A mom who spent 12 years in a row pregnant thought baby number eight would be her last. Yet, three years later, she has welcomed baby number nine and now feels blessed for her big, bountiful brood.
Karla Bradley, 41, has known her neurosurgeon husband, Lucas, since they attended the same high school in Missouri. However, only after graduating from college did their relationship blossom. The couple got married in 2009 and currently live on a 160-acre self-built homestead in Flippin, Arkansas, with their kids, aged from 14 years to under a month old, and both sets of grandparents.
“I remember when my husband and I were talking about the way we see our family in the future,” Karla told The Epoch Times. “I said I would love to have a big family, and he said, ‘Me too.’ I was so excited. ... I never in my wildest dreams thought we would have nine, but it’s amazing. I always say we are blessed beyond measure.”
Karla had her first child at the age of 26 in 2007. Between 2007 and 2019, she gave birth to eight children: Jenna, Samuel, Liam, Evelyn, Inga, Ben, Rosalyn, and Cora.
Beau Wagner is the ninth child born to the Bradleys and came into the world on March 15, 2023, weighing 8 pounds 5 ounces (approx. 3.77 kg)
“This is our first ‘rainbow baby,’” Karla said. “We had Cora in 2019 and then it appeared like we were done. ... I was pregnant in June of 2022, and it was a very big surprise because of the big gap. Then, right after I found out that I was pregnant, we lost that baby very quickly, within a week of knowing.”
The next month, while Karla was still processing the loss, she became pregnant with Beau.
For the first time, Karla was nervous throughout her first trimester, careful to take nothing for granted. Her kids were over the moon anticipating another little member of their “Bradley Bunch.”
Despite Beau being Karla’s biggest baby, she went into natural labor but was “kind of in denial” since her contractions began 12 days before her due date.
“I had taken two of our girls to get their tonsils removed and while they were having surgery I started to feel like my contractions were a little bit painful,” Karla said.
At the time Karla was going into labor and then delivery, Lucas was in between surgeries.
When the doctors told her that she was 7 centimeters (approx. 2.7 inches) dilated, Karla told her husband that when he was done with the surgery, he could come to her.
Karla’s doctor broke her water as Lucas was on his way to the ward with the couple’s oldest children, Jenna and Samuel, who were desperate to meet their baby brother.
“We decided early in the pregnancy that they could be in the delivery room,” Karla said. “Sam got to hold him first after me. Jenna got to cut the cord and it was just a really special time for them. ... Then the other siblings came to the hospital the next day. ... The girls were wearing pink shirts and the boys were wearing blue shirts. And they were just so excited, everyone took turns holding him and it was really sweet.”
Both mom and baby recovered quickly.
Karla attributes her nine easy pregnancies to maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle and a pescatarian diet rich in protein, fruits, and vegetables, but said that not suffering from morning sickness is a “genetic thing.”
Beau is her “chill baby,” and loves being held. “I wear him in a baby sling when I do a lot of my housework and he loves it,” said Karla, whose older kids love to help too. “Like, when we brought the baby home, the next morning I had the older kids in my room wanting to take him, help with his diapers, whatever the baby needed.”
Karla and Lucas lived in Little Rock, Arkansas, for seven years while Lucas completed his neurosurgery residency. They both knew they wanted to return to the country lifestyle that they were familiar with from childhood. Today, they keep cats and dogs as pets, and free-range cows, chickens, rabbits, and sometimes pigs, for milk, eggs, and meat.
Lucas’s father maintains the gardens with help from his third-oldest grandchild, Liam. The other children help out with their assigned chores. The boys enjoy fishing on the farmstead’s 10-acre pond stocked with bass, Jenna loves volleyball and cheerleading, while the other kids enjoy basketball and baseball.
As a conservative Christian couple, Karla and Lucas are raising their children with the same values. The family attends a Baptist church and champions a “simple life.”
“[We] make sure that the kids know the Lord,” Karla said. “We try to minimize electronics and distractions like that, let them play outside and be kids.”
The most rewarding part of being a mom to nine kids, Karla said “is just watching them become the person that they’re becoming.”
Karla is homeschooling her youngest two children before they attend kindergarten at the local public school. She admits that time and organization can be a challenge for the couple along with remembering birthdays.
“My husband ... it might be a mental exercise for him,” Karla said. “I think he gets the month, but the day, he’s like, ‘Wait, what is it?’ I’m the one that always fills out all their paperwork for school and everything!”
While life is different for everyone, Karla insists that a person will never regret the children they have.
She said: “We’ve had children in the middle of moving across states, changing jobs, selling one house, buying another ... right now we have a newborn and we just got a puppy. I’m older than 35, which is considered advanced maternal age.
