Time is running out for my friend. We are sitting at lunch when she   1  mentions that she is thinking of being a mother. “I’m taking a   2  among my friends,” she says, half jokingly. “Do you think I should   3  a baby?

“It will change your life,” I say, carefully keeping my tone   4  and trying not influence her decision. “I know,” she says, “No more sleeping on weekends, no more free vacation…”

But that is not what I   5  at all. I look at my friend, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her know what she will   6  learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the   7 wounds of childbirth can heal, but that becoming a mother will   8  her with an emotional wound so painful that she will easily get hurt in the rest of her life.

I consider   9  her that she will never read a newspaper again   10  asking “What if that had been my child?” Every plane crash or every fire will upset her. When she sees   11  of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be   12  than watching your child die.