Having children

OK...just found out another classmate and his wife are expecting their 2nd child together.

Also found out that he's ready to smack her upside the head with a blunt instrument. She's completely hormonal and on his case all the time...but he's happy about having a kid, and has asked me a couple of times if/when I am going to have one.

Why, pray tell, do people think I should have a child after giving me all these reports of what pregnancy and childbirth can do to a person?

I mean, come on...I like kids as much as the next person. However, there are the following things I'd prefer not to change about my personality/lifestyle:

1. Consumption of beer/other alcoholic beverages/things that, in general, are bad for me (chocolate ice cream for breakfast, for one...see previous entry)
2. My propensity for going to Walmart at a moment's notice to buy pens for myself.
3. Sleeping till noon, waking up, going back to sleep at 1:30 PM.
4. Swearing as an art form...I really have to watch consumption of alcohol for the whole bipolar thing, I take medication that interferes with recreational medication, I am too jaded for casual sex, plus I'm too broke for cigarettes so swearing is my only outlet for frustrations. You really have to curb your language in front of little ones because kindergarten teachers do not appreciate hearing a five year old say, "I SAID I can't see the board because of your FAT ASS, BITCH! Move it!" Yep, can already visualize the conferences on that one, and my reply to the teacher..."I said, I wanna look at the file, BITCH! Now MOVE IT!" (apologies to my more strait-laced friends on this entry, but gotta tell it like it is.)

I made the decision almost two years ago to NOT have children because of the bipolar disorder, and some friends think I'm depriving myself. Not really...I've always been iffy on the kid thing because my first husband was such a freak and the 2nd husband didn't want them and our relationship was volatile enough that I didn't think it was a good idea to even introduce the concept.

Don't get me wrong...I had a good father figure in my own father, and I know many men who are good fathers. That's not the point...the point is I don't think I'd be a good mother. Between this illness and my general personality, motherhood just isn't it for me. I love my nieces and nephew, and they're as close as I want to get. I've cleaned up too many messes and it's just not my thing. I admire any woman who wants to be a mother, because it's damned hard work. I just know I'm not one of them, and a preventive strike is the best method for me.

So folks, hug your children and thank God they don't have a mother like...

Sudiegirl