Friday, August 25, 2017

Spotting the baby bump

When I was pregnant, I started to notice how many other pregnant women there were around me. They were everywhere! Of course I know that there were always a lot of pregnant women around, but it really took me being pregnant to notice other women in the same condition as me. Or maybe I started noticing them because I started hanging out in the same stores as them buying maternity clothes and baby toys.

Or maybe I am just not that observant.

I can tell you that I still see a lot of pregnant women now, even though I am not one of them. But I couldn't tell you if there were fewer numbers of them.

But, that's OK, the National Center for Health Statistics can. They have released findings that U.S. families are having fewer babies than ever before. And I am celebrating.

I am not celebrating the lack of babies, but rather the increase in women's options. While that study only lightly touches on the possible reasons for the decline, to me it represents the fact that women have so many more choices than previous generations - whether to have a baby early or late in life, how many or none at all.

I am also celebrating that the teen mother statistics have gone down again. Because I remember teenage years being hard enough without having another person to take care of.

So now, when I pay attention to baby bumps in public, I'll also try to notice all the other choices that women have made with their lives.

What age were you when you decided to have (or not have) a baby? Tell me in the comments.

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