Mum of 22 Sue Radford vowed 'no more children' after 'horrendous' first birth
Sue Radford, the mum of Britain's largest family, revealed how she actually vowed to have 'no more children' after experiencing a 'horrendous' first birth at the young age of 13. The 22 Kids and Counting star and her husband Noel, open up about her experience of pregnancy as a teen in their first-ever book, The Radfords: Making Life Count, and she says she didn't think she'd be able to do childbirth more than once after a 'horrifying' ordeal.
The proud mum of 22, whose kids were born ''all natural'', gave birth to the couple's first child, Christopher, now 34, back in 1989. The midwife hadn't numbed Sue enough when she needed to cut her. Noel recalled the noise of pain that's imprinted in his brain as Sue admitted that it made her promise herself that she'd never have more children - as she wouldn't be able to go through that again.
Sue vowed to not fall pregnant again after the 'horrendous' ordeal but four years later, they welcomed their second child, daughter Sophie, and still went on to have 20 more children as well. Sue said: "At that moment, I just thought, 'Right, that's it. I NEVER want to have any more children. I can't go through all this again'.''
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Noel added that their lives could've been ''so different'' if they had stopped ''after Chris because of what Sue went through''. He joked: "'It would have been 'Sue and Noel, mum and dad of one!'''
The couple also described how Sue needed stitches and could "feel the needle going in and the thread coming out" during childbirth. Known for sharing their whirlwind life on Channel 5's 22 Kids and Counting, readers have the opportunity to delve deeper into the Radford clan's exploits through their book.
The super-parents are mum and dad to a large family, including Chris, Sophie, Chloe, Jack, Daniel, Luke, Millie, Katie, James, Ellie, Aimee, Josh, Max, Tillie, Oscar, Casper, Hallie, Phoebe, Archie, Bonnie, Heidie, and their angel baby Alfie, who was sadly stillborn.
The couple raised eyebrows across the country when their TV show revealed Sue was 13 when she fell pregnant with their first child, while Noel was 17.
Noel admitted: "Some of the comments from people were brutal that I should have been arrested and things like that. Even though I was just 17 still a kid, including in the eyes of the law. But it doesn't bother me. People will say what they like. I don't care what they say."
