In 1965, the Supreme Court declared the right to use birth control a constitutional right. Personally, I'm still celebrating. Nearly forty-five years later, 28 percent of women ages 40 to 44 had three or more children, 4 percent had five or more and just 0.5 percent had seven or more. You could never tell that the number is so small from all the hype out there surrounding ‘multiples' these days.
I'm going to let you in on a little story. I was in Belize this summer and got proposed to at a Rotary meeting by a man who unabashedly and rather unceremoniously announced to me that he was looking for a third wife. Of course, the statement was so preposterous that I laughed hard and loud right in his face. I thought he was joking. The blank stare and furrowed brow I got in return told me otherwise.
Those of you who know me know that I don't have a good poker face at the best of times. My jaw dropped, and I will admit to you fair readers: I judged and mocked him openly. I'm not often at a loss for words, but the man was seriously waiting for an answer. The two of us stood there awkwardly with our post-meeting refreshments and cookies in hand. It was Rotary Gone Wrong, I tell you.
He already had 12 kids-7 from his first wife and 5 from his second and was looking for a third to meet his personal goal of having twenty children. "I want enough for a baseball team." He actually said that to me. Then he gave me his phone number. Like I was going to phone him up and be like, um. ‘Hey.'
Once I got over the shock of being his walking uterus, I explained to him that I was single and childless by choice. I got a similar blank stare and furrowed brow. What I realized is that me saying I was single and childless by choice was as preposterous to him as his two wives and twelve children were to me. It was two completely different worlds colliding.
It would have been easy to have dismissed him under the ‘Crazy Religious Zealot" category (which he was) except that he also happened to be well-educated, spoke several different languages and was gainfully employed as an entomologist at the town's only hospital.
My point is that he was just an example of the trend of the increasing number of well-educated and affluent people whose families are growing exponentially. I mean my goodness, compound interest doesn't grow that fast.
Between 1980 and 2004, the number of twin births increased by 70% in the United States and the number of births involving three or more babies has quadrupled.
But you don't need to look at the statistics to know that. All you have to do is turn on the TV.
There's John & Kate Plus 8, the Duggers (18 Kids and Counting) and now there's a new show, Table for 12. Recently Oprah had expectant parents of quadruplets on the show (now fashionably shortened to ‘quad.') Brad and Angelina have 8 kids. People say that the celebrities are glamorizing the lifestyle. Really? ‘Cause there is personally NO WAY you could glamorize snot, puke, and diapers to me, especially multiplied by 8, 12 or 18. It's just too much money and too much poo.
But it begs the question: are they the new "normal"...or is this just a fad which will disappear along with the Snuggie blanket with arms?
