Are you done? Do you think you will have more? When’s the next one? You’ve got so many already, what’s one more? Is that it now?
These are all questions I’ve been asked over the years. With 5 children of my own and a step-son, people always think I’m going to have more; especially now that my youngest is at nursery. He is due to go to school next year. I’m not entirely sure why it’s such a common conversation, maybe people just don’t know what to say when they see me with all the kids.
The answer is always really easy. It’s a resounding HELL NO! Not because I don’t like babies, but because I think I need to focus on myself and grow as a person. It’s time for me to be selfish.
My eldest will be 16 at Christmas, and the realisation of this has been a bit of a wake-up call to me. Since I was 16, I have spent almost 5 years either pregnant or breastfeeding. That’s a lot of time!
Over the last 16 years, I’ve had 2 weddings, 1 divorce, brought 5 babies into the world, bought a house, gained a step-son and kept a menagerie of pets. If someone had told the 16-year-old version of me that this is what life would look like in my early 30’s then I wouldn’t have believed them. 16 year old me wanted to go to university and study political law. Children weren’t on the agenda. Ever!
Now that the children are getting older, I’m starting to enjoy time to myself. It’s nice to be able to go for a wee in peace or eat breakfast without needing to stop halfway through and feed a baby.
I’m not going to lie, if I won the lottery and bought a massive house with space for a live-in nanny then maybe I would consider another one…although probably not. I’d probably just fill the house with shoes and books instead; which are just as lovely as babies but don’t wake me up in the middle of the night.