VERONICA Merritt is a mother to 11 children - and she's spent approximately eight and a half years of her life being pregnant.
Veronica, from Syracuse, New York, had her first child at the young age of 14 and the last one at the age of 34.
With so many children, Veronica’s house can be a hectic place, 13-year-old Mara told Truly: “It’s like being at a party but without music.” To keep track of her large family, Veronica has come up with an ingenious colour coding system; giving every child their own designated colour.
“The colour coding system is incorporated into almost everything, anything I can find in their colour I’ll buy; their clothes, their toys, their sheets, towels, toothbrushes, cups and plates, it’s almost obsessive,” she said.
Veronica has a big following on TikTok, where she talks about life as a large family.
Unfortunately not everyone understands Veronica’s choice of having so many children: “I receive a lot of negative comments regarding my family, they will say things like ‘All the same dad?’ or ‘Do you own a TV?’” And even within her own family, opinions on Veronica having more children are divided, her sister Diana said: “I love my nieces and nephews but I would object to having any more.
I’m going to be 100% honest and say I can’t point out every single one of them and name them, that’s the honest truth.” Veronica herself is on the fence about falling pregnant again: “Part of me says ‘You’re done, you’re good’ and the other part of me is like ‘No, six more’, I’m just going to sort of see what happens and let nature decide.” Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thismadmama/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thismadmama