Evolution of Mommyhood

I remember when I was a little girl being asked by my mom what I wanted to be when I grew up. She was filling in the memory book that chronicled my school days. Each section was a different year of elementary and junior high school (mom gave up on it after awhile though - let's just say the earlier years are much better filled out than the later years!). The book had that year's school picture of me and a series of the same questions to be answered for each year. As a kid, I didn't really know the answer to what I wanted to be when I grew up (heck, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!). In some entries, I chose teacher. However, at 6 years old, I think I chose that because I didn't know what I didn't know about my options of career choices. But, a lot of the entries included being a mother. I'm not sure if I was just not that creative, or if I thought being a mom was a given. In any event, having kids has always been something I thought I would do at some point without issue.

Without knowing it though, I've been practicing being a mom my whole life. In junior high, I babysat the kids in my neighborhood all the time (which living in the country was a 15 mile radius of my house - I definitely got around!). I enjoyed the good kids, and I dreaded the bad kids. I've changed diapers, burped babies, I've chased after 2-year olds and watched a heck a lot of Barney, Disney, and Saturday morning cartoons. But, I'm not sure if I babysat because I love kids or because I just needed the babysitting money. I do think it made me realize that I truly only wanted to be a mom when I was completely ready to take on that challenge 24/7.

So, in high school, being a mom was the last thing I wanted to be at that time. I, being an abnormally responsible teenager, went on birth control on my own before even having sex(thanks Planned Parenthood!). There was no way that I was going to get "accidentally" pregnant. I didn't go off of the pill until 10 years later!

So, ever since, the evolution of becoming a mom has been in the works:

• College - check!


• Husband - check!


• House with a yard - check!


• Good job with a steady paycheck that I don't mind going to every day - check!


• Grad school - check!


• Houseplants that are not killed instantly - check!


• One fabulously cute (at least to me), live-in, four-legged child named Morgan that has been my so-called baby for 4 years (ok, so she's a dog - but still very much my child) - check!


• One year of baby-making with timed sex, standing on my head (literally), ovulation kits, and basal temperature taking month after month - check!


• One year of testing and 6 IUIs with my OB (three too many, actually) - check!


• One year of testing and 3 IUIs with my RE in a city that is a 2-hour drive away - check!


• Finally, IVF - almost check!

I think I'm ready...This IVF thing better work...