Having more than say, two children, is considered a lot of kids in today's world, but think back to your grandparents who came from families of 7 or 8 kids. Now think a few centuries before that and they probably considered "a lot" of kids as having around 13 or 14 children in total. If you had that many children you were considered cursed with an unnaturally fertile womb and thus "stole" children from couples who struggled to conceive.