How many children
I'm the sixth of seven children, and I went to public school in a small Wyoming town. I grew up wanting children of my own, knowing that I would have children in this life, and looking for a good man of my religion who would be headed in the same direction, spiritually, that I was trying to go. When the question of how many children we wanted came up in my high school biology class, I said, "As many as God wants to send; 12 would be nice." My classmates were surprised; most of them were probably thinking a small number of children, maybe four children. My biology teacher pulled me aside after class to warn me. He told of a friend he had who was determined to have 12 children; his friend had several children and then his wife died, so he remarried and kept going until he had 12 children. My biology teacher warned that I needed to have my health to raise them, it would be very hard on me physically to give birth several times. He said, in effect, "there's no need to have one baby's feet on the next baby's head". I always remembered that visual, of one baby pushing the next out of the way. Too many, too soon! My husband and I had seven children, and we love them all. But without birth control we would have a) several more pregnancies; and b) my mental health would be terrible--because I had post partum depression after most of my successful pregnancies. At some points I have felt depressed enough to hurt someone; fortunately my husband and I could tag team and I could step back and cool off.
Thinking back on my biology teacher, I realize that he knew more than he told me; his wife had struggled with having children. They had one biological son with type 1 diabetes, in the 1970s when treating it was much less certain, and one adopted daughter. I feel for him now, knowing he was trying to prepare me for things not going to plan.
I did get to meet him later, at a community celebration where my husband was one of the Iraqi War veterans being honored. My husband and I brought our six children, the youngest a few months old. I felt very blessed, and was not always gracious about the fact that I got pregnant easily and survived with healthy children. I hope Mr. Jensen knows he had a good influence on me and many others of his students.
