How Did We Get Here, Part 2

I briefly explained our view of family planning in this post.  After having Opal 5 years ago, we stuck to our natural family planning - and figured with my advancing age, that our chances of our family expanding were rapidly declining now that I am over 40.

But God is full of humor and blessings.

He surprised us this year with our third "last child."  We now have 7 kids!  We never planned to be "one of those weird families."  

We started marriage in 2004 planning to have an "acceptably large" family of 4 kids.  I did not have regular menstrual cycles (one or two a year), so we had to use ovulation drugs to get pregnant with the first two (boys), born in 2007 and 2009.  We had a miscarriage in 2011.  After being pregnant with a girl (born 2012), it seemed that my hormones finally figured it out and I began cycling regularly. We had our fourth (another boy) in 2013, and whereas I was "done" mentally (4 kids in 6 years), I can't say I ever truly felt like I knew we were done.  (Everyone says you know.)  

Paul was leaving it up to me, as it is my body that has to bear pregnancies, and I was leaving it up to him as it's his finances that have to provide.  We both felt that we needed to trust God, but agreed my body needed a break.  (I had been pregnant or nursing all but a few months of 8 years.)

Then we became pregnant with #5 within months of having the "let's give your body a break" talk.  Another girl was born in 2016.  (And this was after having an ovary removed due to a cyst!)

After this baby, my cycles became extremely regular, and we thought this we had this family planning thing really under control. No babies for 4 years seemed to verify that thought.  And then there was that one month in spring of 2020 (the spring of Covid lockdown)......  Our 6th was born in early 2021.

At this point we both felt we were done, but still not willing to have surgery to demand our will over God's.  Our oldest was almost done with home school high school, and our youngest was just starting.  I was managing a thriving ministry at church, and we were all involved in ministry at church and helping on my family's farm.  Life was full, and we were content and abundantly blessed.

Everything on the internet about fertility in your 40s says it is almost impossible to get pregnant.  Apparently that doesn't apply if you've had 6 babies already!  We got pregnant with baby #7 on my 42nd birthday, despite carefully tracking my cycles, and the calendar and physical symptoms showing me being days past "the danger zone."  Ironically, my sister had just given me back all the baby stuff I'd given to her.  I took it to donation, but the pregnancy center was randomly closed, so the car seat and other items stayed in the back of my van for two weeks.......where it still was when I found out I'd need them again!

Our 7th was born in March of 2025.  I've had babies in three separate decades!  ('00s, '10s, and '20s)  God is good, and never ceases to amaze us.