Oregon Public Broadcasting

We got an interesting email on Friday.

You might remember Tiffany Lee Brown, one of the guests on our As We Are: Child Free show. She spoke movingly about being torn about whether or not to have children. In short, her head kept saying no, but her body was saying yes. As she wrote in her email, it seems that her body has won:

I just wanted to let you guys know that after 4+ years of flying the "I'm Childfree Even Though the Biological Clock is Beating the Heck Out of Me" flag, I'm pregnant.

She wrote at length about her decision in a searching post on her blog:

Now I'm learning to accept that whether it's cultural, personal, or merely hormonal, maternal desire is real, and it's got me by the ovaries. I wanted to step out of the universe's way. If it wanted to grant me a child? That would be fabulous. If not? At least I would no longer be leading a fierce charge against the entirety of nature and the gorgeous, painful yearning within my own body, soul, and mind. My husband agreed. He, too, is a person full of love....

I'm pregnant. Pregnant and aware how fortunate I am to be pregnant, when thousands of people must struggle with infertility every day, must tilt at the gods' windmills for other reasons than mine. Pregnant and aware that this isn't the politically and environmentally correct thing to do (as an anti-breeder man recently reminded me a few months back, before casually dropping into the conversation that he had a grown son!). I'm pregnant and aware that the parenting, childed majority carry a great deal of entitlement and privilege in our society, along with the stress, responsibility, and dedication that accompany good parenting. I'm pregnant and thankful.