Done and Complete?

Before I got pregnant with my second child, I wrote a post about how do you decide when you are ready to add to your family with another. I knew for us at that point that we didn't feel done. We knew we wanted to add to our family and were hoping that we were going to be blessed with another baby. Each family has their reasoning for spacing their children out at various ages or for stopping after one..two.. etc..

After I had my second, I did have moments of feeling done. It was a whole other ball game having two little ones. I had also had a difficult somewhat complicated pregnancy with him and that left with me with many fears about ever doing it again. As time passed though I knew that we still didn't feel complete and would want to add to our family in the future.

Now that I am pregnant with number three... I can honestly say that once he or she gets here... we will be done. Of course things may change in the future but for the first time ever I feel like we will be complete. See we had originally wanted four children... but as far as how we are feeling now I don't think we will get there. I guess I am just saying this because I know some moms wonder if they will ever feel done.. or they are in contemplating mode right now about whether or not to add to their family.

I had a momentary hormonal hiccup in my thoughts while I was at Target the other day. I was childless on this particular trip to the store so I was taking my time looking through things and actually shopping rather than making it a marathon of lets get out of the store before crying..tantrums..potty etc.. cut into the trip. When I was in the baby aisle, I got a little panicky. This is the last time I will be pregnant. This is the last time I will get to shop for itty bitty new born clothes. This is the last time I will deal with ultrasounds, feel movement from within.. etc..

See it is easy to get caught up in baby fever. You see a pregnant woman and remember.. You smell that new baby smell and remember... You hold that tiny sweet little person and remember..

But for the first time, while those moments still have an affect on me, I also look forward to the next stages and all that they bring. I look forward to being completely out of the diaper stages. I look forward to having my body back. After pregnancy, labor delivery recovery, and breastfeeding... my body hasn't been my own since 2009!

Now I don't want to sound like I am complaining about anything. I feel so incredibly blessed that I have been able to conceive, carry and deliver my babies.. (God willing our third one gets here safely and healthy). It is not lost on me that not everyone has the ability to control how and when their family expands. I just always wondered if there is such a thing as feeling done and complete. We finally got there.

Now I know that there are many factors that go into wondering if your family is complete or not. Age, timing, money etc. What are your reasons for knowing you are or aren't done? And someone please remind me of this post in a few years if I come back with wanting to have another.... So now I am off to savor the last second half of pregnancy I will ever have!