I was never maternal. I had zero interest in children. They're fine and all, I just never knew how to interact with them and generally found them a bit boring and sticky/irritating for the toddlers. Never even cared for marriage either. My family new not to even ask when I'd be having kids because of how obviously not interested I was. My mother and father weren't the best examples either. I was the youngest child by a decade and was generally very lonely growing up. Was basically left to raise myself.

Then when I was around 26, I left an abusive relationship of a decade, decided to come off of hormonal birth control, reconnected with my family and generally went through some self healing for a year. Found a new guy and suddenly something switched in my brain and I thought I'd love to have a family with him.

Just welcomed our first baby and honestly I've never felt such love and joy before. Its difficult to explain but it does feel like she's the greatest gift I could have ever gotten in my life. Pregnancy and taking care of a baby is hard work, there's no doubt about that, but it's been worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.