I'm the original poster here.
This has all been MOST useful for me, and I thank you all very much for sharing your wisdom, experiences and encouragements. I'm about to read back through it all to really digest it and take it all in again.
Caveat: I should have added in the beginning that MUCH of my reluctance is the recollection of what a nightmare baby my son was. I wore him in a sling, he suckled constantly, slept horribly, required very little sleep (was in the 1% for sleep requirements), bellowed if I put him down for even a millisecond to go potty, transferred (stayed asleep when moving him) once in his entire life, slept through the night for the first time at age 2, etc. My breasts were raw from all the suckling. I had to have a csection as he was a footling breech and cord compression caused his heart to plummet down to the 40 beats/minute. For the entire 2 years, I was beyond exhausted. I had little help from family (they all live out of state). My husband was helpful when home, but my son would have NONE of him (that first year; now they're best friends). Just the THOUGHT of that AGAIN while homeschooling contributed significantly to my fear. Oh, surely the LORD wouldn't send me ANOTHER nightmare baby, especially now that I'm almost a decade older (pray that if he opens our womb and gives us another that he/she will be an easy baby that SLEEPS and isn't SO demanding!!!)
Snoodlebug