Fifteenth Time's The Charm — Michigan Parents Welcome Daughter Following Fourteen Consecutive Sons

Nov 11, 2020 by apost team

What's the maximum amount of kids that you can imagine having in your household? Three? Maybe four? You could support five, but that'd be a stretch. How about 15?

It might sound like something out of a children's book, but one family in Michigan has 14 sons. And just recently, they invited another child into their home: a baby girl named Maggie Jayne.

On November 5th, Kateri and Jay Schwandt from Michigan welcomed their first daughter, Maggie Jayne, after having 14 boys in a row for almost three decades.

Think about the biggest family you've ever met. Maybe they had six or seven kids. How about 15 kids in one household? It seems impossible to believe, but it's a reality for Kateri and Jay Schwandt. The couple has so many kids, their family photos look like pictures from a family reunion. We can't imagine the kind of comments that they get when they're out in public.

Can you imagine trying to deal with 15 kids at once? Cramming 15 kids into a vehicle (or two), herding 15 kids around the shopping mall, paying for 15 kids to eat at a restaurant, buying clothes for 15 different people.

And they're not all the same age, either. Some kids are in high school, while others are still in diapers. You've got to deal with 15 different kids at 15 different life stages and deal with all the challenges that provide. Just dealing with one teenager is a struggle. Imagine having five or six teenagers at once and a bunch of babies and toddlers on top of it.

We don't know how they do it. But it seems like Kateri and Jay are committed to raising a large family. And after delivering 14 boys, Kateri finally got a surprise: a baby girl born in November 2020.

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To have this many kids, you've got to start early. When Kateri and Jay got married in 1993, they'd already had three sons together, The Guardian reported. Over the years, they've had a total of 14 sons together.

The youngest is still a toddler, while the oldest is 28 years old and has his own house. They've got everything in between, from children to teenagers to young adults. But there's one thing they didn't have: a daughter.

It seems unlikely, but after decades of raising children together, Kateri and Jay hadn't produced a single daughter. At this point, they probably never thought they'd have a girl in their household. 

When Kateri first learned she was pregnant again, she must have thought she would have another boy. And at this point, she's probably an expert on raising boys. We can't even imagine her surprise when she learned that she was carrying a baby girl for the first time.

And this couple was definitely not ready. According to their oldest son Tyler, Kateri and Jay don't have any girls' clothing in their household. She won't be able to wear hand-me-downs like the rest of her siblings: her parents are going to have to buy everything brand new. Tyler also says that he doesn't think his parents even thought about girls' names since they were so convinced that they'd have another boy.

Mom Kateri says that Maggie is one of the greatest gifts they've ever received. Raising a girl for the first time will probably be challenging, but it'll also be a labor of love.

We think it's safe to say that Maggie is going to be the baby of the family. She'll have 14 older brothers to look after her and protect her and two loving parents who will teach her everything they know. She might come from a big family, but that means there's more love to go around.

You can't have a family this large without getting a little media attention. According to MLive, the Schwandt family has been featured on the news multiple times and made special appearances on TV programs. It seems that all eyes are on this dazzling family. We can't imagine how Kateri and Jay have raised 15 children by themselves, but when you look at this family's pictures, they seem to be as happy as ever. 

Kateri has admitted that it's not easy. 

 "Crazy. Chaotic. Noisy. Messy. But, we enjoy it," she told the Detroit Free Press. "If we didn't, we wouldn't have continued to have this many children."

She points out that she and her husband wouldn't have had so many children if they didn't love raising a family. Kateri and Jay seem to fall into the second camp. They've dedicated their lives to raising a happy, healthy group of children, and we're sure that their kids appreciate everything they do for them.

What did you think about this adorable story about a girl named Maggie Jayne and her family of brothers? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family!