In another thread, one about extremes of weather, I noticed

[calimary]

83. No shit, Sherlock! And I went back for seconds.

But it’s HANDS-DOWN the hardest physical labor I’ve ever even imagined. Bar NONE. My husband told me we were gonna stop at two before I even got out of the maternity ward. He’d been there for the whole thing, twice, and decided that was enough. I was in total agreement, even while totally exhausted.

Besides, this couple my parents were longtime friends with had six kids. By the time the sixth baby arrived, Aunt Anne was sickly, dangerously depleted, skin ‘n’ bone, and never wore anything except her full-length robe for the rest of her life. That made such a big impression on me when I was a kid - I can’t even tell ya. And I remember looking at my uncle, a fit, attractive type-A man who always dressed up for work, and thinking - “WHY have you done that to her? WHY did you feel like that was okay? She’s damn near crippled. WHY did you do that to her?”