Yes, I was concerned I would come across that way - sorry if I did, just a reflection of the arguments I have with myself :)
Thank you for your replies and hope it all goes well for you!
To further clarify, the "ego" thing was a bit overstressed — my point is that I was hoping to bring better-than-average human beings into this planet, and "my ego" is my explanation for why I believe they'd be better-than-average.
People do a lot of things I consider "romantic": fighting for freedom, fairness, human rights... They only benefit them in the long run, and many not even benefit from them directly. I've done my share as well.
It's the same with kids. You asked about reasons to decide to have them, not about what I am getting out of it (you were very explicit in responses to others about how you didn't care about how they decided on "when", for example).
I fully expected that I will develop relationship with my kids that will overcome everything, and so far I have! Which is why I was willing to dive into the huge time, money and effort investment after the initial reasons! But it was not the reason to have them.
You are perfectly allowed to spend the same effort on building relationship with others, and it might or might not (I have no idea) get you the same satisfaction I get from interacting with my kids.