No Doubt Hillary-foes Wish that She'd had a Dozen - or None

Assuming, of course, that this is close to the truth:

How Chelsea, the 'miracle child' helped keep the marriage together

The Sunday Times
May 27, 2007
[No apparent byline]

Chelsea Clinton, from the moment of her difficult conception, was an enormous factor in keeping her parents together. [...]

Hillary had married for love, to have children and to create her idea of a model family. She felt she could figure out how to make the political part of her life work, but unless she could be a mother with a loving husband who was father to their children, life’s fulfillment would elude her.

She suffered, however, from a condition called endometriosis, which often makes conception difficult, can cause infertility and frequently results in extreme pain during and after intercourse.

From early in their marriage Hillary and Bill tried to have a child, and — famously — they even chose a name after hearing Judy Collins’s version of the song Chelsea Morning on a Christmas holiday in London in 1978.

Still unsuccessful after four years, they decided in the summer of 1979 to see a fertility specialist; but before the appointment Hillary found she was pregnant. [...]

They frequently referred to Chelsea as their “miracle child”. Hillary took four months’ maternity leave from her job as a lawyer and was sensitive to any criticism that she skimped as a mother. [...]

Friends of the Clintons were aware of her disappointment at not being able to have a second child. Even during their early years in the White House she and Bill talked seriously about adopting, and they discussed with friends in California who had adopted how they might go about the process themselves.

At the age of 48, Hillary raised the subject in an interview with a Time magazine reporter, saying: “I must say, we’re hoping to have another child.”

When the stunned journalist asked if she meant by natural birth, she added: “I have to tell you I would be surprised but not disappointed. My friends would be appalled, I’m sure.” [...]