If, When

Growing up I always wanted a big family. First I would say, “I want five or six kids.” I remember once when Bobby and I were talking about it early in our marriage and he said he thought two was a good number and I was horrified. Then I had one, and even though he was a pretty easy baby, I thought, ok, “I’d like three.”

Then I had a second, and she was, um, let’s say, difficult. Because I was violently ill for about the first 15 weeks of my pregnancy with her, I was already feeling before she was even born, that there was no way I could possibly go through that again. Still, when I was on the operating table after Sophie was born, when my doctor asked me if I wanted her to tie my tubes, I said no. Because I was 29, and I just wasn’t ready to say that my childbearing years were over.

And then in the ensuing weeks, the transition from being a mother of one to being a mother of two pretty much solidified it for me. I was done. Even though, after I decided that, I would get sad thinking of that bunch of kids I wanted to have that I was not going to have.

But now, over three years later, I wonder. I’m 32, if we’re gonna do this, we should do this. But can we? Do we want to? I’ve already told my mom to put away her hopes and the high chair she keeps in her dining room.

I’m doing so well on my depression/anxiety meds, do I want to mess with that? I really don’t.

But sometimes, looking at our two amazing kids, Bobby and I look at each other, and say, “Wow we make amazing kids. Maybe we need another one.”

And seeing baby Marler be born…it made me sad that I’ll never have that again.

All our baby stuff has long since been given away. We would really have to start over. And we don’t know if we want to or not.

So how did you know when you were done?

(P.S. Mom, please do not get excited.)

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It’s Almost Over.

I think Sammy is weaning himself.

He’s nearly 15 months old, and I know I should be prepared for this and ready for it to happen, but quite honestly I’m not. It makes me sad to think that he’s getting so big and that he’s not an infant anymore. I logically know this is true, but still, he is my baby.

We’ve been down to just nursing at night and sometimes in the mornings (when I’m trying to get a few more minutes of shut-eye), but lately Sammy hasn’t been nursing in very long stints – something much more exciting is always going on around him, and he’s soon ready to crawl off to find a ball or play with his sister. And the number one sign he’s just not that into it anymore – he doesn’t point and squeal at my laptop the way he used to when he wanted to nurse. (What? He thinks my laptop is somehow related to the nursing process, since it’s omnipresent when we sit down on the couch. Is that not normal??)

Tonight he was super tired and ready for bed, but I wanted to nurse him to sleep. I don’t normally do that, but tonight I wanted to pay attention, to make sure I remembered this night if in fact it turned out to be the last time he nursed. So we sat in the rocking chair in his room as we’ve done so many times before, and I just stared at him, trying to burn his soft little baby face into my memory. I want to remember everything about him.

He is my baby.

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The $1 Million Question

Wayyyy back in the day when Jenny and Bobby got married, I gave them a card that said something along the lines of “Congratulations! You’re never going to have to hear ‘When are you going to get married?’ again!” on the outside, and on the inside it said “So when are you going to have a baby?”

And then after the first… “Ready for another one??”

Then after the second (and I presume subsequent children as well), the common refrain is “So are you done now?”

Which, my friends, is where Andy and I are right now.

Before Sammy was born, I would have (and did) answered that question with an emphatic “Hell yeah!” I mean, I practically had him scheduled for the ol’ snip snip.

Now, though, it’s more of a {face contorted} “Yes. I think so. Probably. Maybe. I don’t know.”

And that’s just it – I don’t know.

It doesn’t make sense for us to have more kids. We don’t have another bedroom, and Sammy’s is already super small. We don’t have room for another car seat. And I can’t even begin to think about the financial implications of another baby.

But… I see things like Megan’s ultrasound or hear a tiny baby cry and my uterus skips a beat.

I also realize, though, that those things probably happen regardless. I mean, what are you supposed to do – keep having children until the sights/sounds of pregnancy and babies are repulsive? That doesn’t sound like such a good plan.

So tell me, readers, how did you know that you were done? Or how did you know that you’re not?

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