A salon owner who has spent more than six years of her life pregnant has shared how she manages to juggle her career alongside being a mum-of-nine.
Amy Edwards, 36, certainly has her hands full in her busy household, where she also chooses to home-educate her children.
Amy, from Brindley Ford, finds herself doing three loads of washing every day and two food shops per week, Stoke-on-Trent Live reports.
Amy, and her partner Shane, make sure to bulk-buy all of the essentials to cater for their blended family of nine, who go through three large bottles of milk and two loaves of bread a day.
She is a proud mum to, Vinny, aged 17; Noah, 16; Wendi-Rose, 14; Shay, 12; Reggie, 11; Belle, aged four; two-year-old Shane; Jesse, who is 18 weeks old; and nine-year-old step-son Logan.
Amy also owns her own hair salon - Colour Code - where she works two days a week.
Amy said: "We have seven bedrooms, but it isn't as massive as it sounds. My step-son shares with the younger boys at the weekends and the baby is still with me and my husband. We're not sure where we're going to end up putting him. We also have two bathrooms and there's always a queue on the landing.
"Our day starts at around 10am. I home-school the children Monday to Thursday. It means the children have a long weekend which is nice.
"Home-schooling allows us as a big family to take it in our stride, no rushing, no dragging people out of bed. We see each other so much and it makes us so close.
"We eat together every evening and my table has to fit 12 people as my son's girlfriend is often around as well, but it works for us. If it wasn't for space, I'd probably have another baby.
"I cook everything pretty much from scratch. I chuck it all in the slow cooker in the morning. I make huge lasagnes, chillies and potato pies.
"It's like feeding time at the zoo. I have a bell that I ring when it's dinner time and they all come running down the stairs and it saves my voice.
"I only make the same meal for all the children. I learned that the hard way years ago when I fell for making different meals. I haven't got time for that.
"We have to stick to a budget because it is expensive. We do a lot of shopping online so we can see what we're spending. We do a couple of online food shops a week and we still find ourselves in the supermarkets.
"We buy everything in bulk. When we had the toilet roll shortage during the pandemic, it was terrible. The shops were only selling limited amounts and it was the same for loaves of bread. We go through one loaf of bread at one lunchtime, but there weren't any exceptions for larger families. What would last people two weeks, would only last us three evening meals.
"The only thing that suffers is my house. I like organisation. If it's not organised, it really bothers me, but it comes at the bottom of the pecking order. But the children help out too.
"There's so much washing. If I don't do three loads a day it gets on top of me, it's a nightmare.
"We also only have a seven seater car which isn't big enough, so for family days out we have to do it in two trips. The big ones go first and then Shane will come back for me and the little ones. We've got the dentist next week which will have to be done in two trips."
Amy says she enjoys going to work as it gives her time to herself and she can have some adult conversation with her clients. She said: "When I go to work, that's my time to myself. That is my adult time, it's my adult conversation.
"Some days, I'm so busy at home that I don't get out of my pyjamas until midday, so it's nice to get dressed and prioritise myself to be out for work. I had a few weeks off on maternity leave with Jesse, but I was still doing bits behind the scenes with the salon like making sure the stock orders were done.
"I have nine children. I'm prepping meals, washing, ironing, breast feeding and working. It is difficult, but my husband is a self-employed window cleaner and he helps out lots. He helps with the cooking and the cleaning.
"We do a date night every week. Once a week, my five eldest children go to their dad's for family night. So we just have three children to feed that night, which for us is really good. I'll let the kids have pizza or a burger and we have a cheeky takeaway.
"Although we still have the baby with us, I can feed him off to sleep. I have a couple glasses of prosecco and we watch a movie. We only go out if it's a special occasion."
Amy says she has always wanted a big family and will even consider fostering when all her children have grown up. She added: "My dad said that, when I was tiny, I used to say I was going to have lots of children.
"I always played with dollies, I was a mother hen. I love it and I wouldn't change it for anything. When people have just one or two children, I couldn't do that because I'd be so bored.
"When my children are older, I would consider fostering. I worry about having an empty house."
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