Babies Breed Love

Entering my late thirties, I am often asked if I am done with having babies. With a little one in my arms and many others hanging around my skirt (or out climbing trees, or even our walls), and some already married and starting their own families, one might think I would answer “Yes.” But to their amazement, I truthfully answer "No, I still want more!"

Why wouldn't I want more of a good thing? Isn’t it in our human nature to continually desire that which brings joy? My children have brought me unmeasurable joy. They haven't necessarily bought me peace, or much cleanliness, but they have certainly bought me joy! How many uncountable smiles and deep wells of laughter I would have missed without my children. They can be naughty, and even crazy sometimes, but they are hilarious, and love runs deep.

Love! This is one of the main reasons why I don't want to stop receiving beautiful gifts from God. He showers His love upon me with every gift of life He gives. What child puts a limit on birthday or Christmas blessings? “Daddy, I don't want too many presents! It’s too overwhelming”! I don't want to damn up the flow of my Father’s love for me.

There are many diamond facets to receiving more children into our lives. The birth of each new baby releases a flood of maternal hormones that refreshes my natural instincts to mother with passion. This natural deluge of bonding and motherly hormones reignites my vision, commitment, inspiration, joy, and fulfillment of motherhood. Love grows stronger for my older children as well, even though one would think more children could spread it thin. A new baby, instead of diluting my love and attention to the other children, paradoxically deepens and secures it physiologically, emotionally, and mentally. Babies stretch love. They literally breed it.

With the ebb and tide of fertility, I notice the difference in my priorities when I have no baby in my arms. My dreams and hobbies drift out of the home when I am not a busy and occupied shepherdess. It’s not that these endeavors are bad, and when my fertility naturally comes to a complete close they could be perfect and noble aspirations.

This God-given love is a river that widens and flows to every inlet of the family. Each brother and sister are infected with it. They all fall madly in love with their new little bundle of “huggable loveliness.” Love surges from their big brother and sister hearts. They all vie for the baby’s attention and affection. Family warmth through smiles, cuddles, and laughter from baby’s funny faces (or I should say, the funny faces they put on for baby), generates a precious and attractive home atmosphere.

What about the extended family? My baby boy, Remnant, is the star attraction at all family gatherings. He is passed around like a prized treasure with cousins, aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters, and grandparents while I try to retrieve him for a little squeeze of his cuteness. He often takes center stage, sitting on the knee of one of the older cousins in a group of five or more strapping six feet plus tall guys talking man to man with him. It is a sight that warms the heart when you see full-grown young men absorbed with lighting a smile on a baby’s chubby face.

I can't leave out the love my baby gives. I don't think I have ever felt so adored as when my sweet baby stares up into my eyes with innocent rapture. I am his everything, and in those eyes of complete love and dependence, I swim in an ocean of enchanted devotion and connection. A baby’s love is the purest reflection of the love I need to relax into and rest in.

The love between my husband and me is watered and invigorated with every blessing of new life. Each new baby is a symbol of our union--our oneness and a continuance of the morphing of us together. They are a statement of our inseparableness--our very DNA, our genetic heritage, and our personalities.

Aside from the poetical and mystical nature of the miracle of children, the natural science of pregnancy hormones renews the passion of love. Morning sickness aside, pregnancy is known as a time of romantic fire and desire as the surging levels of sex hormones that nurture the pregnancy also nurture a fresh amorous honeymoon season. Love is alive in every way.

On a more vain and personal note, I am eager to keep having babies as an older mother for anti-aging measures. I don't mind admitting it for it is God’s blessing to us. The wisdom of the world says that having children depletes our health and makes us fat and old before our time. However, modern science now backs up the Bible when it says: “Women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint” (1 Timothy 2:15 NASB).

After the age of 25 a woman begins physical decline. She has reached her bloom and blush of youth and begins a gradual descent from her prime. But wait! Pregnancy and breastfeeding can turn back this decline and keep these youthful hormones flooding a woman's body with healing, regenerating quantities. Remember the glow of pregnancy? Estriol increases 1,000 times during pregnancy to protect the mother and developing baby. This anti-aging hormone is now used in anti-aging skin creams. It has been known to reverse many diseases in the pregnant mother, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

The female brain grows and increases with brain cells during breastfeeding. Our bones re-mineralize after nursing a baby and lactating hormones attack stress and diminish cortisol release--only a few quick licks of icing atop of this incredible cake of sweet health benefits bestowed upon childbearing woman.

I also like the natural breast lift I get every time I become pregnant and nurse a little cute bub! Sorry for being so frank, but yeeha for this wonderful benefit. Let's count all our blessings, and a booby lift sure ain't refused by me. When I stop breastfeeding my last baby, I'll hopefully go straight into menopause where the estrogen during this phase is known for building the breast once again. We go from strength to strength! Ha ha.

Having babies around keeps everyone young at heart. It keeps our sense of humor at their hilarity and strengthens our agility as we race to keep up with their quick tippy-toe steps.

Can you see now why my answer is not strange, legalistic, or self sacrificing when I say, "I still want more”? I don't feel under law. I’m not part of a cult. I don't feel obliged to have more. Instead, I look forward to each baby like a little child who is desperate for Christmas to come. The holy hush of the moment before my baby’s first cry . . . the smell of heaven as I inhale their precious fresh scent with our first embrace . . . my babies come, and I feel the overpowering of EMANUEL, GOD WITH US.

SERENE ALLISON
Primm Springs, Tennessee, USA