How many children do you have ........and why?

I have two, a 'pigeon pair', with two years and two months between them. I lost one between them, I was 18 weeks pregnant.

Only ever wanted two, didn't care whether boys or girls. I was one of three girls, my father wanted six , my mother lost twins before me and said no way but now often says she would have liked another baby.

It's so sad that many here have lost babies or children, to you all x

I had DS who sadly passed away so quickly (maybe too quickly but I wouldn't change her) went in for another. I'm incredibly fertile so fell pregnant on more or less first attempt....def first month of trying. DD1 duly arrived. I wanted to enjoy her so didn't plan to have another for a few years. On cue DD2 appeared when DD1 was 4 years old.

Then I married DH who brought me 3 grown up step children and 2 little children.

I had 3. I had started wanting 4 but had a dreadful pregnancy with baby no 3 and decided to stop then when she was 15 months our second child died at almost 5 after a 6 months treatment for Leukaemia. I remember thinking in the middle of the pain how much I regretted that I couldn't get pregnant again ( husband had had a vasectomy after 3 baby was born) although another child could never have replaced our DS I thought at the time it might be the only thing that might keep me sane. There is now almost 8 years between the DD,s and surprisingly considering the age gap once they became young adults they have always been extremely close. I empathise with all the other posters who have lost children at whatever age it is truly the most terrible thing to happen to anyone.

One of my beautiful granddaughters looks just like him.

ps in answer to the OP title - I have three.
If you don't know why kittylester then I need to take you aside for a little biology lesson

Oh yes, my DS was always mistaken for a girl - he was beautiful.
He's still very handsome, but no mistaking him for a girl nowadays!
(gets his looks from DH not me)

don't people say outrageous things to new Mums?
I never felt the least bit guilty then or now for having 3 children, why should I, we did all we could for them and never asked for a penny, would still have managed even without the bit of family allowance.
I was pleased that we had one boy, having already had two girls,and remember kitting him out in blue woollies for a walk in the pram, being stopped by a complete stranger [old lady] who beamed at me and said " Isn't she a sweetie!" Grrrrrr.

A friend looked at our fourth baby girl, out in her beautiful big pram for the first time, and said, "They're going to cost you a fortune in Tampax one day!"

I have 3 too ds and one dd who was born when I was 40. There is a 15 year gap between no 2 ds and dd. When ds2 was 14 I was late one month and although I didn't think I was pregnant (I wasn't) I told dh. His reaction was 'Oh that would be good' so we tried for no 3 and I was pregnant within 3 months.

I was asked all the time if I wanted a girl but I just wanted another baby who happened to be a girl. I knew when she was born that I didn't want another dc as I couldn't put myself through another amnio and also as the two boys had fought I knew I would be better coping with just one!

Oh Maggie - don't get me going on this one! I had 3 girls and got thoroughly fed up with people "commiserating" with me when I had the third. She was (and still is) perfect and so beautiful - how can people say these crass things?

Having two DDs first I was often excused for having number three with - "I suppose you're trying for a boy".

Oh me too, NfkDumpling. And when DC3 did indeed turn out to be DS, someone actually wrote in the congratulations card "Hurray, you've got it right at last".

When I was pushing DC3 in the pram having fetched DCs 1 and 2 from school a friend of a friend peered at the baby and said 'Oh, must be from a second marriage then'
Despite the fact there is only 5 years between Nos 2 and 3 and they all looked very alike!
[never assume anything]

Three girls in a similar pattern to that of lucky. The older two are twenty months apart and then there is an eighteen year gap before Minibags put in an apprearance. I was aiming at six and was pregnant six times but three miscarried, two of them in the years just preceding Mbags. As I was well into my forties by then I had decided a successful pregnancy wasn't going to happen. This was sadder for MrBags than for me as he had no kids already. Then she kicked in and held on!

Not sure why I was aiming at at six. I was one of five and thought that size of family was just fine. Childhood dreams.

It wasn`t said to me, but in the Co-op one day, the man weighing the potatoes and veg was talking to a customer about the Family Allowance, as it was called then. He said that it was criminal how people kept having babies in order to get the allowance, he said they were breeding like cows in a field! I felt like asking him how much he thought the family allowance was, particularly as in those days it wasn`t paid for the first child, but I wasn`t brave enough! I remember my grandma being disgusted when I was expecting my second, I pointed out that she`d had 3, she grumpily said "that was 2 too many!"

We too have 3 children - all girls. The first two are 19 months apart, and the third was born when the oldest was 8. And I identify with apricot about the assumption by people that we had our last child in an attempt to have a boy.

I wanted 6 children but decided to stop as my last pregnancy caused lots of back problems.

We had no trouble conceiving - quite the opposite - he only had to smile at me and.....bingo!....instant conception.

to all those on this thread who have lost children at whatever age or gestation.

Granny23 your baby's blood incompatibility was the same as my babies 2 and 3 had. Both were ill for about 10 days with severe jaundice which started straight after birth.
Everybody assumed we were trying again for a boy each time but we were delighted with our four little girls. If I'd had only two children I would far rather have had both the same sex than one of each.

I'm just off to have lunch with no 3

Yes Nfk.... as in, 'she's got one of each, what does she want another for?'

Not then, nfk, but definitely now.

Was anyone else made to feel guilty about having more than two? (I do have an enormous guilt complex). Having two DDs first I was often excused for having number three with - "I suppose you're trying for a boy". Noooo!

My BiL says that 2 is easy but, when you have number 3, they have you outnumbered!

I think 3 children is working out to be the norm. In my case I wanted a bigger family but 3 seemed a lot more than two so I stopped there for reasons outlined above. The third child fitted in easily because we were experienced parents by then, the main thing I remember was having to buy bigger baking tins!

When I announced I was pregnant with number 4 my mother said, having had 4 herself, I only wanted you to have 2. I have never found out why. MiL on the other hand said she was really pleased as we were brilliant parents!

Interestingly, it seems that the average we have on here is 3 children, I thought it would be 2.

By the time I was 25 I had two children under two so the next year was a struggle. I became pregnant (not planned) about two years later and sadly lost the baby at 14 weeks.

When I re-surfaced and felt fit again I knew that I didn't want to end my child bearing years on a sad note so I became pregnant again with my third child and all went well.

I knew that as an only child I wanted more than one child and it worked out well in the end.

The brothers fell out after my husband passed away and the two eldest are not in touch with the youngest, but I hope that this will resolve itself in time.

I would have liked a fourth baby but I was exhausted and financially it would have been a huge strain.

Just two both sons.
The reason why I only had two is described on my contribution to the thread about Do You Remember.

I was one of five children and would have had more than two if I had had easier childbirths.

My DH is the younger of two children (one of each). MIL said it was due to financial reasons. She and FIL must have used some wonderful contraception though as DH was born in 1932 when it was all hitty missy.MIL was Catholic but non practising.She still had the nerve to tell me I had commited a mortal sin by having the tubal tie during DS2's birth!