How did you feel when you found out you were getting a new sibling?

Thrilled beyond belief. I was 8-years-old, and I’d always wanted a sibling. I got a terrific brother, and we remain close and loving throughout adulthood.

When I found out my mother was having a baby, I was 18 and my mom was 41, and there were no children in between us (yes, there is a 19 year difference between me and my sibling). I thought my mother was absolutely crazy.

I remember being pretty much apathetic. I don’t remember not having siblings, so adding another was nothing new, really.

I was overjoyed, but I wasn’t one bit surprised, because having a sibling was my idea mostly. One day I complained about having too few friends, my mom asked if I wanted to have a friend who was always available. I said yes and she said she would give me a sibling. Some time later here I went :)

Sister No. 1 was born when I was only three, so I don’t remember much about her arrival. I know I was happy to see her :]

I was nine when Sister No. 2 was born, and I remember my other sister and myself bouncing around happily when we were told. We were there for the birth, and everything was extremely exciting. I never felt pushed out for even a second.

I didn’t really think anything of it when I first found out. Everyone around me seemed to assume that it would be worrisome, though, so I quickly became the recipient of all sorts of books and advice aimed at making me feel better. Being seven years old at the time, all of this attention naturally convinced me that I should be worried (and thus I promptly became so). I got my mother to make various promises like the mothers in the books I’d been given made to their children. All of these promises were broken—partially because some of them were absurd (children’s literature doesn’t have to think about what fulfilling these promises actually looks like in the real world), and partially because they were only made to calm an anxiety that had been manufactured by the assumption that it should exist in the first place.

With my first little brother, I was furious. No-one told me. I thought my mom was babysitting, and never took him back where he belongs. Once I had that in my head, nothing could convince me otherwise.
With my other brother, I was nine. My already brother and I were both excited. When we found out how far olong our mom was, we were angry she took so long to tell us. We got even angrier when she said she waited so long because she was considering an abortion at first.
I am SO GLAD there haven’t been any Christmas cards from that bunch for decades.