Travis

What better way to spend a lunch break than cuddling a newborn?

Travis is almost 3 weeks old and belongs to one of the dental nurses at my Wednesday practice.
He's a little miracle (& I don't think she'll mind me saying) as she was told she may never have kids and was about to start ivf treatment when she fell pregnant au natural.

He's absolutely gorgeous and Mummy looks really well too, considering her lack of sleep; motherhood clearly agrees with her!

Of course, me cuddling babies always sets off the inevitable question 'why don't you have one?'.

The honest answer is I just don't want one; from leaving school at 16 I always said I'd be more surprised if I did have a baby than if I didn't.

Age is also a factor now; at 43 it's more of a scientific experiment in my opinion (though I appreciate a lot of women are having babies later in life now).

Lastly, and as I said today, I'd need to find a new partner as Mr A expressed quite clearly on our first date no less that he doesn't want children.

I read an interview recently where the actress Kim Cattrall said she found the term 'childless' offensive; why was she less a person for not having given birth?

I wouldn't say it offends me, but I did agree with quite a few things she said, such as there being many ways for women without children to express their maternal side and behave in a parental way.

She said “I have young actors and actresses that I mentor, I have nieces and nephews that I am very close to so I think the thing that I find questionable about being childless or childfree is - are you really?
There is a way to become a mother in this day and age that doesn’t include your name on the child’s birth certificate. You can express that maternal side very clearly, very strongly.”

Over the years, I've mentored quite a few young dental nurses and at the age I am now, I'm older than some of the current staff members Mums!
Similarly to Kim Cattrall, I have Theo and Theia, who I love unconditionally and without question. Godmother or not, I'd do anything for them.

Do I feel I'm missing or have missed out because I've not had a child? Not at all.
Fortunately, as the years have passed, more and more women have seemingly taken the same path as me and made a conscious decision to not have children. I think society has played a part too, as it used to be the norm to get married and have children, but many people don't even marry nowadays.

Everyone is different; I have the utmost respect for mums as its a bloody hard & often thankless job, but similarly respect to those women who are honest enough to say 'it's not for me'.

I'm happy just cuddling :-)

Sorry for the blip soapbox!