Eight is (Probably) Enough

Going out in public with a large family is a big challenge, and full of both irritating and humorous moments.  Not from the kids, you  understand but from the adults that have a tendency to be rude.

I have a strong sense of boundaries and personal space, maybe because I was an only child. I have found that people don’t always share my idea of propriety and some cultures are worse than others in our area.

The funniest thing that people have said to me (in my opinion) is, “Wow! You look GREAT for having EIGHT kids!”

I always say thanks but I want  to say, “What?I look crappy if I had only had two?”

The worst thing was when a woman came up to me and berated me in front of the kids for causing a drain on the tax system and messing up the environment.

As far as the environment went she should have done a quick breath check…I am pretty sure that a little mouthwash would have brought the local air quality index down several points..

and we are not on any social programs so I don’t know what was up with that.

People generally want to know how  we ended up with eight kids.  I am pretty sure they all ready know the method we used so I am guessing that they want to know why.  Why did we want a big family? The quick version is that Marc and I are both overachievers.

You see, we were told that we would not ever be able to have kids.  I had gotten a pretty serious infection in a military hospital that turned into Pelvic Inflammatory Disease.  Everytime I went in to a doctor complaining about pain and cramping they would give me a midol and tell me to go use a heating pad.  This went on for almost a year.

One day I felt really lousy.  Marc and I had been married about eight months and were living in San Angelo, Tx. while he attended classes at Goodfellow AFB.  I was running fever but hey I was an adult, right? I continued through my day. Marc had CQ duties that night and would be gone all night.

I started to feel cold and could not stop shivering.  I had the heat up as high as it would go and was shaking so hard  my teeth rattled.  All of a sudden I knew I had to call someone to take me into the hospital.  It was a good  thing. I almost died.

After 6 weeks in the hospital on IV antibitotics I got to come home and was given the news that my uterus and tubes were a mess of scar tissue  and if I ever managed to get pregnant (unlikely) it would certainly be a tubal. There was no way I would carry until full term.

Well, several months later, much to the shock of the medical community I was pregnant with Erin, our first.  She was followed by a baby that we lost, which was followed pretty quickly by Chris.  By this time we had the idea that maybe there was something the doctors didn’t know.

After Chris was born in 1985 we had a 7 year period with no babies.  I am not totally sure why, but I think it had something to do with God knowing that Chris was going ot be a handful and I would need a break before the next one.  Matthew was born in 1992, followed by Ethan in 1993, Shiloh in 1996, Sean in 1998, Nick in 2000, a miscarriage in August of 2002, and Kyrie in July of 2003.  It looks like we may be done, but who knows?

Now, why didn’t we use birth control? It really is not a religious conviction, we are not Catholic or Mormon.  How do I explain this? Hmmm…

We wanted children.  Not necessarily a small nation but some kids.

We were told we could not have any.  That awful “I” word…infertility.

We did the next thing; prayer.  You know, if you ask God for money you are not going to say, “WHOA! God, thanks for the thousand bucks..but no more for me!”

I guess it was the same thing.  Because we had to get a “special dispensation” to have kids we didn’t feel right about taking the control back into our own hands.

Most of my friends are empty nesters or close to it.  They have time to read books, go out to eat, and do things that adults do, and sometimes I am a little jealous..I will be  honest.  There are times that I think if we had stopped after Chris we would have the house to ourselves and I could wear the French Maid outfit all day long…

But just about the time I am thinking that Matt will start talking to me about something he found interesting at college or play the song he just wrote.  Or Ethan will say something absolutely hilarious…or the aroma of cookies will waft from the kitchen and I will know Shiloh is baking…or I will hear Sean reading his Bible to Nick and Kyrie, or Nick will draw me a picture or Kyrie will give me a hug and tell me that she is my pet elephant today.

So, I think eight is probably enough…but we’ll see.

Did you read all the way to the bottom of this thing? WOW! You deserve some kind of reward…hmmm…let’s see…

Oh yeah!

The winner has been chosen for this prize and comments have been closed.

This is a blogtoberfest sponsored post.  There is a secret prize attached! For a chance to win it leave a comment, that’s all you have to do.  In a few days (maybe a week, it’s up to me) a name will be drawn from the comments and if it is yours…you win!!!

You can find more sponsored posts today at the following blogs:

You also have lots of chances to win great Blogtoberfest prizes! Today, October 9, your chances (and prizes) are hiding at the following blogs: blog fabulous, hankering for yarn, junk creation, unplugged living, my crime space, play library, she knows parties, suppernanny rules, the food bowl
.. Visit them all and leave a comment — you may win even more!

Image:Morguefile