Wife’s desire for motherhood grows
DEAR ABBY: My husband and I are 15 years apart in age. We have been together for six years, married a year and a half. He is my entire world, my best friend and soul mate.
When we first met, he told me he didn’t think he wanted another child (he has a daughter). I learned to accept it if I wanted to be with him. I had to be OK with being a stepmom and not having a child of my own.
Fast-forward: It’s six years later. His daughter (now 14) no longer comes around. (The ex-wife discouraged any relationship between my stepdaughter and me.) I’m finding it harder and harder to cope with the fact that I don’t have a child of my own. When I bring this up to my husband, he tells me, “I told you in the beginning I didn’t think I wanted another child.”
How do I deal with this? It’s breaking my heart because she is not around anymore and I don’t feel like a mom of any sort. — LONGING TO BE A MOM
DEAR LONGING:
Tell your husband that in the beginning when he told you he didn’t think he wanted another child, you agreed because you thought you could accept it, but that as time has gone by, you no longer can. Then tell him you feel an important part of being a woman is being a mother. If he refuses to relent, then as much as you may love him, you may be married to the wrong man, and you will have to move on if you need to follow your biological imperative.