I hear most women being very definitive about “our family is complete” or “we can’t wait to have more.”
I didn’t say either after our daughter was born. How do you decide? I can say I treated her like she would be my last baby – held her all the time, babied her (she still is), and savored all the tiny baby moments.
After 3 pregnancies and 2 living children, I was exhausted. I didn’t know what the future held, but I did know I needed a long break from pregnancy. I wanted freedom from a breastfeeding child, to eat and drink what I wanted, and to have a break physically.
Growing our Family
We always had taken it 1 child and 1 pregnancy at a time. As I write this in the middle of March we are currently over 8 weeks pregnant. We are over the moon to add to our family. We thought of all the logical things I am sure most people do when having another baby – do we have space, what does our work look like with another, but most of all do we feel like our family is complete?
Would I feel a sense of disappointment not having another baby?
And the answer was yes. I would feel like my family and I would be missing out. I think that is how we made our decision. We didn’t want to feel like we were missing out!
I know there will be a time when we ask ourselves that question and I will know that I am content not being pregnant again, not adding another child to our family, and happy living in the toddler and up years.
Planned or unplanned we have leaned into each pregnancy with joy and intention. We can rest in knowing that we will know when we won’t be “missing out” we will be right where we’re meant to be.
How did you know you were ready to add to your family?
