Why do you think you chose to have a larger family?

[somewherewest]

I'm genuinely curious (no judgy pants). I have one and think three would be my limit, but part of me completely understands the appeal of a larger family. Maybe its my Irish Catholic background showing through ).

Because it's what I longed for when I was growing up. I felt lonely, and knew that I didn't want any of my DCs to feel that way.

I had friends who had big families, and their houses always seemed to be full of fun, and were never quiet and boring like mine was.

I do have a sister and we're extremely close now, but growing up she would rather that I hadn't been born, and I always felt a bit cheated. There was an almost 6 year age gap between us and she never wanted to play with me.

IMO, this also explains why I wanted mine close together, although this didn't work out in the end, and there is a big gap between DCs 1 &2. It's worked out well in the long run, but the older my DC1 got, the more I stressed that she would be an only, and that if she wasn't there would be too big an age gap.

How many DCs do you have, OP? How many would you like ideally?

Sorry, OP. Just read back. My post took so long to type, then it deleted it, that I forgot you'd already said all that!

hi somewherewest i have 3 children and want more so does dh the idea of a big family just appeals to me im very mummy type maternal i love the thought of having a busy home the fun the laughter i love having 3 and can only see more joy by adding to it havent decided on a number yet im 26 so plenty of time to expand my family :)

I think growing up in a large, extended family myself, lots of children seems normal. When I had my first 3dc I loved the house feeling lively and busy. As they grew older I had a surprise 4th dc, which I was thrilled about and then had a 5th dc to keep the 4th company (due to an 11 year gap). So although I always wanted a large family, mine kind of evolved, rather than 5 being our original plan. If we had more money and were ideally a bit younger, we would both love more, but dh says 5 is enough to be paying for.

For me, I love children and babies. I love being pregnant and am fascinated with the whole pregnancy/birth thing. I love the idea of a full house until I'm old and grey. I was one of four and really enjoyed having brothers and a sister. We are all still close so that helps. This Christmas Day is going to be busy and crazy and fantastic and I can't wait!

We are contemplating a fifth child and there wouldn't be any decision to make if we had more money.

I grew up with one younger brother. We were very close as children but he was very much the Golden Boy whereas everything I did was wrong. My mother has a totally different recollection of this of course but he got away with murder while they were always on my back.

As we got older I always wished there was another sibling to share the load. He went through a bad period at 18 - walked out of his job, lived in a number of squats, got in a lot of debt, and kept disappearing - and my parents took a lot of it out on me.

We have 5 - a set of 4 born within 5 1/2 years of each other and a bonus 'only'. My mum tells me constantly that I ruined DC1's life by having the others, and that I neglected DC2 for DC4. Pot calling kettle and all that.

DH and I always wanted a big family. I'm one of 8 so the logistics of it never scared me. I was also brought up very traditionally, I wasn't clever so there was no question of me doing anything else but a bit of shop work and having children.

We have 7 :)

We only have four which doesn't seem that big to me. Why did we have four?
We both love children
The noise the mess the chaos
Both DP and I are from a family of 2, both of us aren't close to our siblings, in laws dead, only see my Dad every few months so no family nearby so we made our own big family

DH comes from a small family I come a Russia family with lots of extended relatives as well as family from my English mother's side. I knew I wanted a family like I have abd DH always did too, he wanted to be surrounded by love and we have so much love to give and both want a house of choas and laughter. We have 6 all with slight age gaps and we plan to have another in a year if my body agrees. We want at least 8 but that depends on if we can not only afford them but find a house big enough! :)

DH is one of four and I thought that would be a good number.

my sister and I fought a lot and mum swears on 3 is the worst (middle child and badly affected by middle child syndrome) so 4 seemed like a good idea.

then after 4 I got broody again and decided to have 2 more.
got pg, had a MC and took me a while to decide to try again.

DS5 is such a gorgeous, happy child, I'm so glad I got brave!

then DD came along, but I still didn't feel we were done.

I think I'd like 8 (prefer even numbers) , but as currently pg with #7 and suffering from morning sickness I think this is going to be our last.
I'll be 40 a month after this one is born, so feel I'm getting a bit old for this - 7 kids in 13 years is getting exhausting!

btw, just for the record they are all gorgeous and a love them dearly - but there's something about DS5, he's just such a happy soul!

Im exoecting dc6 in Jan. I had 2 dc in my teens. Then met dp in my late 20's. We has 2 dc. Then surprise dc&finally I asked dp if we could squeeze one last dc in as im getting a bit old!

6 dc over 25 years! Mad but I love it & who knows how many more!!-;-)

Excuse typos!

Im exoecting dc6 in Jan. I had 2 dc in my teens. Then met dp in my late 20's. We has 2 dc. Then surprise dc&finally I asked dp if we could squeeze one last dc in as im getting a bit old!

6 dc over 25 years! Mad but I love it & who knows how many more!!-;-)

We have 4. I fell out with my whole family ( long story ) when I was pregnant with dd1. Felt like I wanted to surround myself with family. We then lost a baby after dd2 and I just wanted another baby so so so bad. We now have 4 dds and are very happy. Dd4 had a stroke at birth and I think that is what has made me happy with not wanting any more. I now feel "done" with having babies. We are always asked if we are going to keep trying for a boy, no we are happy with our 4 girls, thanks.

I have got 4 kids, ill be onest only 1 of them was actually planned but that doesnt make them any less loved. Im open minded about having another tbh im in no rush but if it happens then so be it.