Number of children you have

[kchara]

I distinctly remember the night DH and I had this discussion. LOL We were already married. Not the greatest timing. LOL

 

I wanted a dozen, I told him. When I saw the look of abject horror, I told him I'd settle at six.

 

He wanted two.

 

After a couple of margaritas (we were at Chi Chi's in Virginia Beach), we settled on four.

 

Now we have six. ;) And maybe more. I offered to give some high priced baby supplies to my SIL, who's expecting next month. He wouldn't let me. "Just in case." (Although, he also threatens surgery every single morning at 3 am when the baby wakes for a feeding...)

[elise1mds]

I always thought I'd have two boys and be a stereotypical soccer mom who had boys in T-ball and had bunk beds. I wound up with one boy who couldn't care less about organized sports... and a girl! I couldn't love them more, and I'm very happy to only have two kids.

[Melissa in Australia]

I was adamant that I only wanted 2, my Dh wanted 4. We have 5, and are looking into permanent care ( long term permanent fostering). The only hitch is that the agency says all my children have to say yes. ds 13 doesn't want any more, so told me he will say no when interviewed. I think it is unfair that ds13 can decide for the whole family.:glare:

[Isabella]

I wanted 10 with a big house, a room each, rumpus room, homework room, cook, nanny, governess...blah blah - I think I was definitely a romantically minded teen with my head in the clouds.

 

I have 3 girls, they do have a room each, we do have a schoolroom, but I taught (when they were at home). I would still love a cook :D- but no need for anything else now. My daughter is about to have an interview for a nanny job, so someone else is living my dream! :glare:

 

But truth be told, I could never have handled 10, especially if there was a few more girls in there - I nearly had a nervous breakdown during the teen years of my 3!!

 

Now it's all good, and I love the relationship with my girls!:001_smile:

[Annie Laurie]

As a teen, I thought I'd have 2 or 3.

 

After marriage, I thought 5 sounded nice and that's what I pictured. Dh likes babies and was more than happy to go along with whatever number sounded good to me.

 

We had 4, then I couldn't decide about #5. We waited so long that I then thought we might as well have 6, so he'd have a sibling close in age. But I'm finding the baby stuff to be very hard this time, I don't know if it's because I'm older or that he is so high-needs, or that dh is working such long hours, but I feel done now.

[RahRah]

DH and I met and married following previous marriages - I was 36 and he 41 - he has an adult daughter, I had no children. Growing up I figured two or three children....when DH and I talked about kids, we thought three sounded like a good number, maybe four. DS was born shortly after I turned 38...over the next four years I had five losses that took its toll on me, so we stopped trying; for some reason or another I could get pregnant, but it wasn't sticking. Then earlier last year I felt I was running out of time and wanted to try for one more, we did and it worked - I just had baby-DS in January, at 44. While I'd love to have one more, at my age, the odds are pretty slim (although many women on both sides of my family have had healthy babies into their mid-40's) - whether it happens or not, I am totally content with our two boys!

[Ginevra]

No. I wanted 6 or 7. I have 3 living children; one died at birth. Chances for more are quite slim at this point. I'm not okay with it, either.

[momofkhm]

Do you have the number of children you always pictured you would have?

 

I always said I'd have 2. But somewhere in my teens I pictured myself with 3. I have three. Every now and then I want one more. But then I look at it - my youngest is 10. I'm happy with where we are in life, where they are in life. I'd accept another happily from the Lord's hand. But I am happy with my three.

[Green Vixen]

I always thought I would have two, and that is what dh and I agreed upon. After having a high risk first pregnancy with our son, it was a big decision especially for dh for us to have another one. Then I got pregnant with twins and it was another high risk pregnancy. After spending nearly 9 months on bedrest between the two pregnancies we are done! The pregnancy triggered an autoimmune disease on top of my other health problems so I don't know if I could do it again even if we wanted to. With that being said I can't imagine just having two now :001_smile:.

 

Marisa

[Veritaserum]

Dh and I agreed to stop once we had as many kids as we could physically and emotionally care for. I always pictured that as 5-7 kids. We have five and are discussing the possibility of one more. Our five are all two years apart (or less), which was intense when we added number five. Now that she is nearly three, life feels a bit easier and adding a baby wouldn't be totally insane. :)

[Holly IN]

.

 

Do you have the number of children you always pictured you would have?

 

!

 

We have 3 children here with us. We really want more. We do have more (3 in heaven). So in all totals we have 6 children. We have been quiverfull minded (without the patriarchial aspect:D). We do not practice birth control and so far God has said no more children. We are sad but do look forward to more children coming in our future in the shape of grandchildren. :D Our children want to be quiverfull minded of course without the patriarchial aspect. LOL!! We have looked at adoption. We just can't afford it internationally and with domestic adoption we didn't want to put our family on the radar and microscope due to homeschooling. kwim??

 

 

Holly

[pfamilygal]

We only have six and I always pictured 8-10. I had to have a hysterectomy, so my days of bearing children are clearly over. But I still believe we will adopt more.

[Hedgehogs4]

Would love to have had four but stopped after two for medical reasons. :crying: Even so, our family is about the happiest group of four people on the planet, probably because those other babies couldn't be with us, and we are so grateful for what we have.

[KidsHappen]

I didn't plan on having any but would't have been shocked with one or two. However, I have given birth to six and have two step-dds and so far we have five grandchildren with the first mutual one on the way.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

No, I do not have the number I pictured. I always wanted three or four but DH and I had two.

 

I can't lament, though, as God probably knows better than I do what I need.

[Slartibartfast]

I wanted six, with my health issues we only have two. :(

 

I want more but I am trying to get in a better position medically before we decide for certain.

[EmeraldGirl]

I wanted 4 total. I had 3 in first marriage. Then adopted 4 at one time in second. One of my friends said I need to be more specific w/ God next time :001_smile:

[Garga]

We wanted 0 for the 1st 10 years of marriage. Then we wanted one and had one. And then we wanted another one, so we had another one.

 

And now we're happily done.

[LBS]

I thought four, the number my parents had, was the perfect number. It took a long time to get the first part of the picture right: husband. We married in early 30s. Had third baby at 40. I sometimes wish I'd taken the plunge and just went on and had the fourth, but I'd decided that two was right, in these days and times, and the third was a huge treat and joy, and more was not repsonsible, knowing our plan was for me to stay home and we also had a goal of putting all three thru college thru first degree....I guess I thought that if I really wanted a fourth I'd find a baby somebody else gave up. I'm good with three now. I like that there is no middle child (not three of one sex), and wanted there to be less than 3 years between kids. We were so, so lucky to be able to plan the birth timing, almost to the month. I like having no birthdays close together.

[Denisemomof4]

I wanted six, dh wanted two. We have four. I'm really glad we didn't have six. For me, four is just the right amount to be able to give each one special, individualized attention.

[Denisemomof4]

but couldn't stand to go through the adoption process more than twice. It was too much.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:Oh, I couldn't agree more!!! When we started the adoption process, I told dh it was going to be SO MUCH EASIER than pregnancy. Actually, delivering two quarterbacks was EASIER than the adoption process!!! it was SO HARD! I don't think I could have done it twice!

[Ginevra]

It's very interesting to me the number of people who wanted to have six or more and couldn't or didn't for one reason or another. Maybe wanting a large family goes hand-in-hand with the type of person who is likely to homeschool, but in the population at large, I feel utterly alone in my desires. I've never met a single person IRL who tells the story told here of wanting a large family, but having to accept a smaller one. I really thought I was quite alone in that respect.

[melmichigan]

I wasn't going to have children growing up. I watched my Mom die at 35 from complications of juvenile diabetes. For the first three or four years after our marriage my DH and I agreed we wouldn't have children. Once we decided we would like to try for a child we had years of infertility before our first child was born. My girls are all fertility babies, my boys are natural. We didn't plan a large family, we didn't plan to homeschool. :)

[Jennifer3141]

I always thought we'd have three. I had a heck of a time getting pregnant that first time and DS was a total bonus baby. I MC'd after him and then the timing was just never right again. I do think about a baby now daily but I'm knocking on 40's door. And I'd need to drop 20 pounds and get into shape first which means I'd have to stop having sourdough bread for breakfast... :glare:

 

I never wanted a big family. I think three would be my limit. We enjoy our lifestyle and I love showing the kids the world, which is much easier to do when there's only two.

[laughing lioness]

I pictured myself with 0 children. I didn't want kids particularly and really didn't imagine myself married. That was B.C. I now have five kids and have been married for a quarter of a century. I wouldn't mind having a couple more kids. My dh and I have been talking about adoption a lot more lately.

[nmoira]

Some mornings it feels like I have two too many. :tongue_smilie: But most days it feels just right. I didn't really picture myself having children, but changed my mind close to 35. We don't want any more than two children and have taken the necessary precautions to make sure there are no surprises.

[Night Elf]

I'm not sure I ever thought about having children. I think I assumed I would be a working girl. I wanted my own apartment. I started wanting my own apartment when I was about six, and continued to let that be my primary dream for about 20 years until I married a guy who already had a child.

 

This is my dd13. She is extremely motivated to get through high school and get to college. She wants to live in a dorm/apartment so she can be independent. She doesn't know what she wants to major in, but she knows she wants to travel. She says she can possibly envision marriage but she doesn't like the idea of kids tying her down. Of course things change over the years, but it's weird to see just how adamant she is about her plans.

 

Aw man! I want a plethora of grandchilden!

[Serenade]

I always wanted three, but I have two. Age was the major limiting factor for me -- I guess it's what happens if you don't get married until you are 32! I feel lucky to have the two that I do, my youngest was born a few months before I turned 40.

[I.Dup.]

I never set a number but I always wanted a big family. I was practically an only child- my 2 half-sisters are over 10 years older than I am. I've always loved babies and babysitting when I was younger.

 

I just turned 29 and I'm pregnant with my sixth. I was told I wouldn't be able to have children because of a severe eating disorder in my teens that I almost died from. We got started young, and I'm very thankful. My dh and I have talked seriously about stopping after #5 and now again after #6, but I'm not quite ready to be done yet. I do hope there comes a point where I would be content being done.

[MrsJewelsRae]

We hoped God would have a large family in mind for us, we figured we'd have a lot of children as we don't use birth control. It's taken a while and we needed some help along the way but we finally have 3 children. We aren't able to go through fertility treatments again, but we hope He will bless us by some miracle with just one more child. But if not, we are thankful for what we have! :grouphug: