Fear of future children/birth defects

[liny2]

Hey I know this is an odd phobia but it just seems to bug me a lot.. I know I'm only 19 and have a while before kids but i just have this fear of getting married and having a kid who has down syndrome. I also get very paranoid and think what am I doing now that could cause a birth defect in a pregnancy .Like e cigarettes and using a phone/laptop in bed. Can anyone relate to this strange fear? I do not mean to sound shallow in any way I guess i just have my own insecurities

[Karkat]

Uh, well I personally can relate, but only because I have some bad things that run in my family- ESPECIALLY ones I have/possibly have.

I worry about it a lot, but I don't know if I'll ever get married or have kids, so I try to push that one to the back of my mind most of the time.

[CosmicNoodle]

Never really worried about that myself, mostly because at the moment I don't really want any kids, and if I do have some I want to adopt

[Magenta]

I have a very real fear of pregnancy and childbirth so I will never be having my own children. I'll adopt or consider surrogacy later in life if that were a decision my partner and I wanted to make.

But I don't really want children anyway.

[Seafood]

I have a very real fear of pregnancy and childbirth so I will never be having my own children. I'll adopt or consider surrogacy later in life if that were a decision my partner and I wanted to make.

But I don't really want children anyway.

I've never heard of a fear of having fear/pregnancy. Do you know how extreme your fear is?

[Karkat]

I've never heard of a fear of having fear/pregnancy. Do you know how extreme your fear is?

...I think every sane woman fears childbirth to some extent.

[Blood]

I guess you could say I have a fear of childbirth and pregnancy in general. It's not the pain that comes with childbirth that scares me, nor is it that I can't take care of a child. I can deal with the pain and I know I can take care of a baby.

What scares me is what will happen to my body after pregnancy. I have a pretty big fear of gaining weight and getting stretch marks due to pregnancy. My body is by no means model status, and I know this. But I am content with my body the way it is. I don't want stretch marks, I don't want extra weight, and I don't want saggy skin. I'm not saying this will DEFINITELY happen if I get pregnant, but why would I want to risk it? I don't want children and I never have.

It really gets me when people insist that I have children when I get older and settled down. It's almost as if it's expected in my family. This is my body, and I don't want to mess it up. Does that make me selfish? Oh fucking well, so be it.

Plus just take a minute and look at all these issues that can result from a pregnancy:

http://i.imgur.com/l1sF2j8.jpg



That's just not for me, at all.

[Babs]

I have a fear of pregnancy/childbirth/motherhood in general. I don't want any children until I'm absolutely ready, which, if I were to guess, may be in my thirties.
I'm pretty sure my mother wasn't ready for kids at the time she had them, let alone having nine children in the span of ten years. I want to make sure I'm ready, but there's a great possibility I never will be.

[Magenta]

I've never heard of a fear of having fear/pregnancy. Do you know how extreme your fear is?

I think my post explained it. I will not have children. If I get pregnant by accident, absolutely no one will stop me from having an abortion. That's how "extreme" it is, I guess. Under no circumstances will I ever go through with being pregnant, let alone the childbirth part.

[Croconaw]

I'm asexual and I don't want kids. There is one thing I feel should be mentioned, though. I would think of it as a gift if somebody has down syndrome or other disabilities. People with disabilities should absolutely get the same opportunities as everyone else. They are not different and they have more in common with us than you think.

[TheN3rdyOutcast]

I do too, but it doesn't matter, because I can't have children if I have sex based on my orientation, and even if I settle down with a long term husband who wants a kid, we already will know about birth defects, because we will adopt.

[Karkat]

People with disabilities should absolutely get the same opportunities as everyone else. They are not different and they have more in common with us than you think.

Absolutely true.

My only worry is knowing how it is living in this world as a disabled person

Most people don't really understand us, and it's a cruel enough world without the burden of being "different". However, you can be different in a lot of ways.