Tuesday, 5th February, 2008, 3:02 PM

I don't know why but people keep asking me if we're trying for a baby, or if we're going to try to have a baby or when we're going to try to have a baby. I think it's because I'm getting old. Or maybe it's just because we're married. I asked a friend recently why she thought people had been asking her if she was pregnant yet and she said because she's at that age and had been married for six months. Well, I guess I'm at that age and now I've been married for six months.

I figure one day I might actually have a baby, and wouldn't that be an interesting and fun thing to write about. So, I'm starting now, way in advance of it actually happening because the truth is, it could happen any day and in fact, I might already be pregnant, and a good writer (which is what I'd like to be some day) wouldn't miss any of it.

To summarise my baby-making activities to date, two years ago, aged thirty, I stopped taking the pill. I did this for two reasons:

1. I had been taking the pill for 12 years and had no idea what my natural cycle was like any more. I felt out of touch with my body and really didn't know how long it would take to adjust to life after the pill. I didn't want to wait until I wanted a baby and then have my body take six months to adjust and then potentially discover I had fertility problems. So I planned ahead. Way ahead.
2. I won't go into the reasons why but I had begun to suspect the pill was no longer operating effectively and I wanted to take control of the situation.
   

As it was, my body adjusted pretty much straight away. Period pains are worse now though, unforch.

About a year ago Toby and I discussed having a baby this year. We thought we might start trying (whatever that means) in May. But then we decided to get married instead and to wait to have a baby so that I didn't have to keep having my frock taken out, and so that I could partake in the hundreds of dollars-worth of booze I'd be paying for at our wedding reception. Plus, I know it seems to be all the fashion at the moment and some people think it's beautiful but there's still something a bit "eeew" about pregnant brides. It brings to mind the phrase "shot-gun" even if it isn't. Imagine looking back on your wedding photos in years to come and thinking "ooh, so shotgun".

In the months preceding our wedding day I started reading about fertility. Who would have thought there are only three days of the month that you can get pregnant. It's amazing it ever happens really. I used this new-found knowledge to wean our love life off condoms.

After the wedding we went through a period of homelessness and decided it would be very irresponsible of us to have a baby when we didn't have a home. See, this is the thing about babies. There is never really a good time. Life just continues to get in the way.

Eventually we bought a house and breathed a sigh of relief because ultimately what it meant was that we could stop trying not to have a baby. But by this time I was so aware of my cycle that whenever we did it (I'm still not grown up enough to say "make love"; it sounds so slushy and American and yuk, besides my mother might read this) on my fertile days I'd have the thought in the back of my head "ooh... that could've been a baby-making one", and every month when my period was due I'd analyse the way I was feeling ("period pain or pregnancy symptom? I just can't tell"). See, that's the thing about "letting it happen". It's almost impossible not to try to have a baby once you're aware of when it might occur.

Aside from a period (time, not menstrual) of about three days last month when my period (menstrual, not time) was late and I felt so rotten I was driven to do my first ever home pregnancy test, that's about it. I was mildly disappointed for about ten minutes to discover I wasn't pregnant. Then I got over it.

My period was due yesterday and it sort of feels like it's on its way. I'd be amazed if I was pregnant as we've been very lazy in that department this month. It's definitely been more a month of partying and drinking than baby-making, although I hear that some of the best babies are made that way.