So many people are fascinated with my fertility. It used to shock me when people would ask if we planned to have more children or if I were pregnant already (I\u2019m not, so don\u2019t ask me!). I just couldn\u2019t understand the preoccupation that friends, family and complete strangers had with the private workings of my body and my marriage. While I could go blissfully through my day without ever asking that mom of two at the store if she\u2019s contracepting, she can\u2019t seem to control her curiosity about me.<\/p>\n
I blame it in part on our reality show culture. When cameras follow people into the bathroom and other people eagerly watch, people lose any sense of personal boundaries. There seem to be no questions too personal to ask, and nothing too private to answer. <\/p>\n
The rest of it, from what I can see, is that we are like the freak show at the circus. We\u2019re a throwback to a simpler time. We have a big family, bake our own bread, educate our own children, make our own laundry soap, etc. I guess we\u2019re lucky that we\u2019re not getting poked at with sticks. <\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t really explain the level of fascination that I and my big-family-friends run into. A friend and I were lamenting the other day that we can\u2019t be tired or forgetful within earshot of anyone without the inevitable question, \u201cAre you pregnant?\u201d popping up. Don\u2019t ask us that. If we are, then we want to announce it on our own terms, and if we aren\u2019t then you\u2019re just being annoying. If we are, we may have reasons for not telling you like wanting to tell someone else first (my husband perhaps?) or because something is going wrong and we don\u2019t want to talk about it. If we\u2019re not, there may be a reason why that we don\u2019t want to talk about it or we may be planning on trying tonight and don\u2019t want to jinx it. Whatever the reason, it\u2019s personal and private, so unless you\u2019re my best friend, mind your own business. <\/p>\n
Moms of big families can\u2019t hide their sex lives the way that moms of small families can. We don\u2019t blend into anything, we parade our love lives around following after us for everyone to see. That doesn\u2019t make them any less private. Our fertility is a gift from God to us and our husbands. God offered most people the same gift, the only difference is that we accepted it.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So many people are fascinated with my fertility. It used to shock me when people would ask if we planned to have more children or if I were pregnant already (I\u2019m not, so don\u2019t ask me!). I just couldn\u2019t understand the preoccupation that friends, family and complete strangers had with the private workings of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n