Perth editor Katrina Butler is sick of people asking why she doesn't have kids. Image: Supplied.

I am happily married, soon to turn 45 and childless by choice.

Childless by choice always sounds a little aggressive. Perhaps childless by circumstance is a softer way of conveying my status.

I met my husband in my thirties, he proposed on my 40th birthday and it’s these circumstances that played a part in the two of us being sans children.

And guess what? I am perfectly happy!

Katrina and her husband on their wedding day with her nieces and nephews. Image: Supplied.

When I began working as a news editor at Nine, a friendly co-worker approached me and asked ‘Kat, what’s your story?’

I assumed she meant my work history and went down the, ‘I started in the media in 1993 at the ABC...’ path, she stopped me. "Do you have any children?" "No." "Oh, that’s sad", was her reply.

I was a little taken aback. She meant no offence, she has two children, but this was our first conversation and the first time anyone had equated my lack of offspring with sadness.

I was not sad.

I am not sad.

Don’t get me wrong, I love kids and had always assumed I would produce my own, it just didn’t work out that way.

My two siblings have five children between them and I would climb over broken glass to donate a kidney to the one that asked nicely first.

I am so obsessed with the five of them that regularly people who don’t know me well will ask how many kids I actually have.

They are quite surprised to learn none.

Katrina's nieces and nephews. Image: Supplied.

I am in a book club. It’s a particularly fertile book club. More babies have been born than books read.

I am more than happy to discuss prams and school boundaries, I even pitched a story about a miracle cure for colic, discussed between the mums, to the newsroom.

My love of books extends to book week. Our mum created amazing costumes for us in primary school and I am genuinely excited about my Facebook feed filling with photos of friends' offspring. Some creations are tenuously linked to books but I appreciate the whole parenting gig is hard work so I support their decision to send their little person to the parade in a footy jumper.

My husband and I have a wonderful life and a beautiful family home with bedrooms furnished for the kids.

We work to afford travel and share a love of our pug Pip.

Katrina with her sister Rochelle and her mum, Merrilyn. Image: Supplied.

We know she’s a dog. We put her in a kennel (a nice one) when we travel.

We are constantly referred to as the poster couple for DINKS (double income no kids). Our lack of children does, of course, leave us with no one to guide us through our ‘older’ years, but as a good friend with kids pointed out, having them doesn’t guarantee a carer in the twilight years either.

No children also means we have no one to leave our ‘stuff’ to.

We’ll be keeping track of which of the nieces and nephews visit their crazy old aunty and uncle and adjusting our wills accordingly. I suspect it will be the one I give the kidney to.

The ‘Oh how sad’ comment has become one of my ‘stories’. Along with the time a colleague who, when shown my engagement ring, said, "I know how much your husband earns and he could afford a bigger diamond".

I am childless, happy and perfectly content with the size of my diamond.