all as we headed into our mid-30's, but we were aware that time was limited. We had a house, a good income, a stable and loving relationship, everything that a kid could need to grow up feeling safe and secure and loved. So rather than actually make up our minds, we just left it up to fate. I went off the Pill and we went on about our business. If it was meant to be, we figured, than it would happen, and if not, then that was fine too. After about two years we had just about gotten to the point of accepting that we were infertile when I started feeling a bit weird and, sure enough, I got those two pink lines. Of course, terror ensued. But to our mutual great surprise, when our child arrived, we experienced true joy and a depth of love that neither of us had thought we were capable of. Aside from much lost sleep, we've truly never been happier - but would that also be the case for this author? I can't answer that. And to be honest, had we not ever gotten pregnant we'd probably still be pretty happy and comfortable with our lives. My husband would still be working instead of staying at home with a kid, we'd be making more money and not putting any of it into a college fund, we'd still be going out to dinner and seeing first-run movies and going to the theater, and we probably wouldn't be driving a Volvo baby tank. Now we're considering a possible kid #2, but will probably leave it up to fate again. What the heck - it worked the first time, right?

    Long story short - I suggest you don't bother making up your minds. Just stop trying to prevent it from happening, and let the chips fall where they will. You're probably capable of being happy whatever the outcome.

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