It had been a couple years since both Abby and William had found new jobs and started saving money. They were working hard everyday, but made sure that they spent time with each other as well. Soon they started talking about having children. They both had stable, well paying jobs and they even moved into a better apartment. They thought that this would be a good time to start having children. Abby knew she wanted at least 2 kids and William wanted 3. They knew that fertility rates decline with age but they weren't too old so they weren't worried about being able to have kids. They even talked about the fertility trends, and how Canada's total fertility rate is below replacement rate, which is bad for the government, but they understood why people were having fewer children. In the past, people needed more children since most of them lived on farms and needed help with labour. Child mortality rates were also high, so they had more children to make sure that they had people to help out on the farm, and help the mother with housework. But now they don't work on farms or need children to do difficult labour.
Now people have children to get something in return. This can be explained by the Exchange Theory. This theory explains that couples expect to receive something in return from their children for the time, energy and money that they put into raising them. Parents are also usually looking for emotional fulfillment and love from the child in exchange for the caregiving they provide. Which Abby and William thought were reasonable expectations. They also considered adopting a child, but they knew with their more traditional parents this would be difficult. Both their parents would want children with their "blood", with both Abby and William thought this was dumb, since even if they adopted a child, it would still be theirs and they'd raise them with the same love and affection as any other child, but they didn't want to get into arguments with their parents again so they decided to try for a child. However, they decided that they might adopt a second child or if Abby couldn't get pregnant, they would consider adoption.
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Within a year of trying, Abby was pregnant but things didn't go as they hoped it would. Because of some complications with her pregnancy, she had a miscarriage. Both Abby and William didn't know how to respond. They were so shocked by the news, since everything seemed to be going well. They couldn't accept what had happened. They were wondering why this happened to them. Why did they have to be the ones that went through this. They wanted to know if there was anything they could've done to prevent it. It had been a week since they had lost their child and they didn't know how to handle themselves. They weren't eating properly, they couldn't sleep well. They couldn't bring themselves to get up in the mornings. Neither of them wanted to go to work. Both Abby and William were feeling depressed and unsure of how they should go about their lives for the time being. After around 5 months they were finally able to accept what had happened. They were still dismayed by it but they were ready to move on. They were going to try again for another child.
They were ready to give the next child everything the first one sadly couldn't have. Once again, after about 4 months of trying, Abby got pregnant with another baby boy. They were very careful this time. Abby got past the second trimester, which she wasn't able to do the first time. This is also when they started preparing for the baby. They bought all the necessities, clothes for both Abby and the baby, a crib, baby bottles and many, many other things. They also informed their workplaces about their child and that they would be needing time off. Before long 9 months had passed and thankfully Abby was able to successfully have their baby boy. They named him James after William's best friend, who had passed away. It was difficult at first, since they didn't know how to handle the baby. He was always crying, but with the help of their parents, Abby and William were able to get through the first 3 months of having their baby. Abby and William also made sure to spend time with each other so they never lost touch with each other. They would try to help each other the best they could and figured things out together.
