Maybe this is appropriate with Mother’s Day coming up. Here’s yet another reason (among several) that it’s good I never reproduced. From the April 24, 2006 Newsweek article Not Always ‘the Happiest Time’:
Pregnancy probably doesn’t cause depression, per se, but just like a divorce or a death in the family, it can trigger it in women who may already be genetically predisposed. And the hormones don’t help. The relationship between estrogen, progesterone and mood is not well understood, but scientists believe it is the changes in hormonal levels, rather than the levels themselves, that affect people’s moods.
I’m genetically predisposed to depression! I take daily meds to keep the “I wish I were dead” fantasies buried. I must never get pregnant.
Of course, my interest in having children is pretty much non-existent anyway. Maybe if I’d really wanted kids, I would have figured out a way to have them, even if I am reaching the age of 40 without a husband. But I’ve never really wanted to raise a kid. And I definitely don’t want to be a mother.
I realize this puts me in the minority, especially among women who are also Catholic and Hispanic. I look at women with one or two (or four) children in tow and feel only vague sympathy, often pity. I’m extremely grateful to have never faced the question of whether or not I should carry a pregnancy to term. No pregnancies, no kids, no thanks.
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