Will Nicola Sturgeon pursue dream to foster or adopt now that she has resigned as First Minister?

Nicola Sturgeon has cemented her place in world political history. She is the longest serving First Minister for Scotland and has pushed forward huge gains for the Scottish Nationalist party during her nine-year reign.

No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, it is the ability to offer a more moderate approach to issues which has ensured Nicola has not polarised the arena for her party at home and abroad.

Her departure from the role of First Minister on Wednesday 15th February is not a big shock when looking at recent polls.

A survey by Panelbase for the Sunday Times last weekend showed that 42% of respondents thought Ms Sturgeon should stand down now, while 45% said she should remain in the top job until at least the next Holyrood election.

The poll also found that more than three-quarters of those who expressed a view had safety concerns around the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Voters were unsure about who should be the next first minister, however, with 69% saying say they did not know. Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, who is on maternity leave, was the most popular choice to succeed Ms Sturgeon, with 7% of respondents backing her.

She enjoyed huge popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic as her measures to restrict opening of business and schools was seen as a necessarily cautious approach, and was in contrast to Westminster and Boris Johnson's more bullish tactics. Nicola was the antidote to Boris, for some.

It's not easy being at the top. Nicola was subject to a higher level of scrutiny and abuse than arguably any male politician. When Jacinda Ardern announced her departure as Prime Minister of New Zealand, it would have been a blow to Sturgeon. Here was an ally on the world stage, who had also been praised for her handling of the pandemic and ensuring tighter lockdown rules to limit death from the disease, leaving the top job.

The criticism mounting on both women in recent months has proved the tipping point.

What could be next for Nicola? It may be a stereotype for women in politics to be discussed in terms of whether they wish to become a parent. For many women the issue is not relevant and please stop asking, thanks very much. For others, it is a complicated subject. How often is a man asked whether he has resigned due to wishing to expand his family? Never.

Nicola has spoken publicly on the subject of parenthood though in 2016. She has been married since 2010 to Peter Murrell and the couple do not have children. The First Minister, 52, and Peter Murrell, the SNP's chief executive, 58, spend time at Bute House but mostly live at their private home in Glasgow, where they tied the knot in 2010 after dating for seven years.

In September 2016, Nicola Sturgeon revealed she once suffered a miscarriage in 2011 and spoke publicly about the anguish of losing a baby aged 40. It seems to be something that she has stayed thinking about.

"I've become really involved in and passionate about improving the opportunities for young people who grew up in care," she said to Vogue, before adding that in the future, post-politics, "fostering children may be something we would think about. It's something my husband and I have only scratched the surface of talking about."

The Scottish First Minister, who joined the SNP aged 16, previously told how she conceived at the age of 40 but lost her baby in the early stages of her pregnancy. She and her husband were preparing to tell friends about the pregnancy when tragedy struck.

Speaking movingly about the miscarriage for the first time, she told Mandy Rhodes, the author of a new book called Scottish National Party Leaders, serialised in The Sunday Times: "If the miscarriage hadn't happened, would I be sitting here as First Minister right now?

"It's an unanswerable question, I just don't know. I've thought about it but I don't know that answer. I'd like to think 'yes' because I could have shown that having a child wasn't a barrier to all this, but in truth I don't know."

Whether Nicola chooses to include children in her future or not, we know that her legacy in Scottish, British and world politics will not be forgotten. She leaves big shoes to fill. The moderate ground and excellent public speaking and debate ability has been unrivalled. She often made other politicians, including Boris, look weak when confronted with Nicola's articulation skills in TV debates.

Children or not, independence voter or not, fan of her style of politics or not, she was a person who held the power of Westminster to account and for that the whole of the UK can be thankful.