Meet the mums who’ve spent DECADES pregnant – with Sue Radford in the lead at 16 years
NINE months feels like a lifetime when you’re expecting a bub, but these mums have literally spent decades being pregnant. Sue Radford, 45, recently revealed that she’s spent around 16-and-a-half years being pregnant with her 22 children – but she’s not the only one. The mum of Britain’s biggest family gave birth to her youngest […]
NINE months feels like a lifetime when you’re expecting a bub, but these mums have literally spent decades being pregnant.
Sue Radford, 45, recently revealed that she’s spent around 16-and-a-half years being pregnant with her 22 children – but she’s not the only one.
The mum of Britain’s biggest family gave birth to her youngest child Heidie in April 2020 and fell pregnant with her first child Chris, now 30, at just 14-years-old.
The bumper brood includes Chris, 31, Sophie, 27, Chloe, 25, Jack, 23, Daniel, 21, Luke, 20, Millie, 19, Katie, 18, James, 17, Ellie, 15, Aimee, 14, Josh, 13, Max, 12, Tillie, 10, Oscar, nine, Casper, eight, Hallie, five, Phoebe, four, Archie, three, Bonnie, two, and 10-month-old Heidie .
Sue and her husband Noel, 50, from Morecambe, Lancashire, have spent over £1 MILLION raising their bumper brood too, so it certainly doesn’t come cheap.
Britni Church
Nine years
Meanwhile, American mum-of-11 Britni Church is pregnant with her 12th child after giving birth to triplets Oliver, Asher and Abel just over a year ago.
Since first falling pregnant in 2004, Britni revealed that she’s been pregnant every singer year since, except for 2013 and 2017.
In that time, she’s spent a total of nine full years being pregnant, almost one third of her life.
The US-based mum from Arkansas City, Kansas, had her first child, Crizman, 15, six days after her sixteenth birthday with her ex-husband.
The pair had married five days before, and had another four children together – Jordan, 14, Caleb, 13, Jace, 12 and Cadence, ten.
After the divorce, Britni unexpectedly fell pregnant with her sixth child, Jesalyn, now eight, in 2012.
She spent three years raising six kids alone as a single parent before meeting her current husband, Chris, a sub-contractor, in 2014.
The pair have since had another five kids together, and are now expecting their sixth.
Emma Hann
Almost ten years
Like Britni, Emma Hann from Scotland has spent just shy of ten years being pregnant, having had 13 kids with her husband Roy who are aged between five and 28.
Emma, 50, said “it’s a little bit crazy” but wouldn’t swap it for the world – especially since ten of them are still living at home.
“My family are everything to me,” she’s previously said, but admits “being a mum with 13 children has challenges.”
Jeni Bonell
More than 12 years
When Jeni Bonell, 51, and her husband Ray first met, they never would have guessed that one day they’d become Australia’s biggest family.
Fast forward more than three decades, and Jeni and Ray are parents to 16 kids between the ages of six and 31.
But the Queensland mum recently admitted she’s actually been pregnant 23 times, but, sadly, had a few miscarriages along the way.
This means she’s spent at least 12 of the last 30 odd years being pregnant and the broody mum admits she’s STILL open to having more.
Jeni and Ray are parents to Jesse, Brooke, Claire, Natalie, Karl, Samuel, Cameron, Sabrina, Tim, Brandon, Eve, Nate, Rachel, Eric, Damian and Katelyn.
Christi Cason
13.5 years
Californian mum Christi Cason, 48, and husband Dave, 52, have an astonishing 18 children.
Like Australian mum Jeni, however, the couple suffered two miscarriages following the birth of their 16th child.
Taking just the full-term pregnancies into account, that’s 13-and-a-half years being pregnant – but she too hopes to have more.
The full-time mum from California said: “Twenty kids would be an amazing achievement. I can’t imagine a time when I stop changing nappies.”
Kelly Bates
Over 14 years
Kelly Bates, from Tennessee, gave birth to 19 children over 24 years – and 14 of those births were at home with no pain relief.
The supermum, 54, and her husband Gil, a tree surgeon, welcomed their latest arrival in 2012 when Kelly was 45 years old.
At this point she’d spent more of her adult life pregnant than not, and in total, the busy mum has been pregnant for 14.25 years.
Michelle Duggar
Almost 15 years
Last but certainly not least, is Michelle Dugger, and the biggest challenge for this American mum was most likely finding a new ‘J’ name for each of her 19 kids.
That’s right, ten boys and nine girls, including two sets of twins, and all of their names start with J.
Michelle and Jim Bob named their kids Joshua, Jana, John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph, Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn-Grace and Josie.
With an average gap of just 15 months between deliveries, Kelly, like supermum Kelly Bates, has spent almost 15 years being pregnant.
Most read in Fabulous
In other news, Britain’s biggest family the Radfords show off their amazing garden makeover designed to keep the kids clean.
Also read about the ‘World’s strongest baby’ who can stand on her own at EIGHT WEEKS – and was holding up her head before she even left hospital.
And finally, read about the neighbour who demands mum only lets toddler out for 15mins a day as his giggling upsets the dogs in brutal note.