13 children and still counting...

[ginmummy]

Apologies if this has already been posted but...

Did anyone see on the news or Inside Out last night about the woman who had 13 and still wanted another? I mean, good luck to her and I hope she gets the silver wedding present she yearns for, but think of all the ironing!!

Apparently she does 50+ wash loads a week and they get through a washing machine a year. It just doesn't bear thinking about.

didn't see it but, Yikes!

Can you imagine what her fanjo looks like?

Is this that family that dont believe in contraception? Was on discovery home and health. There americian?

The Duggers [grin} id love 13 kids...

Dont the Duggers have 16?

Lifted from the BBC Inside Out website:

Meet a family of 15
Desperate for more children - Shirley Wilson
Shirley Wilson has 13 children. So why is she having fertility treatment? Shirley Wilson loves being a mum so much she is desperate for more. In fact she would like at least two more babies and says her need is as strong as if she were trying for her first.

"I want another baby 100%, I am just not ready to give up yet," Shirley told BBC Inside Out. Shirley and her husband Mark live life in the fast lane with 13 children to look after. They range in ages from 18 months to 20-years-old, and all of them still live at home.

"Yes it's hard work, everything is times 13", said Mark. "But I would do it all over again. I wouldn't miss having 13 children for the world. It's great. I love the chaos; I love the running about, sorting them out. I just love it. It is so rewarding and I'm not ready to stop yet," adds Shirley.

Inside Out filmed the Wilson family over many months in Lincoln and the results provide a fascinating insight into BIG family life. Up to 50 loads of washing get done a week. They get through one washing machine, one dishwasher and one three piece suite a year through wear and tear ... and the weekly food bill tops £400. But they loathe the "big family stigma". Dad, Mark Wilson earns £30,000 a year as an electrician and supports his family. Our children, our responsibility, they insist.

Inside Out followed Shirley's desperate quest to get pregnant again. Surprisingly it doesn't come naturally for her. She had to take a fertility drug to ovulate every time. After 13 babies and 12 miscarriages the couple were prepared to pay for IVF for baby number 14. But Shirley is 45 and her age and the waiting lists were stacked against her. Mark and Shirley told us that the best present they could hope for would be another baby.

12 miscarriages... that must be awful.

oh bless them. i hope it works out well for them.

Do you think her body is telling her something though by now? Surely after becoming pregnant 25 times it is ready for a rest. Also I don't know how they manage to buy a new suite, washing machine and dishwasher every year and feed/clothe 15 people on 30K.

Sounds a bit of a cow don't I? I am not meaning to be disapproving, just wondering how the numbers add up.

I agree with you Bozza. They should count their blessings and concentrate on the children they already have. To go through fertility treatment when you have 13 kids suggests that there is something lacking in your life and I don't mean another child.

well, £17pw child benefit per child under 19... I guess at least 10 are...so... £170pw from that...

Maybe they dont have a mortgage? Thats the biggest outgoing...

I wish I had seen this. I wonder how her existing 13 children feelt aht she still isn't satisfied with them and is desperate for no. 14. I find it hard to divide myslef between 4, she must really sturggle and all she seems to be concentrating on is the next one.

I couldn't face that many kids. Maybe she just likes babies...I would forget their names...I get my two mixed up when I am roaring at them, and I have a pigeon pair!

i was starting to have scary feeling that I wouldn't ever feel like I wanted to stop having children, I am expecting my third and realise that I cannot possibly know how I;'m going to feel once this little one is here but I am scared that I will always want more and practically wont be able to just keep going. How would you deal with not having more when you so desperately want more. sorry bit of a ramble out of the blue

13 kids woah she must be tired

crikey...

there is a family like that near where I live, but they live in a council house (or two council houses knocked together according to a rumour) neither parent works (but do smoke and have tatoos) and all the younger kids look dirty and scrawny...
They range in ages from teenager to I believe 2 or 3....

unfortunately there is also a lot of effing and blinding when they talk to each other.

But, I got chatting to one of the older kids once in the park, and he was charming and polite...

I guess it takes all sorts to make the world go round, but I think that if you have that many children you have to have the means to pay for them...

I think in the case of this woman in Lincoln, her body has had enough.... 25 pregnancies... it must be worn out...

(and no, I don't want to think about the state of her fanjo )

My granny was one of 13, wasn't uncommon in her generation (in Ireland, of course).
They all lived in a 3 bedroom house too, with an outside loo & no electricity. Funnily enough they were considered well off by the standards of the day as her father had a steady & reliable income, but we'd consider that they lived in abject poverty.

Each of my grandfathers was one of 15 who survived to maturity. My paternal grandfather was the second eldest of 14 boys and only one girl!

He was the son of a wealthy rancher, however.

My maternal grandfather, however, wasn't so lucky.

The eldest boy, he grew up in poverty and it took my grandmother years to bring him round to even having a child at all.

Good luck to them They are looking after and supporting their own family. Nobody else's business.

My mum is one of 13 and she was the 3. oldest, and she hated having so many siblings....!
Must say, when I was pg with #3 I was wondering , just like Trinity rhino is right now,if I will ever stop feeling broody...well, he arrived and been a bit of a nightmare child, bless him...completely healed me of ever having anymore though, lmao...so...maybe that was what he was send to us for ;)
Like Bozza I was wondering how they could afford it all on 30K...!
I suppose if they feel happy having so many children and more, then that is up to them...hope it works out for them Missed the programme, which is a shame!
As for having 12 m/c....I don't think that a pg that m/c'ed early (although obvioulsy it doesn't say if that is the case with her)is causing major probs for her body (emotionally might be another story of course)! And she probably won't have cervical cancer, thanks to not having all that many periods, so, there is a positive for having lots of children and/or bf (and yes, I know not all women that bf are lucky enough to avoid periods for all that long), aswell

I'm one of 11, 13 if you count the sister who died a cot death and the sister my mum had before she got married.

they would get a lot of tax credits for that amount of children also. I have four and still yearn for another but stop myself because its not practical. Am suprised kelly that you find it though, I'm sure she gives her kids plenty of attention, even if not one at a time

£30k a year. They must get a HUGE amount of financial help from the state to make that go as far as they claim it does.

I am desperate for a third, but am stopping because it is not practical and we cannot afford it...

I would love to be able to throw caution to the wind and have another baby, but for some reason feel limited by the size of our house, our income and the size of our car.

People with 13 children obviously don't worry about these constraints - what a wonderful carefree feeling that must be!!