A California mother has gone viral after revealing she was pregnant for 16 years straight.
Iris Purnell has garnered over six million likes from videos showing off the 11 children she’s birthed in almost two decades. She’s been pregnant every year from 2004 to 2019.
She hasn’t been pregnant in three years and is still getting used to it.
“I’m still adjusting to me not being pregnant,” she captioned one of her TikTok videos.
Purnell said pregnancies are taxing but have changed her for the better.
“Not all my pregnancies were easy,” she told The New York Post. “I had six C-sections… but being pregnant gave me a spiritual elevation. I learned to be patient and to sit still with my body.”
Iris Purnell met her husband Cordell in 2005. When they met, she had a six-month-old son, Malikhi, and he had a six-month-old son named Junior.
They went on to get married and welcomed 10 children together, 15-year-old Jahni, 13-year-old Trinity, 11-year-old Messiah, 10-year-old JoJo, nine-year-old Love, eight-year-old Seven, six-year-old Michael, five-year-old Royal, four-year-old Heavenly and three-year-old Hope. Their sons Malikhi and Junior are both 17.
She became a TikTok sensation after sharing a video detailing the years she has been pregnant.
Since Purnell is a choreographer and Cordell is a dancer, they often share fun videos of the family doing dance routines.
Parenthood can be tough but the loving couple find joy in every moment of it. They told the Post that having such a big family “strengthened their relationship and given them increased motivation and energy.” Even with the 11 children she has now, she wouldn’t mind doing it one more time around.
“I would’ve loved to have has one more!” she said.
Iris frequently choreographs family dance videos, sharing them on her popular YouTube channel and TikTok pages.
She recently went viral after sharing a video revealing she had been pregnant each year for 16 consecutive years.