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“I loved being pregnant”
09.09.10
by Linda McGrory
MEET the Moville wonder mum who was pregnant for a
staggering 25 years. Mary Frances Doherty married at
the tender age of 17. She had her first baby ten
months later and became pregnant nearly every year
after that, until she was 42.
Now aged 68 and with her 19 children all grown up,
Mary Frances, from Carnagarve, Moville, is still
blooming and enjoying retirement with husband,
Harry, 70.
Reading more like a classroom roll-call than a
single family, the couple’s eleven daughters and
eight sons are: Bernadette, 51; Annemarie, 50;
Hilary, 49; Patricia, 48; Shaun, 46; Paula, 45;
Hugh, 44; Mary Majella, 43, Antoinette, 42; Seamus,
40; Laura, 39; Joe, 37; Ray, 35; Gemma, 34, Colm,
33, Orla, 31; Roma, 29; Paul, 28 and Leonie, 26.
Sadly, Mary Frances also suffered four miscarriages
bringing her total pregnancies to 23. The couple
also have 37 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. |
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The 19-strong Doherty family pictured
with their parents, Mary Frances and Harry, and
bridegroom Eamon Gillen who got more than he
bargained for in the in-law stakes when he married
16th born, Orla. |
Mary Frances puts her
wonderful fertility down to a non-drinking,
non-smoking lifestyle and the love of a devoted
husband.
"Myself and Harry are teetotallers. We never broke
our Confirmation pledges and we recently got our
gold pioneer pins. We never took a drink or a smoke
in our lives. I'm sure that helped us have so many
lovely babies," said the plucky pensioner. Her first
15 were midwife-assisted home births - without
painkillers - but after complications with her 16th
pregnancy, doctors insisted she have the next three
babies in hospital. The couple's miscarriages came
after Bernadette, before Orla and before Roma while
their last pregnancy, after Leonie, also sadly
failed. When they first met as young teens in the
1950s, it was love at first sight. |
"I was 17 and Harry was
three months off 20 when we married. I had a baby
every 13 or 15 months and I never once complained.
"I loved being pregnant and being a mammy and I
thanked God for every wee child we got. Harry always
helped me with the children and provided well for us
all.
"We never even thought about stopping after four,
five or six children. I dearly love all of them and
no matter how many I had around my feet, I cried
every time each one started school."
They never once considered family planning even as
they outgrew their three-bed |
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Still in love: Mary Frances and Harry
Doherty who reared 19 children in Moville. |
council house and
laundry duty saw Mary Frances at the clothes line
hanging scores of terry nappies in the middle of the
night.
"I never used the pill or anything - I'm a natural,
country woman," said Mary Frances, roaring with
laughter.
Harry added: "We just loved having babies. It came
natural to us." And, not for him, the modern-day
practise of dads attending the birth. "I don't think
men should be there and, anyway, I never wanted to
see Mary Frances in pain."
The Doherty brood are well known as the largest
family in their hometown but are also one of the
largest in Co Donegal, not to mention the entire
country.
As they grew up, they were a ready supply of
employees for the family-run factory, Moville
Clothing Ltd., which is one of the last surviving
shirt factories in Co Donegal.
Twelfth-born, Joe, said growing up in such a huge
family was hectic.
"Meal-times were done in shifts because the table
wasn't big enough. The youngest ones were fed first,
followed by the girls and then us boys. Our mother
would never eat until we were all fed.
"We had to get an extension built and then my father
put a mobile home outside the house for the older
boys to sleep in at night," laughed Joe.
As the factory prospered, the family bought a
spacious seven-bed property with a large garden and
an orchard. Unusually, perhaps, for such a large
family living in a recession black-spot, only one -
US-based Gemma - has emigrated while Mary Majella
lives with her family in Cork. Mary Frances and
Harry retired a couple of years ago to a lovely
bungalow at the edge of town and attend daily mass
at St Pius X church. Their bright, airy home is
filled at various times throughout the day by their
doting offspring and grand-children who mostly live
nearby.
And what advice do they have for couples trying for
family? "Well, we never drank or smoked. I think
that helped us get pregnant so many times. I like a
bit of chocolate and I always ate healthy food and
plenty of fruit especially when I was pregnant and I
think that made the babies strong," added Mary
Frances. |
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