Labor Intensive

So, I've been working my a*s off all week on this big story (well, two, really). I finally filed them yesterday, and I was feeling pretty good about my labors. Then my sister called. She was about to go into labor herself (albeit a different sort). And - presto! - 12 hours later, I'm a first-time aunt! My sister has a brand new baby daughter.
And my accomplishments seem pretty puny compared to my sister's.
I do wonder sometimes--when I'm logging one of those 12-hour days of work, when I'm forced to cancel or postpone plans with friends to meet a story deadline (or cover some breaking news event), or I'm so exhausted when I get home that I barely get an hour with my husband before I'm passed out on the couch--is it worth it? I'm 32. I have friends in their 30s who've gone through thousands of dollars and painful hormone injections to get pregnant. I have friends who've miscarried their first babies--one who lost her baby 2 weeks before we'd scheduled her shower. She'd already painted the baby's room. (Fortunately, she was able to get pregnant again, and now has a beautiful--and healthy--baby girl).
But it's hard for me to imagine being a mother now. S. (my sis) plans to go back to work. She's a doctor in Chicago and only has about 2 and a half months maternity leave (she works at a hospital).
I'm not sure I could even get that much time off. I'm just hitting my stride career-wise, and getting pregnant is not considered a smart career move in my business. That doesn't mean I won't. My husband and I are already talking about it. But it makes me more impatient to establish myself in the position I want and soon--before I get pregnant. Because once your belly's bulging, the talk starts. Will she leave? Will she go part-time? I know colleagues who have done both. One went part-time and became so frustrated that she eventually quit. But I also know an editor who was back in the office a month after she gave birth, working 10+ hour days again.
It's so easy to say that I'll go right back to work, when I'm not even pregnant yet. But once that baby's born, it'll be hard to leave him/her every morning--and even harder to leave him/her with a stranger (nanny) during his/her most formative years! But my husband and I are not in a financial situation right now where one of us can afford to stay home full-time. Nor do I imagine we will be anytime soon (unless I win that $1 million sweepstakes I entered--or one of us wrangles a 5-figure book deal).
It's no wonder women are waiting longer to have kids!