WILD BROOD
I’m a mum-of-10 and have 7 under 7 – people look at me like I need help but having one kid is just as hard as having 10
A YOUNG mum-of-ten decided to get sterilised after having three sets of TWINS and raising seven kids under the age of seven.
Melissa Harris is just 26-years-old but has had the contraceptive procedure to avoid adding more children to her “wild” brood.
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She was overjoyed when she found out she was pregnant with her first child Alicen Harris, seven, at 19-years-old.
Less than a year later, she fell pregnant with twins Jeremiah and Joseph Johnson, five.
This was just the start of her “wild” journey as Melissa fell pregnant with another set of twins, Emily and Isaiah Johnson, four, just two months after giving birth to her first set.
The mum tried for just one more child but just couldn't believe her luck when she discovered she was having her THIRD set of twins in a row, Dakota and Lillian Harris, two.
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Melissa felt “blessed” to have had so many beautiful children but opted to get her tubes tied after having her last set of twins as a single mum in October 2020.
She now has doting partner Joseph Cope, 32, who helps her raise her brood alongside his three children from a past relationship.
Melissa spends a whopping £1,200 a month feeding so many hungry mouths.
The hard-working young mum is now fundraising £8,000 for a transit van to ferry her entire family around in.
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"I think it's a miracle what's happened,” Melissa, from Florida, US says. "The last pregnancy was really what chopped my hat off because the chances of having one set alone was in the numbers.
“And then to have a second and then to wait almost two years and have a third - my mind was just blown.
"I love my children. I was obviously blessed to have the opportunity to carry twins three times and I'm very thankful for that experience."
Melissa said all of her kids were conceived naturally and that her eldest Alicen was born naturally, with all of her twins delivered via c-section.
She has since discovered that there's at least ten sets of twins in her family but that nobody's had them in generations.
"The first born child was obviously exciting in itself because going into motherhood was beautiful,” Melissa says.
"I was a little shocked finding out about my first set of twins because me and the father didn't have knowledge of twins in our families.
"The second time I got pregnant with twins I was joking around like 'oh, it's going to happen' or 'it won't happen because that's just my luck'. When the ultrasound showed twins again, I was shocked.
"I tried for one more and of course seeing my luck as I've already had two sets of twins, my body was like 'you know what, I think a third set will do you good'.
"I guess my lucky number is seven because I've had seven beautiful children."
Melissa said she was sterilised after the birth of her last set of twins, but that the procedure can be reversed if she wishes.
"I actually have my tubes tied right now because after my last set of twins,” she explained. “I was unfortunately left single and was really scared, so I didn't want to go through it alone again.
"I didn't really have any support except for my friends and a couple of family [members] so I wanted to protect myself in case something happened next time with someone who I didn't really want to have a kid with.
"I feel like a cafeteria lady, teacher and nurse, I might as well have a day care certificate really."
Melissa currently drives an SUV which can fit six of her kids but dreams of having a 12-seater transit van so she can fit them all in at once, so is now fundraising for one.
“I grew up with only one brother and my mom was able to drop us off at family or friends all the time,” she added. “And now I have seven and everyone's like 'I can't handle that, I can't do that'.
"A lot of my friends call me super mom or the twin mom, it means a lot but then sometimes I don't feel like super mom because we all have our bad days.
“I'm a very strong woman and for any mom who is having a hard time with less or as many kids that I have, I just want them to know that everything's going to be ok.
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"[It's the hardest job in the world] - no matter how many kids you have - one, five, seven, ten. It's hard."
Donate to Melissa's GoFundMe .
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