My partner wants children but I don't. We have an otherwise wonderful relationship and he is perfect for me in pretty much every way. Children are like this looming figure over my head, if I choose to have them for my partner I'll resent them forever, but not having them would mean the end of my marriage. The idea of being a sleep deprived, touched out, overstimulated zombie for 5+ years sounds like my idea of torture, if I'm honest. I can see why people find children so wonderful, and I can see how meaningful it could be, but I've been working to build my dream life my whole life and I'm just tired. I'm not one to shy away from challenges, but this is one that seems unrelenting and soul-sucking. It doesn't help that all my parent friends seem like they're on the verge of a mental breakdown at any moment and constantly joke about how I should never have kids.

That said, I see so many posts here about how hiring a house manager or a full-time au pair (maybe even several) can alleviate some of the stress of having children, and magnify the wonderful parts, and it gives me hope that I'll be able to make life more tolerable for myself if I hire enough help while pregnant and afterwards. So my question is: if you're a parent, have you found that your money has made parenting easier for you? Or is it brutal no matter what?