17 answers

Vasectomy - Quincy,IL

My husband and I are 37 and have a 6 year old daughter whom we adore. He really, really only wants one child. I would like to have another baby, but realize that our family feels perfect right now. (I would want to stay home again, we aren't in the right financial shape to do it; I enjoy our daughters independence and mine right now...) Basically, he feels stongly about it and I guess I don't.

So, we met with the doctor and scheduled the surgery. I feel emotional about it...

I firmly believe that he is the one to take drastic measures because if I found myself widowed or divorced, I might like another baby. He doesn't, no matter what - therefore, he's the logical one to have surgery. I also think it will be easier for me if there is no possible way for another pregnanc than what I feel now - which is "I know we probably aren't going to have more babies". I could shift my mind away from that "we might". And sort of move on to the phase of we have an only child and this is our life.

Do I sound nuts? I feel so odd about it. I am tired of the semi-limbo feeling and want to poop or get off the pot, I guess.

Anyway, if any of you are in the same boat, or have been, it would be nice to hear your thoughts. Thanks, K.

What can I do next?

So What Happened?™

Thank you to the women who caught my drift! I know this is the best thing to do, but still feel emotional about it. I do not like chemicals in my body for the purpose of BC, so it's either this or condoms and like I mentioned, I don't want to be in limbo somewhere deep in my mind anymore. I haven't taken anything for about 10 years and prefer it this way. One lady mentioned it brings a different element to their relationship not to have to worry about anything - I look forward to that as well.

I have been with this man for 21 years of my 37 years, so there is nothing temporary about our love for each other, if I made it sound like there was, I apologize. My thought was more that if something happened to him, my life would change and I might have another baby. If something happened to me, his life would change and he doesn't want more babies. We love our daughter to pieces and are a happy little family. I'd love another baby, and when I search my soual about it it, I realize I want another baby in a perfect world... A world where I stayed home, the baby was a perfect sleeper, eater, etc. :) So my wanting another baby is not this huge strong desire - if that makes sense.

I have had concerns about our daughter being an only child, but she is not like a typical only. We have very close neighbors all around us and their kids. We have cousins her age, close, and she adores them. We worked with a baby group for the first 5 years of her life. She loves to play with other kids, socialize, share her toys, etc. She is the most selfless child I have ever been around.

Again, I know this is what is best for all of us, I just feel emotional about it too. I have a feeling I will have my moments where I am mad at him and the majority of moments where I know this is best. (BTW, in life, that's normal, isn't it??) Thank you!

More Answers

You can always adopt. It is a wonderful way to create or expand your family. Adoption has been the best thing that ever happened to me. I could not have produced a more perfect child than the one we adopted.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi K.,

I personally think your feelings are very natural for most women.

I do have 2 children, so I know it's like comparing apples and oranges, but my husband had his vasectomy when our now 14 year old was 2. I remember thinking too that God forbid, what if something happened to one of the kids. . . what would we do? But our decision was based more on the fact that I had complications with both pregnancies/deliveries and mis-carried between the two. So my husband didn't want to risk losing me or a baby with another pregnancy.

But getting back to your feelings, I do think it's something we go through as moms/women. The end of our identity? Womanhood? I'm not sure what the exact feeling is but it is different for us. With today's technology I did try to talk my husband into one more just within the last 5-6 years, I'm 47 now. I won't tell you what he said but it contained several adjectives before the NO! Then I remembered the teething, ear infections, sleepless nights etc and realized it would be so hard to start over at this point.
Another thing, for us anyway, was how wonderful it was not to have to worry about birth control! I'm at a different place in my life right now and personally would have to think long and hard about any kind of chemical birth control and we all know condoms are not the most effective.
And in all honesty, is is a MUCH simpler procedure for a man than a woman even though they whine about it more! :) As long as he follows doctors orders he'll be fine. We sent the kids (then 2 and 6) to grandmas for the weekend, rented movies and replaced the ice packs every few hours and he will tell you it wasn't that big of deal.

I feel like I'm rambling, sorry. I don't know if that helped or just muddied the issue for you. I say, again, your feelings are normal. But instead of thinking of all the "what if's" think about what a blessing you have in your family the way it is.

In good health,

L. K
www.YourKitchenCoach.net

1 mom found this helpful

I feel like this could be my post in in 5 years! My husband is pretty adament about only having 1 child and I definately would like at least one more. I have told him that I will keep my IUD in until our 1 year old is potty trained and then it is coming out and if he still feels firmly at that time that he only wants Jack then he will have to get snipped.

I know that if he gets snipped, I will be uber-emotional about it. I am hoping that I can deal with all the issues as they arise.

I have no words of advice, but just wanted to let you know that I know exactly where you are coming from!

1 mom found this helpful

I would make him go ahead with the surgery that way like you said if you get divorced or widowed you know you could have more babies. I made my husband have the surgery it's easier for the men to do it than us woman and even though I knew we were done having kids it still gets emotional for me at times like when one of our friends have a new baby or we pass another birthday for my own two kids I get sad. Good Luck!

1 mom found this helpful

Why doesn't he want another child? As mother Theresa used to say, "saying there are too many children, is like saying there are too many flowers" I say go with your heart. You are his wife and what you feel should be important to him. This is a MAJOR issue. If he is thinking only of what HE wants, he is not being fair. Do not rob your daughter of a sibling. There is no greater gift to a family than another child. It's easy to fall into "feeling content" and busy your lives with other things, but how much more joy you would have!! I had 3 boys starting at 40. It is easy to laugh. I thought it was nuts at the time, but it has absolutely been the best thing that ever happened to ALL of us!! My sons LOVE having each other to play with. I watch them and think, how sad it would have been to not have each other. Your feelings are normal, and don't feel shy about it. This is your life and YOUR family here. Cancel it!! You deserve to enjoy your motherhood again as many times as marriage brings. That is what marriage is about - love and making family. The finances will take care of themselves. Finances are always tough and that will never change. I will pray for you and your husband. This may bring you much closer, lets hope it does. It may take a couple fights to get there, but it is important he understands you and allows you to be who you are.

Research NFP...it is totally natural and 99% if you do it right, you will get to really know your body, and your sex will be sooooo much better without the supression of your sex drive from BCPs. It brings you closer as a couple too.

K., two things. First, you could wait and use other forms of birth control until you are both on the same page. Second, I'm in a discussion (argument) with my husband now about this very thing. I'm expecting our second child in November and it will have to be C-section. The dr. already asked if I want to have my tubes tied then. It just feels so final to me. We don't really want more kids, but I don't feel ready to give up that possibility yet. (What if something happens when this baby is born? What if we change our minds and decide we want one more? Etc.) I keep telling my husband if he really feels strongly about it, he should have the vasectomy - it's outpatient, it's much easier to reverse, etc. Plus I'm the one who's had to go through two C-sections. :) But he's so against it he can't even talk about it. Basically, I say all this to tell you that I don't think you are nuts. And it may help to talk it over with your husband or a close friend and really hash it all out so you can discern how you really feel about it. Good luck!!

I do know what you mean. We have only one child and I have always wanted one more. My husband could honestly take it or leave it. BUT he had to also basically raise his brother and sister growing up because of his parents. So he's already raised three kids. I would love another one too, but have finally wrapped my head around the idea that it's not going to happen and i'm ok with it. I just decided to "go with the flow". After 2-3 years of trying to get pregnant, nothing ever did happen. Not sure what's up with that, but i figured it's not meant to be then. I know how your feeling. Not sure if this helps you or not, but I do know where your coming from. Good luck with your decision.

we had 2 children, miscarried the 3rd, and was pregnant with our last one when hubby had his surgery. I was a little worried because I still wanted another one if this one didn't work out and even though I was further along and all was going well I still had that worry in the back of my mind that we may not have this baby and then wouldn't be able to have anymore. Well God blessed us with a healthy baby boy and he is such a joy. He acts so much like his Dad and enjoys doing everything with dad and became his little shadow. He enjoys spending time with him and looks forward to his days off to take him fishing. Our kids are now 16, 14, and 9. The teenagers grew up with him in the military so they didn't bond as close with him being infantry and gone a lot but the youngest has had more daddy time and has a strong bond. Even though hubby only wanted 2 kids he sure wouldn't trade our 3 kids for the world and is glad we had another one.
I think you will be disappointed the rest of your life if you feel strongly about having another one and he doesn't. This is a decision that both of you need to make and something you don't want to rush into. How does your 6 year old feel about wanting a sibling? I knew I would never have just 1 because I watched my dad and father-in-law that were only children. They didn't know how to relate to crowds of people very well and my dad was pretty selfish and only thought of himself and didn't know how to handle life with 3 kids very well. My FIL wasn't as selfish but still didn't know how to be very socialable with people and pretty much stayed to himself.
This is a serious decision and could be stressful to your marriage so you want to make sure you are ok with it.

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