I find genealogy stuff really interesting too, though I haven't devoted much time to it. All four of my grandparents had around 10 siblings (they're Mormons on one side, Catholics on the other, and 3 of the 4 were raised on farms). I think my great-grandparents had large families as well, though I don't know for sure - but from what I've heard, large families were especially common among farmers, which many of my ancestors were. In contrast, my parents (the first generation not mostly born on farms) each had 4 siblings, and most of my cousins have one or none.
(But I did have plenty of Mormon classmates who had a half dozen to a dozen siblings, so that trend is certainly not universal - though it does seem to hold even with with my Catholic cousins, all of whom are hitting or past menopause with 1-2 kids each.)
Roman Catholics in the US frequently disregard the official church position on birth control, and are even willing to say so, in large numbers, when taking simple surveys about the topic.
J and I were prepped for our (Roman Catholic) wedding in the standard Roman Catholic ("pre-Cana") classes, and even the priest running those immediately followed up his overview of the church's position on birth control with a vivid description of the "bad old days" in his own childhood (when, in his view, women often felt trapped into pregnancies that were ruinous to their health, and couples often felt trapped into trying to take care of more children than they could care for well), and a reminder that at a higher level the church also stressed the importance of following one's own conscience, above all, even when it conflicted with a current official church position.
Even my very Catholic grandmother got permission from her priest after her fifth child to go on birth control in 1955, because having so many kids was really taking a toll on her body. It was probably way less common then, though. :)
I don't think Mormons are necessarily opposed to birth control (though I should ask my Mormon friend to be sure), but there is a lot of social pressure to have a large family if you can.
I think pregnancy and breastfeeding, but mostly pregnancy, has a heavy toll on teeth. Not to mention having less time for self care with an increasing family! I've had dental problems in both pregnancies so far (broke a tooth the first time, two fillings this one). It's funny that they won't do fillings - the dentist was happy to do so here. It's just the xrays they don't want to do.
Oh, man! I missed that you were pregnant again (and I had even read the post where you mentioned it). Congratulations!
The dentist had wanted to do an X-ray before replacing the filling, which was when I mentioned that I was 6 months pregnant (the hygienist kind of laughed because she'd noticed right away, but the dentist had been oblivious). I got the feeling he thought that the painkiller would've been okay, just that he wasn't comfortable doing that without a note from my doctor.
I meant to message you, just to say that you'll only have a couple of months to let me know how that five-kids-are-like-four thing goes! I'm due at the end of November
Yeah, I've been taking calcium + magnesium supplements too, and my vitamin D levels are great, so I should be absorbing it fairly well. I don't know - I certainly had plenty of cavities pre-kids too.
I've had teeth filled with painkiller during pregnancy. Usually the dentist leaves off the epinephrine, which I ask them to leave out even when not pregnant, since it makes me feel out of it. Which reminds me...I think I have a filling that needs to be fixed.
I think larger families were much more common before birth control. Both for the obvious reason, but also because people sort of expected large families. My maternal grandmother was one of nine (one set of twins). She herself had five kids in about six or seven years (no twins).
Comments 15
Reply
Reply
J and I were prepped for our (Roman Catholic) wedding in the standard Roman Catholic ("pre-Cana") classes, and even the priest running those immediately followed up his overview of the church's position on birth control with a vivid description of the "bad old days" in his own childhood (when, in his view, women often felt trapped into pregnancies that were ruinous to their health, and couples often felt trapped into trying to take care of more children than they could care for well), and a reminder that at a higher level the church also stressed the importance of following one's own conscience, above all, even when it conflicted with a current official church position.
Reply
I don't think Mormons are necessarily opposed to birth control (though I should ask my Mormon friend to be sure), but there is a lot of social pressure to have a large family if you can.
Reply
Reply
The dentist had wanted to do an X-ray before replacing the filling, which was when I mentioned that I was 6 months pregnant (the hygienist kind of laughed because she'd noticed right away, but the dentist had been oblivious). I got the feeling he thought that the painkiller would've been okay, just that he wasn't comfortable doing that without a note from my doctor.
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Hope you are well again soon!
Reply
Reply
I think larger families were much more common before birth control. Both for the obvious reason, but also because people sort of expected large families. My maternal grandmother was one of nine (one set of twins). She herself had five kids in about six or seven years (no twins).
Reply
Leave a comment