Mum-of-eight Natalie was relieved her partner couldn’t put another bun in her oven. Or so she thought…
Checking my watch, I tried to hurry my kids home.
‘Mum! I’ve dropped my water bottle off the bridge,’ yelled my 10-year-old, Grace.
‘How did that happen?’ I replied, trying to stay calm.
I was a single mum-of-eight and it was tough juggling school runs, childcare and work.
Grace’s bottle had fallen into
a patch of nettles beside the
path below.
Luckily, her school-friend’s dad was wearing jeans, and he offered to wade into the nettles to fetch it.
‘Don’t I know you?’ I asked when he returned.
‘Yeah,’ he said, grinning.
‘I went to school with your little brother.’
‘James!’ I said, ‘Yes, I remember now.’
Later that night, I messaged him on Facebook to thank him again for retrieving the water bottle.
And as soon as we started talking, we couldn’t stop.
It wasn’t too long before we were dating.
James had two girls with his ex-partner, and it was nice chatting about parenthood.
He didn’t seem bothered by my brood of eight.
‘With your two kids, we’ve got 10 in total!’ I said. ‘We’d better be careful with contraception.’
‘Don’t worry,’ he told me. ‘I had a vasectomy five years ago.’
‘Extra brownie points for you,’
I joked.
At first, we kept our relationship secret.
We didn’t want our daughters getting over-excited about becoming sisters.
But about four months in, they figured it out.
‘Why does Grace’s friend’s dad keep giving us a lift home?’ asked my youngest one day.
Our secret was out!
'James will think I've cheated!'
And during the first Covid lockdown, we decided that James should move in with us.
One morning, a month or two later, I realised my period was a few days late.
I can’t be pregnant, I thought. James has had a vasectomy.
But when my boobs started hurting, I thought I’d get a test just in case.
It was undeniably positive. Not sure what to do, I rang my mum.
‘I’m so scared James will
think I cheated on him,’ I said.
‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘James is a nice guy, he’ll believe you.’
So, gathering my courage, I sat him down in the living room.
It was a struggle getting the words out through my tears.
Though I could see James was shocked, he pulled me straight in for a hug.
‘Don’t worry. It will be all right,’ he soothed.
Afterwards, we googled how often vasectomies typically fail.
It wasn’t very common, but it did happen!
Everyone was shocked when they found out the vasectomy had clearly not worked.
The first time I met James’s parents, we announced I was pregnant!
A few people spread nasty rumours, claiming that James couldn’t possibly be the father.
But when little Toby was born, he was the spitting-image of his dad.
That put paid to any tittle tattle!
James and I handled our parenting duties as a perfect team.
And a year later, we made the decision to have just one more.
This time, it was a little girl named Phoebe.
Our other kids spoilt their new little siblings rotten with attention and presents.
But then, we decided 12 children really was enough.
James rang the doctors to
find out if he could get his vasectomy fixed.
‘Are you able to provide a sperm sample to prove its failed?’ they asked.
‘I’ve got a two-year-old I can drop off with you!’ he laughed.
In the end, it turned out it was going to be easier for me to get my tubes tied.
So now we really are done!
But I couldn’t be more grateful for our two little escapees.
I can’t help thinking James’s vasectomy failed for a reason!
Natalie Nix, 41, Thetford, Norfolk