The Whole Five

when I tell people how many kids I have I always get raised eyebrows and comments. It didn't happen when I had two, or three or four so it only starts when you get to five. It probably continues after that but I'm not willing to test that theory.

Most of the comments are along the lines 'oh, you've got your hands full then' or 'I don't know how you cope' but they don't really apply to me. I like to think I cooked my kids in two batches. The first two came along in my 20's with my first husband. A boy and a girl, the perfect mix. Sometimes I was asked if I was going to have more but mostly people where satisfied that two was just right, especially as they were one of each kind. In my heart I always longed for more, but it wasn't to be, well not then anyway.

When my two babies where teenagers and their daddy was long gone I met a new man who didn't have kids. We decided to try for a baby and ended up with three! The first one was a long time coming and I thought that maybe because I was getting on a bit then maybe it was a little too late. I was wrong though and baby number three was born just before my 40th birthday. I'd always said that I wouldn't have a baby after 40 but the urge to have another was too much so baby number four came along when I was 41. There wasn't going to be a baby number five. We didn't plan another one but I did say one night that if the girls had bunk beds there would be room for another cot. Six weeks later I was pregnant!

So, we get past the raised eyebrows of the five kids, we get past the comments of my being a supermum coping with five little ones, but there is still the element of shock when people realise how old I am. It starts with the shock that my eldest is in his 20's, but of course I could have had him at 16, but I didn't, and now I've just had three children in my 40's. Hey, I always wanted to be a rebel!