would you?

We stopped at two but would have liked to have had four. We just realised we couldn't afford anymore. That said, it was the right decision for me. I went to uni, became a teacher and then had a successful career as an academic all the while enjoying our two children. I wasn't really made to be a stay at home mum.

I had 4, but did seem to collect quite a few others along the way. I wish I could have had more but could not afford them.

Our DS is an only child as are DH and myself. We both wanted just the one child, I'm not the 'earth mother' type, and wanted to continue with my career, I'd have gone mad being a stay at home mum!

I only have one daughter and that's fine for me. Bumpy first 12 months and adolescence but now we are great friends and I have a lovely granddaughter.

Yes my son is a bit strange. Think he takes after me! He has no children (that he knows of!) But has a godchild that he adores.

I had one, that was more than enough!
I do know some people that have lots of kids, it just wasn't for me ?

I didn't ever imagine having more than one. I was a very happy only child, my daughter tells me that she is happy to be a singleton and in fact also has one daughter herself.

I would have liked four instead of my actual two but a) I started too late, b) we wouldn't have been able to afford them anyway. I do have two stepdaughters as well as my own pair so it's nearly as good. But four of my own would have been fun.

I only have my DD but DH (at that time was also Father to 3 DD & 1 DS, we later Divorced) so she has 1 Half-Brother & 3 Half-Sisters. I later met my late, beloved DH who had a DD & DD so my family extended to 7 altogether. I always wanted a large family but am glad I only have DD & now DGS.

I am not an "earth mother", in fact I'm not keen on babies but toddlers, that's a different matter. I don't go "gooey eyed" over babies unlike some women - each to their own

Happy with two

Oh yes! I've got 3 who I adore, but as long as I remember I always wanted 8. Had 3 live births and two miscarriages. No problems with pregnancy, but a lot with PND, DH would have carried on too but it was logistics that stopped us.
Love babies, love toddlers, not so keen on teenagers, but one survives to see the lovely people they turn out to be. No complaints...

I wanted 4, bout sftert 2 reality kicked in. Glad it was one of each.

I have only one DD mostly because her father was a useless swine who I knew I wouldn't stay with and it was easier with 1 child. In other circumstances I would have loved at least one more though.

When I became the single parent my parents took her at the weekends to let me work ... could't have dumped 2 kids on them!
Met current DH when I was 40 so no intention of starting again just as DD was going off to uni. He had 2 adult offspring too so we are happily just we two.

DD now has her own DD with one more on the way ... her DH is also an only child so they've always wanted more than 1.

Only if I could have remained young and been rich! I had 3 of my own and they were all years apart so the last one (nearly in my 40's) was much harder than the first in my 20's. If it hadn't been for that and an inability to get pregnant without intervention, I would have happily had more children.

It wasn't so long ago that women don't have any choice but to go on having children until they dropped thanks to the selfish actions of the male population who thought it was their right to use their women as they liked and forced babies on the poor women year after year. Seems like some men, even now, abdicate any responsibility for their actions and blame women for getting pregnant

I had twins & hit the jackpot with. Healthy son and daughter. I was in my 30s and found it hard so when they had just started school and my husband suggested a third ........

Absolutely no way ??

Morgana, that may be true for some women but not all. I have 3 sons and had another little one who passed away at six days (a long time ago). The day before my youngest started school, I was an emotional mess at the thought of not having a little hand to hold. My OH was great and even suggested trying for another child. He didn't mind one way or the other.
After dropping my Son off the next day, I thought long and hard about having another one and realised that what I wanted wasn't another child. I really wanted my own babies back again. Knowing this was impossible I realised that it was time to call it a day. So, for that reason I wouldn't have carried on having babies.

I have two. I wasn't keen on the tiny baby stage, loved the toddler to age 10 bit, found the 10 to 15 stage interesting and considered running away to sea when they got to the 15 to 20 stage.
Since they allegedly became adults, life has never been boring, even after they left home. I adore them both but certainly never wanted any more.

No thank you two are quite enough and i have 5 grandchildren....

MaizieD - I have heard it said that a 'difficult' baby is the most effective contraceptive!

2 girls was plenty for me.

I always wanted more but had real difficulty when pregnant, whhen I was 23 I lost baby one at 10weeeks carried the twin until seven and a half months ,she only lived 3 days,had my second daughter 16 months later right on her due date and my son 10 years later 11 weeks early ,pre eclampsia and 5 other miscarriages in between the two surviving children.Right up to my mid forties I'd have loved another ,it didn't happen.But I became a granny at 49 ,when my only grandson was born then we had 3 wee grandaughters with around 2 years between them .I had all four this weekend ..and I was happy to see them go home ...lol.I looked after the eldest two from they were weeks old so my daughter could go back to work early ,she had severe PND and the doctor advised work ,and I have the middle of the three girls (my sons daughter) half oof every week for over 5 years since her parents split up and her dad still lives at home with us.So I've had lots of babies to care for

As far as I was concerned I had 3 , two children and a now ex husband who acted liked a child. That was enough

That's a strange thing to say. I don't think it's true at all. Children are a handful and the more you have obviously the more difficult life is. They can be exhausting and very expensive. Having my babies was the best thing that ever happened to me. It's such a special time when you've just given birth and have a wonderful baby to look after. I also think it's irresponsible having too many children. The world is overpopulated as it is. It makes me mad all these people who have loads of children and everybody else is subsidising them with their taxes. I'm talking particularly about people that don't work and just live off benefits. I don't think anyone should have more than three children and child benefit should be stopped after the first child. Why should other people have to subsidise your children? My sister has always said no one should have more than two children so you're just replacing yourselves, but I think that's going a bit too far especially with death from illness and war.

After having a very easy time with DD1 my second was a wide-awake, screaming nightmare till she was six months old, which very nearly put me off having another. She's been the most delightful child/teenager/adult you could possibly imagine ever since! I'm so glad we took the plunge and had a third. Ideally I'd have loved to have had four, but we agreed that we would have struggled financially. When I look back on the year when all three of them were at university, I don't know how we managed!

Reading some of the sad stories on this thread makes me feel even more thankful for what we have.