A family in America has added to their brood with the arrival of baby Maggie Jayne.
While this might not sound worthy of a news article, it’s worth mentioning that this is the first girl in the Schwandts family and they have 14 sons.
Yep – Maggie is number 15 in the large family based in Michigan and she will have more than a dozen protective older siblings. If you add in mum, dad and their dog, that’s one hell of a nightly dinner conversation.
Speaking outside Mercy Health Saint Mary’s hospital in Grand Rapids, the patriarch of the big family, Jay, told the Detroit Free Press: “This year has been memorable in so many ways, for so many reasons, but Maggie is the greatest gift we could ever imagine.”
The Schwandts have a YouTube account where they have posted about what life is like in such a big family.
They call themselves the 14 Outdoorsmen, however they’re going to update their moniker after the arrival of Maggie Jayne.
Their oldest child, Tyler Schwandt, 28, said: “My parents were finally blessed with the little girl they never thought they’d end up having. It’s been about 12 hours since my dad told us, and I still haven’t quite wrapped my mind around it.
“I don’t even know if my mom owns any pink clothing – or anything.”
He’s engaged to his partner and has recently moved into a home that’s just down the road from his parent’s 200-acre farm.
Jay and Kateri Schwandt met while they were freshmen at Gaylord High School and Gaylord St Mary’s, respectively.
They got married in 1993 and both attended Ferris State University. By the time they graduated they’d already had three children, but they didn’t rest once the family started to grow.
They both managed to earn advanced degrees, with Kateri getting a master’s in social work from Grand Valley State University and Jay got a law degree from Western Michigan University’s Thomas M. Cooley Law School.
Jay said Maggie may well be the final child they end up having, feeling happy to stop at 15.
He told Michigan Live: “I can’t imagine topping this. It feels like this is it and I’m totally fine with that.”
