If you don't have what it takes to care for a baby, don't do what it takes to make a baby. Simple as that.

Being a parent is so much. So much good, so much bad, and so much of every emotion you could ever feel.

You carry a baby for around nine months in your stomach. You hate your favorite foods. You crave things that most people would have you institutionalized for eating. You throw up everything and sometimes you can't eat for days. Hell, sometimes you can't even drink water without it coming right back up. You can't sleep on your stomach. You feel like your ribs are going to snap in half if even just one more kick comes.

You get to the hospital and suffer through hours and hours of labor pains and if you're lucky, you'll get some kind of relief if you get any medicine or an epidural. You push a baby out of a hole the size of a bottle cap that somehow stretches to the size of a cantaloupe. Most of the time your lady parts get ripped like a chip bag opened too far and you end up having to be sewn back together. Or a cesarean, where you have your stomach sliced open and have tons of time that you have to recover, but you can't because it's not just you anymore. You hurt and you ache but you have to take care of this tiny human that YOU created. You can't do "the nasty" for weeks. You bleed for weeks. That's just the beginning. dress with boho patterns or florals for wedding

You bring your baby home and they don't sleep through the night. They are awake every two hours to eat. You may get 8 hours of sleep in the first week that you come home. If you're lucky, your milk has dropped and they're getting fed. A lot of women don't get that blessing and it takes days for their milk to drop so baby goes hungry unless you choose formula. Oh but if you choose formula, all you'll ever hear is "breast is best" and it makes you resent yourself for not being able to do "what's best".

You breastfeed, you pump. Milk leaks everywhere all day long. You can't go anywhere without having wet spots all over your shirt. You dread going anywhere and hearing anyone cry whether it's a baby or a grown man because as soon as you do, milk comes out like a water sprinkler and you can't just hold it in like you can hold in pee.

That's another thing. Your pee will never be the same. When you sneeze, cough, laugh too hard, or anything along those lines, YOU WILL PEE.

Speaking of pee, your baby will pee or poop all the time. If you have a weak stomach, babies aren't for you. There are some horrifying things that come out of children that you would think could not come out of something so small. It will evacuate your whole neighborhood.

Your baby will cry when they're hungry. They will cry when they need to be burped (after EVERY feeding). They will cry when they're tired. They will cry when they're colicky. They will cry when you put them down. They will cry when they have a wet or dirty diaper. They will cry when their nose itches and they don't know what it is. They will cry for what seems to be no reason. You will almost regret having a child when your baby cries for hours on end and you have tried literally everything in the book to soothe them.

Your baby will be down for a nap and you'll finish cooking. You'll fix your plate and as soon as you sit down to eat, they will wake up hungry. So you set your food down and tend to your baby and hope they stay calm long enough for you to eat. You let them play on a play mat or whatever you choose. You will go heat up your food again and as soon as you sit down and get comfortable, they will cry again and you're back at square one.

You will hold your baby while you cook. You will hold your baby while you clean. You will hold your baby while you wash clothes. You will hold your baby while you are in the bathroom. You will hold your baby until they go to sleep. "Sleeping in" is when your baby sleeps until 7:00AM when it's usually 6:45 when they wake up. There is no such thing as "me time" anymore.

Every extra dime you have will go towards diapers, formula, gas drops, medicine, wet wipes, and anything else you could possibly think of that you may need for a baby.

You will bring your baby to the store. You will bring your baby to the gas station. You will bring your baby to get the mail and to walk and to the restaurant. They will cry right in the middle of it.

As a mom, I'm not saying that having a baby is this terrible, awful thing. Your baby will cry and cry and cry and you will cry along with them and feel hopeless. You will be broken. You will sit there with nothing else to try to make them happy. You will want to give up.

But as soon as you look at that baby and they smile up at you with the most innocent eyes, it is all worth it. All the dirty diapers, all the times you've been puked on or peed on or pooped on, all the screaming, all the sleepless nights, and all the mess will be worth everything when you look at that baby in your arms as they sleep. Everything is worth it if you can make it through the hell that comes with being a parent. They are completely dependent on YOU. Totally helpless.

With that being said...

If you don't have what it takes to care for a baby, don't do what it takes to make a baby. Simple as that.