I Knocked Myself Up: Pregnancy On My Own

What’s it really like to have a baby all by your lonesome? Not so lonesome after all, says Louise Sloan. "I was ready for kids at age 28—and well aware that women's fertility starts to plummet at 35. When I saw my doctor that fateful year, she asked me if I wanted children. "Yes," I replied. "Definitely." With a stern look, she snapped, "Well, you're not getting any younger!" Thanks for the news flash, I thought. What kind of idiot does she think I am? I was a romantic, procrastinating idiot, to be exact. Despite my clear intellectual understanding of the issues involved, it took me until age 38 before I seriously started thinking about single motherhood, and even then, I had to be dragged into it kicking and screaming by my biological clock, which was starting to sound more like a car alarm."