My husband and I made the painful decision to remain childless.

We met in our late 30s, and we had so many financial struggles - still do. And there is the fact that we both have bipolar disorder. I'm not suggesting that people with mood disorders should not have children. But we both struggle with depression so often... Neither of us have family to help us out. Most of our friends are of the sandwich generation, so they're not really free to help either.

Apart from love, and even that's difficult to give while severely depressed, we don't believe we can give a child what they need. We are both the types that need solitude, quiet and regular sleep to stay sane. We both have terrible tempers when deprived of these things I don't think solitude, sleep and quiet are easy to come by with a baby in the house

We also had ourselves to think of. Not being great wage earners, having a child meant we'd never be able to retire. We'd never have the freedom to take a break from working when it all becomes just too much. I can't imagine us ever being able to support our child through University. It would just be one big financial stress ball. It would have been just too difficult for us.

TL;DR To cut it short, we just didn't have what it takes financially, mental-health-wise or support-wise to have kids.

I'm now 46, and as my baby making factory is slowly shutting down...well it's painful. It still hurts to see babies and hear friends talking about their now- grown children. I'm proud that we made the right decision for ourselves and for any potential children, but boy, it really hurts. It hurts to not have a family of our own and it hurts to know we weren't "good enough" .

For the most part we are grateful for what we have; each other, our kitty, a wonderful best friend, a roof over our head, and nice little car and the freedom to just fall down when our mental health demands it. Life is good, but I think it's okay to feel sad about our choice sometimes.