I’m so glad you wrote this, we need more stories like this out there. You’re totally right, there is a dichotomy, a picture of a crying woman who desperately wants to be a mother vs the accidentally knocked up woman, and then there is the happily child free woman going about her confident life.
I personally always felt like I didn’t fit into the picture. I wanted children, but was newly divorced, all my friends were happily single or their kids were older. Everyone warned me not to have kids. Everyone told me it was a bad idea. People constantly tried to talk me out of it. Most women in my family are pregnant in their wedding days, I ended up paying a lot of money for sperm. I wasn’t some married woman with tons of friends wanting to fit in at the mommie and me club. I just wanted this, and no one seemed to understand.
I’m so glad I became a parent, yes it sucks, and yes I respect women all over the world who decide otherwise, but for me, I want this. I want mother hood. I want it to be a part of my life, but still have me outside of this.