The family has said, again, that this baby will really be the last one, like they said the last four times too.
Most moms-to-be feel trepidation. Whether it's their first child or their fifth, or in some cases 22nd, there is always some fear about the health of the baby and for yourself. This fear has multiplied when there is an infectious disease doing the rounds. Along with the standard worries that the birth of a child brings, women giving birth in recent months are worried about whether they have the virus and if their child will get infected too.
For mum-of-22, Sue Radford, the matriarch of Britain's biggest family, giving birth to her latest baby was more terrifying than giving birth to her first one because she did it amidst the lockdown. She worried if her child would get the infection but things changed when she got to the hospital. Sue had been in isolation with her big family and left it with husband, Noel, to go to the hospital. She was first screened before being allowed to enter the maternity ward, according to the SUN UK.
However, once she was inside, she felt calm and received enough attention and care from the midwives. The couple had a 7lb baby girl on April 3 at 10.01 pm. They have named their latest addition to the family Heidie Rose. They now have 12 girls and 10 boys. They have brought their newborn home and are going to be in lockdown at their 10-bed house in Morecambe, Lancs.
"The ten-hour labor was hard. But now we have weeks of isolation with a newborn baby. Let the crazy times begin. Only two of the kids have flown the nest, so we are all home now for the foreseeable," she told Sun UK. "I was more scared than I had ever been going into hospital with everything going on with the virus. I was so worried that Noel wouldn’t be allowed to stay with me. We have all been isolating and it seemed wrong to leave our safe bubble to go to a hospital, but when I got there I felt safe straight away."
"We’re all so in love with her," the Radford family said on their Instagram page. In another post, they shared the image of their baby and captioned it, "We feel so blessed to have her here safe and sound."
In another post, they shared a photo of Heidie being held by her father. It was captioned, "Just chilling with daddy."
The 44-year-old mom describes herself as the "original panic buyer" as her normal grocery list includes 100 nappies, 16 loaves of bread, 114 pints of milk, 48 large eggs, 3kg of pasta, 24 chicken breasts and 28 toilet rolls. "All the shopping I ever do looks like I am clearing the shelves of toilet roll. When I walk out of a supermarket I am like the people you see on the news," she told the SUN UK.
Now, the family is facing problems as there are limits on the amount they can buy of each thing. "It is pointless for me to buy two packets of chicken breast or 12 eggs. That wouldn’t even feed everyone for a light lunch," she added. "Buying nappies will be a problem if I can’t get any. Archie and Bonnie are still in nappies and now I need newborn ones for the baby," she added.
Sue and Noel, whose other children are aged in range from 17 months to 31 years, got married when she was 17 and claim that they have never faced any difficulties in their marriage. They have claimed since the last four babies, that that'll be their last. "We are so glad to have the baby here with us now. And I really do think this will be the last," she said.
The couple, who were both adopted, take care of their family by running their own successful pie delivery service and claim standard child benefits. The mother had revealed in October 2019 that she was pregnant again after promising that her last baby will be the last one. The birth year of her first baby, Chris, was 1989 when she was only 14 years old making the age gap between the oldest and youngest child 31 years. They had welcomed their 21st, Bonnie Raye, last year, according to the Independent. In 2014, when Sue was 23 weeks pregnant she had a stillborn baby called Alfie.
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