Anonymous wrote:Just here to say that I too just had my third and know in my brain it has to be the last (pregnancy is miserable, C-sections are terrible, rolling the dice because we have a healthy family, money etc etc etc) but I can’t bring myself to give away the baby things. I saw something on instagram that said something like “all his firsts will be my lasts” and I think about it all the time 😭 so I don’t know that you ever know. I think time passes and life carries on…good luck and hugs
Anonymous wrote:When my body kept saying:
"Hey Larla, you've been trying for a while, but you've got endometriosis, an autoimmune disease, a coagulation problem, all three of which are known to reduced fertility by themselves, let alone together, AND I've just decided to go into perimenopause. Might want to get a pet or something..."
Took me a while to get the message, but my body has been amazingly consistent. 7 weeks, bam, miscarriage 5 times in a row.
Anonymous wrote:We have 3. In the baby/toddler/early elementary age, it was physically demanding but I had a rhythm with my husband to manage and actually enjoy that phase. So much so, that in the midst, I could have easily signed on for a 4th.
The things is that life is unpredictable. Your healthy family now is no guarantee for the long term. A critical illness or a job loss or a child developing mental illness or discovering learning difficulties are all umknowns but distinct possibilities.
I know that this sounds pessimistic, which I promise is not the intent. What I mean to express is that thing happen, life happens and there a lot of things upstream that will be out of your control. As kids get bigger, so do the challenges.
I felt this too, especially when I stopped breastfeeding my last. Even though I knew I didn't want anymore, I still was sad about it being the last of each stage/milestone.Anonymous wrote:How did you know when you were done having children? We always wanted three, have three, and it's certainly busy enough that I'm not sure I'd have energy for a fourth and I'm probably too old. But I'm having a hard time giving away baby items... "just in case." And every time I look at our third, the baby, I feel this sense of mourning about it being the last time I have a baby this little. But I know that I'm getting older, and my husband and I need our energy for our three beautiful existing children... How did you *know*?