Before my husband and I got married, I don’t recall discussing how many children we wanted to have. He says we did, and talked about having 2-4 kids. I have an older sister and he has two older brothers, so we both come from, in my opinion, smaller families. I have always been amazed by and drawn to large families. In high school, I had a friend that had 6 siblings and I just loved being in their home; there seemed to be so much love and fun there. Whenever there was a show on TV about a large family, I just had to watch it; I started watching shows about the Duggars when they only had 14 kids!
When my husband and I got married, I was not a Christian; my husband was, but was walking his own path. I was saved when our first child was about one year old.
Our first child, a boy, was born in 2002. There was no doubt that we would have another, and when Luke was 17 months old, we became pregnant with our second child. Sam was born in 2004, 2 years and 2 months after his older brother. How perfect! Two little boys that would grow up together and be the best of friends.
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| Best Buds |
When Sam was about 6 months old, I began experiencing signs and symptoms of post-partum depression. Thankfully, I quickly realized that something wasn’t right and that I needed help. I went to my doctor and she prescribed an anti-depressant. It did wonders and I felt “normal” again. When Sam was about 19 months old, I started having “baby fever.” I wanted another baby, and so did my husband! Some of our family members…… not so much. I remember my mother saying that if we had another baby that she would retire…… from being grandma! I was so crushed and hurt by her comment, and unfortunately, I will probably never forget it. I love her and forgive her, but those words are not easily forgotten.
A couple months later, we were pregnant with our 3rd child. Of course everyone assumed we were trying for a girl. We were just trying for another healthy baby. I will be honest though, I did cry a little when the ultrasound technician told us we were having a girl. It was exciting to be having a girl after two boys. Rachel was born in 2007, about 2 years and 5 months after Sam.
I don’t recall discussing whether or not we would have another. When Rachel was 10 months old, we moved back to our hometown in NY (from AZ) and shortly after we moved, we found out that baby #4 was on the way. We had actually just built a house that was perfect for our family. It was 2000 square feet with 4 bedrooms; each kid would have their own room. It was about two weeks after we moved in that we found out we were expecting #4. My husband’s family was thrilled (we had just moved closer to them and they would have a million grandchildren if that were possible); my mother on the other hand just rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh.
Lauren was born (my first non-induction and med-free birth) at the beginning of 2009, 21 months after Rachel. How perfect – we now had two boys and two girls. We were done, right? Everyone thought that we were most likely done, and so did we. My husband and I were both very content with our family of 6 and felt very peaceful about our decision to be done.
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| My 4 cuties |
Well, when Lauren was about 10 months old, baby fever hit me again. However, it didn’t hit my husband. I told him about my desire to have another, but he was adamant on being done. I knew there was no point in pushing the issue or trying to change his mind. So I prayed. God had shown me through other experiences in our marriage that I needed to just give it to Him and shut my mouth.
During Lauren’s first year, we debated on what to do about birth control or whether or not my husband should get a vasectomy. Let’s just say that I have expired condoms and an unused diaphragm in my nightstand drawer; I also had an appointment to get an IUD that I ended up canceling because after much research, I just didn’t feel comfortable getting one for a number of reasons (the main reason being that an IUD is not a contraceptive device but an abortifacient and doesn’t allow a fertilized egg to implant in the uterus). My husband has had 2 (or maybe it was 3) appointments to get a vasectomy, but all of them ended up being canceled due to conflicts or other reasons. I totally felt God was NOT wanting us to do this! We (yes, even my husband) just couldn’t bring ourselves to use birth control in any form. I never felt comfortable with my husband’s idea to get a vasectomy and so thankful that God did not let that happen. I was very uneasy with the thought of being the one to say, “we are done,” instead of letting God make that decision. When God didn’t allow my body to become pregnant anymore, then I would be comfortable and content with being done.
One evening, after Lauren’s first birthday, my husband came to me out of the blue and said, “I think we should let God decide how many kids we have.” I was floored. I was amazed. I was in awe. I was in tears. I was thankful. God had changed my husband’s heart! So, we began “trying” to get pregnant again. After a few months, I was not pregnant. I am a pretty fertile woman and usually get pregnant quite quickly. This was the longest it had taken us to get pregnant. I began to wonder if we would have anymore and what God was trying to teach me. I began praying that the Lord would once again give me contentment with the four children I had, in case it was the Lord’s will that we not have anymore children. Now that we wanted more, we weren’t getting pregnant. It was the beginning of July, and Lauren was now 18 months old. I had one pregnancy test left under the bathroom sink and told myself that I wasn’t buying anymore tests (thank the Lord for the $ store tests) and stressing myself out. And I didn’t buy anymore tests (for awhile anyway); the test was positive! We were expecting baby #5!
Shortly after getting the awesome news of another baby, we once again made the decision that we were done after this one. I love giving birth and I love being pregnant………. during the second trimester. The first trimester – BLAH; the third trimester – SLOOOOW. I didn’t want to be pregnant again after this one and my husband was in agreement, even though we both thought it would be nice to have 6 to make it an even number. I even joked that maybe we would have twins this time and get the 6 we want without another pregnancy. A month after finding out I was expecting, I went in for an ultrasound for dating purposes. I had a strange feeling that something was going to be different with this ultrasound than any other; I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a bad thing or a good thing – I just knew something was different. I soon found out (along with my 3 year old daughter; of all the ultrasounds for my husband to miss) that my feeling was valid – the Lord had blessed us with twins!!
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| TWINS!! |
The twins were born at 39 weeks 6 days! Big and healthy; 2 years and 2 months after Lauren. Now that we had a nice, even, 6 kids, we were surely done. Until my husband came to me when the twins were about a year old and said, “Let’s have more.” In the months leading up to this, several people were brought into our lives that have experienced ill, severely injured, or even the death of their child. Through this, my husband realized just how blessed we have been with our children, and he wanted more. He didn’t want to miss out on any that the Lord would want to bless us with. I was amazed at the change in my husband’s heart once again, so I immediately agreed! This was probably sometime in February 2012. We soon decided that we should wait until the fall when we were settled into our new house. The Lord had other plans; on April 15, 2012 (just two days after our 10th wedding anniversary), we found out we were pregnant with baby #7.
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| #7 |
So here I am, 11 weeks 2 days pregnant with baby #7. My due date is Christmas Eve. Now the big question is……. will we have more?
What an awesome story of how God has led you and your husband to have more children. You are truly blessed!
Thanks for taking the time to read our story and leaving a sweet comment!
Blessings!
I imagine this will be my story too 🙂 “Right Now” I’d like to have maybe three years before the next one… but bc options that we can live with (morally or enjoyably lol) are few and far between. We have always thought we’d have four.. but when you start at 20… you have a LOT of fertile years lol!
I can totally relate! Not many options out there to choose from and when you start young and are very fertile, it can be a little intimidating to think about how many kids we might have!
Thanks for commenting!
Such a great testimony!
Thanks you Blair!
How fun to get a look at your babies. I did not realize you have twins. I love babies and hope to have many more 🙂
Tesha – please know I have been thinking of you a lot, even though I haven’t been commenting on your blog much! I get your posts in my email and it’s always a blessing to receive them!
Praying for God’s perfect will and timing for your family!
Blessings!
haha What an exciting post to read! Thanks for sharing over at Workin’ It Mondays 🙂 It’s really neat to see your family’s journey- and it’s great that you are letting God decide your family size! Can’t wait to read part two 🙂
Nicole, thanks for stopping by to read and for your comment! I enjoy your link-up!
Thanks again!
I love this! I’ve been convicted to let God be in charge of our family size. My husband disagrees with me on it, and so I’m praying for God to change his heart and for Him to help me be respectful and submit to my husband on this issue. Can’t wait to read part two!
Thanks Annika – that’s really all you can do – pray! Give it to the Lord.
What a great post. 🙂 I love hearing stories of big families. Among our friends, we have the most children so far. This will be our fourth and as hard as it is to be pregnant and chase small children around, I just can’t fathom the thought of being “done” after this. We’ll surely see, just like you will! 🙂 Many blessings to you and your family!
Thank you for stopping by and commenting Tess! And congrats on baby #4. When are you due?
Congratulations! How Exciting! I’m learning to trust the Lord in changing my husband’s heart towards the number of children we have. 🙂
Mary Beth
newlifesteward.com
Thanks for stopping by MaryBeth! How many children do you currently have? Praying for your family!
What a blessing, and how exciting! I hope that we are able to have a big family too :). I appreciate that you said when your husband feels differently, you just talk with the Lord about it and trust Him. That is better than nagging every time :).
I have definitely learned the hard way that there is no use in nagging! I just need to keep my mouth shut and let God do the work!
Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for inviting me to join your link up! This looks like a lot of fun. 🙂
Absolutely! I hope you decide to join in the link up. It’s been a great encouragement so far!
Thanks for stopping by!
I loved reading this! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂 We also had some family members not too happy about our Baby #5, but of course they’re always so happy when they see the baby with their own eyes.
Congrats to you!!!! 🙂 I’m hoping for baby #6–ever since I had my 3rd child, I *knew* I would have six children. So we’ll just see…. It took nearly 2 years for my cycles to return after baby #4 and #5 is only 10 1/2 months….
Sara – Thanks for stopping by and thanks again for featuring me on your blog.
Blessings,
Sarah
Oh I loved reading this post! I came over from Raising Arrows, and am now following your blog! Congratulations on baby #7!
My husband and I made the decision to trust God with our family size and the timing of our babies, after our 3rd baby was born (much to my delight! I have always wanted lots of children and, like you, been fascinated with large families even before I was saved). Hubby has wavered on that between babies but I keep praying and ultimately he does not choose to prevent, praise God!
I now have six little boys – my sixth was born 2 weeks ago – and am already excited to see what God does next with our family! I hope and pray that we might be blessed with more children yet! We homeschool too, but my eldest is only 7 so it’s just the older two children so far.
So happy to find your blog! 🙂
Alice – Thanks so much for stopping by and thanks for following.
Wow, 6 boys! Congrats on the newest addition!
Blessings,
Sarah
Wow, what a fun story! Large families are a true blessing. I’m one of six girls and my children have 20 cousins all within two hours of each other and they love each other. Our family gatherings always a blast!
Theresa – Thanks for stopping by and thanks for leaving a comment!
Growing up, I had 5 cousins, but my sister and I are 12+ years older than all of them, so we weren’t that close.
I can’t wait to see how big the family gatherings will be for our family in the future!
Blessings,
Sarah
Love this. I just talked to a young couple the other day with 5 small children who were “sure” they are done. I said we were done at 5 also! Ha! Now we have 9! 🙂
Keep up the God work and love on that large family.
Thanks for the encouragement Lori!
I really enjoyed reading this! We have three children and we are at an impasse. I desperately want more children, but my husband has said we are done, at least for now. 🙁 I needed this reminder to take it to God, as it has been a very difficult thing for me as I watch friends and family announce pregnancies and births. I love large families!
Thanks for stopping Dusty. I know the feeling of others being pregnant around you and desperately wanting the same. Through all this I have definitely learned to give it to the Lord and to be content with what I have.
Blessings,
Sarah
I feel as if I am reading my own story! I have four children…two (twin) girls and two boys. My mother is not at all supportive of me having more children. My husband and I have also said that we were done having children after baby number 3 and after baby number four, who is now 20 months old. I all of a sudden have baby fever and my husband does not. Although he has always said that if we had one more that it would have to be twins again so that we could have an even six 😉 We have also decided against using any medical birth control methods. I take my temperature every morning and we use NFP Natural Family Planning. Guess I will have to hand this one over to God and let Him work on this one as well. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I know that God placed this here for me to read <3
Kristin – Your comment warms my heart. This is my whole purpose behind this blog – I want God to use it to reach the people He wants me to – even if it’s just one person, I’m so thankful to be able to do God’s work.
God has a plan, just trust in Him.
I am lifting up your family in prayer!
Blessings,
Sarah
I love your story., I have 4 ( 3 boys and 1 girl) right now and go back and forth between being done and having more. My 6 year old daughter really wants a sister. The one thing remains is that I never stay at not wanting more. My husbands says when he makes more money so I too will pray and let it be up to God. Either for contentment at staying at 4 or to change my husbands heart. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for stopping by and reading our story.
Prayer is a powerful thing!
My mom has had trouble with this as well, we are currently pregnant with out 7th, when I was pregnant with #3, she said, ‘what are you going to do with 3?!?!’ #5, she suggested that we give up for adoption. Now, #7, she says we should give the baby to my husband’s sister who can’t get pregnant. She loves the babies though….
Corinne – Thanks so much for commenting. It’s kind of nice to hear I’m not the only one that has struggles with their mother over this!
Congrats on #7!
What an incredible story! My hubby and I also have differing opinions on this and I think you showed me exactly what To do about it: pray, pray, pray!
Miranda – Yes, pray is all I could do. I just had to give it to God!
He has a perfect plan for your family!
Thanks for commenting!
Yayyyyyy I enjoyed reading this! I am pregnant too, and enjoy reading these kind of stories. Keep em coming!
Jaclyn
http://www.munahscupcake.com
Thanks for stopping by Jaclyn! Congrats again on your pregnancy! I hope you will link up again!
This was wonderful!! 🙂 I love big families. My husband and I are currently expecting our fourth, but know we want more. <3
With love, Rebecca.
http://www.FromMyMountainView.com
Thanks for stopping by Rebecca!
Congrats to you and your family on baby #4!
I LOVED reading this story! It is just so neat to see how God leads families to trust Him!
You might enjoy reading my story of our family size. It is my most popular post!
http://www.yestheyareallours.com/2010/10/children-blessing-or-burden.html
Thanks for stopping by! I will definitely check out your story!!
Congratulations!! We have 8 and I would have kept on having children if my body had cooperated.
Thanks for linking up today.
Thanks for stopping by Kate, and thanks for hosting a great link up!
Sarah…what a sweet testimony of trusting the Lord with your family size. Thank you for sharing this at WJIM this week and congratulations on baby #7.
Sarah…I wanted you to know I am featuring you this week at WJIM. You can check it out tomorrow. Have a blessed week.
Naomi – Thanks so much! What a blessing!
Aww… I love that! Congrats!!! We are expecting baby 3 this August and are thrilled. People keep asking if we’re done as well. We just tell them that we’ll have to wait and see what God puts on our hearts. 🙂
Liz – thanks for stopping by and commenting! Congrats on #3! You should check out the pregnancy link up that I host!
We too had three vasectomies scheduled. Although I was the one that canceled them with my husband’s permission and I am pregnant with baby #4. I do think this will be our last but with God nothing is impossible. And how can you not love babies? Although I would like to adopt as well.
Congrats on baby #4! It’s just hard for me to say, “no more” because I don’t want to miss out on any blessings!! I just think if we stopped after #3 or 4, we wouldn’t have all the precious ones we have now.
Check out my pregnancy link up if you’d like!
Stopping by from Holy-Spirit Led Homeschooling…
Are you sure you aren’t me from the future? LOL
Honestly, when/if we have 5 more children I could write this verbatim.
I’ve subscribed to your blog and can’t wait to read more about how your sweet family has come about!
Chelsea – Thanks so much for commenting and following! Isn’t is amazing when you read someone’s blog and you think, “that’s me!”? Pretty neat to see how God brings other people into our lives!
Blessings,
Sarah
What a beautiful journey you are on! You have truly been blessed!
Thanks Kasey! I couldn’t agree more!
Thanks for stopping by!
Awesome testimony! I just love how God holds the hearts of our husbands in his hands and can turn them at His will! I am the oldest of five children and five has always been a wonderful number for me! I am pretty sure this is my last pregnancy! I feel content with our family of “Seven Flowers”. I am not sure about the vasectomy or tubal either as a way of planning family size. I feel very comfortable taking the low estrogen/high progesterone birth control and will continue doing so as long as I need to.
I just love your posts! God Bless you and your family!