010: Christine: Wisdom From a Mom With Two Older Kids

By Craig podcast | February 20, 2019

Christine is a firefighter and the single mother of a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old. In today’s interview, she shares about the difference between the way she pictured her adult life growing up and the way her adult life actually played out. She talks about moving from the Midwest to California, changing careers, delaying motherhood, and then finally deciding to become pregnant via IUI.

Christine talks about her lightbulb moment – the moment she realized that she would be OK if she never found a partner and got married, but that she’d always regret it if she didn’t have children. She describes how that realization led her to become a single-mother-by-choice.

It really helped to have an endpoint and not just to go in with an open credit card and let’s go. Because that would have been a mistake for me. – Christine Click To Tweet

In today’s discussion, Christine talks about how her friends and support network factored into her decision to have children and the process of becoming pregnant. She explains how being a single mother has shaped her relationship with her children, and how she balances a career as a firefighter with being a single mother of two.

Christine believes that it’s important to remember that families come in all sorts of varieties and that the important thing is the love that family members have for each other. Her story emphasizes the importance of embracing families of all kinds.

It’s one thing to get pregnant, but you’ve got to raise that baby, and you need some money to raise that baby. – Christine Click To Tweet

Some highlights of today’s conversation:

Christine’s early life and dreams of being a mother
Christine’s move from the Midwest to California and career changes
How Christine came to the conclusion that it was time to pursue motherhood
Christine’s experience using a donor to become pregnant
How Christine’s friends helped her narrow down her donor choices
The financial aspects of getting pregnant via IUI
The differences between being a single mother by choice or a single mother not by choice
The thing that most surprised Christine about her path
How Christine thinks being single has shaped her relationship with her kids
How Christine would advise other moms
Juggling a career as a firefighter with raising kids
How Christine settled on having two kids
Why Christine wishes she’d started her family earlier

I’ve always said to my children, as long as there’s love, there’s a family. It doesn’t matter who’s in it, as long as there’s love, there’s a family. – Christine Click To Tweet

Resources:

Motherhood Reimagined Website

Motherhood Reimagined Tribe

Motherhood Reimagined: When Becoming a Mother Doesn’t Go As Planned: A Memoir by Sarah Kowalski

Thank you for joining us for Motherhood Reimagined. You can contact us through the website or Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, consider joining our Motherhood Reimagined Tribe to connect with other women just like you. Please join us for our next episode when we talk to another inspirational mother!