Families in the U.S. and around the world are having fewer children as people make profoundly different decisions about their lives. NPR's series Population Shift: How Smaller Families Are Changing the World explores the causes and implications of this trend.

On a clear but chilly autumn day, Poa Pohjola and her partner Wilhelm Blomberg are relaxing in their Helsinki apartment while their baby naps outside on the balcony, in traditional Finnish style.

"They sleep very well outside, in colder degrees, I think," Pohjola said with a laugh. "Or, that's how I grew up thinking."

Pohjola is 38 and Blomberg is 35. They've been together for about three years, and they started talking about having a baby early on - even though Pohjola had once thought she might never have kids.

"I think I

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