My husband and I got married in November, the week before Thanksgiving. We weren’t planning on having children right away, but by Christmas we were expecting our first child. We went to my parents’ house for Christmas and got to share the news with my siblings Christmas morning; our baby would be the first grandbaby.
Later we got to visit my Grandma Bainbridge who was in the hospital. She wasn’t doing well, but we wanted to share the happy news with her. It cheered her spirits up and then she told us that she thought it was good that we didn’t put off having children, that we were having them right away. I had known that that was the counsel of church leaders:
“This blessing [bearing children] should not be postponed for selfish reasons” (Birth Control, n.d.).
But my Grandma Bainbridge was not a member of my faith. So instead of quoting prophets and apostles she simply said, “You will never know what it’s like to not have children.” She added that often times couples get used to freedoms without children that when children finally do arrive in the picture they are more of a burden and a sacrifice. By not delaying the genesis of our family, we would ultimately be more satisfied.
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| Our First Anniversary November 1995 |
Nine months and one week after my husband and I were married we were blessed with our first son, Joseph. My grandmother was right. We got to know each other at the same time we were getting to know our roles as mother and father. Every year or two after that, another precious bundle would arrive; we have never really known married life without children. These last twenty-two years have been spent pregnant or nursing (twenty-one of those changing diapers) and my husband is not sure he will recognize me when the children are all grown up.
I recognize that “the decision of how many children to have and when to have them is a private matter for the husband and wife” (Birth Control, n.d.), it is also an individual matter, but as for us, it was a perfect beginning.
References
Birth Control. (n.d.). In Gospel Topics online. Retrieved from https://www.lds.org/topics/birth-control?lang=eng
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| Joseph and Rebekah December 1997 |
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| Joseph, Rebekah, & Rachel December 1998 |
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| Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel & Mary March 2000 |
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| Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel, Mary, & Benjamin December 2001 |
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| Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel, Mary, Benjamin, & Samuel January 2004 |
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| Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel, Mary, Benjamin, Samuel, & Ruth Fall 2006 |
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| Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel, Mary, Benjamin, Samuel, Ruth, & Moroni November 2007 |
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| Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel, Mary, Benjamin, Samuel, Ruth, Moroni, & Adam November 2009 |
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| Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel, Mary, Benjamin, Samuel, Ruth, Moroni, Adam, & Hyrum Fall 2011 |
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| Joseph, Rebekah, Rachel, Mary, Benjamin, Samuel, Ruth, Moroni, Adam, Hyrum, & Joshua Spring 2013 |
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| And this year we get to add Eve! Coming to Pictures December 2016 |
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