For the most part, we moms toil in obscurity. No one keeps track of Toddler Tantrum Most Quickly Contained, Number of Days Gone Without a Good Night's Sleep, or Most Horrific Diaper Blowout. But in proof that mothers are pretty darn amazing, some lucky moms have actually made the Guinness Book of World Records.
Don't worry. We've purposely passed by the creepy and depressing record entries and focused instead on the sweet, the, um, interesting, and yes, the endearingly strange. Read on to learn some surprising ways moms have ensured their place in the record books.
We still can't pick our jaws up off the floor after reading #11. Can you imagine giving birth to that many kids?!
Image via Ariwasabi/shutterstock
Meet the World's Oldest 'Mother Nature'
The oldest mom to conceive naturally — IE, without any fertility treatment? That would be Dawn Brooke of the UK. In 1997, she was 59 years old when her son was delivered by C-section. As you might imagine, the pregnancy was unplanned and came as a shock to both Brooke and her husband.
Got Milk? This Mom Does!
Alyse Ogletree from Argyle, Texas, holds the Guinness World Record for breast milk donation. Between 2011 to 2014, the pumpin' mom of two donated 53,081 fluid ounces of breast milk to the Mother's Milk Bank of North Texas. By our calculations, that's equal to roughly 2,654 Venti lattes.
More from The Stir: 10 Incredible Facts About Breast Milk You've Never Heard Before
Longest-Serving Den Mother
No one will ever accuse Adele Trapp of shirking her volunteer responsibilities. In 2010, she was awarded the Guinness World Record for Longest Serving Den Mother. That's right. For 53 years, Adele worked with Cub Pack 263 of the Greater New York Council of Boy Scouts of America.
Take Heart, All Ye Moms Expecting Twins!
Ellen Louise Brown may not be a household name, but moms expecting twins can look to her for inspiration: She holds the record of Shortest Interval Between Birth of Twins. On July 10, 1995, her son, Thomas, was born. A scant two minutes later, brother Niall arrived. If only all deliveries were that fast!
Oldest Woman to Give Birth to ... Grandkids?
We know, that does sound confusing. But here's the deal: In 2008, when she was 56, Jacelyn Dalenberg agreed to be a surrogate mom for her daughter, Kom Coseno. Jacelyn successfully carried and delivered three healthy granddaughters, who were delivered by C-section at a Cleveland hospital.
More from The Stir: 1 Health Advantage to Being an 'Old' Mom
Record-Breaking Reading
On September 12, 2014, the TV show Good Morning, Britain set a fun new record: The Most Parents Reading to Their Children Simultaneously. A whopping 427 parents cozied up to their kids and a good book at Warwick Castle in the UK.
More from The Stir: Reading Just Got Easier for Kids With Dyslexia
This Does Not Sound Like Fun
We're not sure why someone wanted to set the record for "Largest Gathering of Pregnant Women," but hey, when you're pregnant, you get emotional about all kinds of stuff. In May 2007, 1,164 moms-to-be turned out to the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg, South Africa. We hope they all received a comfortable chair and fried chicken afterward, because that's what we craved when we were pregnant.
A Weighty Bundle of Joy
Twenty-two pounds, 12.6 ounces … that's the combined weight of the Wilson triplets of Englewood, Colorado, when they were delivered in 2003. Mom Michelle Lee Wilson carried Evan Patrick, Aiden Cole, and Lilly Kathryn — aka "Heaviest Triplets at Birth" — for 257 days.
More from The Stir: Could IVF Study Mean End of Multiples?
Moms Do Everything Faster
In 2012, Canadian mom Allison Tai set the world record for "Fastest 10K While Pushing a Pram." With her 18-month-old daughter, Tai finished the Squamish (BC) Days 10K in 43 minutes, 7 seconds. But that spectacular record now has a challenger: In October, mom Julia Webb finished the Run Like Hell 10K in Portland, Oregon (while pushing a friend's baby in a stroller), in 38 minutes, 15 seconds, or 6:09 a mile. Guinness is in the process of confirming.
The Smallest Mom to Give Birth
In 2006, Stacey Herald gave birth to her first child in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. What makes this big news? Stacey is only 28.5 inches tall. In case you were wondering, her daughter was born by C-section, and she's since gone on to have two more kids.
The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe Has Nothing on This Lady
You'll want to sit down for this one. The greatest officially recorded number of kids ever born to a single mother? Sorry, Mrs. Duggar. Back in the 1700s, the wife of Feodor Vassilyev of Shuya, Russia gave birth to 69 children. That total includes 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets. We can't even imagine what dinnertime was like.
You're Never Too Old to Be a Mom
In 2002, 83-year-old Frances Ensor Benedict of Putnam County, Tennessee, became the World's Oldest Adoptive Mother when she officially made Jo Anne Benedict Walker her daughter. In an interesting twist, that also made Jo Anne the "Oldest Person to Be Adopted" … she was 65 at the time.
Most Quads
Remember Mrs. Vassilyeva of Russia, AKA "World's Most Prolific Mother"? Well, the 17th-century mom also holds the world record for "Most Sets of Quadruplets Born to the Same Mother" — four.
Heaviest Baby
The heaviest baby born to a healthy mother? In 1955, Sig. Carmelina Fedele of Italy welcomed a boy who weighed in at — wait for it — 22 pounds, 8 ounces. That is not a typo.
Have Baby, Will Stroll?
Although it sounds like something out of an episode of The Simpsons, last December, 746 people showed up and pushed strollers on the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade in Hong Kong. That's the most people ever to push prams in one spot at the same time, so obvs, they get the record and their babes probably got an awfully good nap.
Octomom Made It Into Guinness, Too
Remember Octomom Nadya Suleman? Well, the very first headline the Californian made was when she gave birth to her six girls and two boys in 2009. That clinched her unusual family the Guinness record of "Most Children Delivered in a Single Birth That Survived." The babies were conceived via IVF and delivered by C-section; they're only the second full set of octuplets to be delivered in the US.
Longest Ectopic Pregnancy
An ectopic pregnancy, in which the baby gestates outside the uterus, can be dangerous for both mom and baby. But happily, not only did the ectopic pregnancy of Belfast resident Marina Hoey last 233 days (33 weeks), but her baby was safely, albeit prematurely, delivered.
Lightest Birth
The lowest birth weight recorded for a surviving infant? That would be little Rumaisa Rahman, the second of twins born to mom Mahajabeen Shab. When Rumaisa was born in an Illinois hospital in 2004, she weighed only 9.17 ounces and measured just 9.5 inches long.
More from The Stir: Preemies: What No One Tells Parents
Someone Name a Daycare After This Woman
Yes, we're referring to that amazing Russian mother, Mrs. Vassilyeva, who has yet a third world record. This one is for "Most Sets of Twins." How many, you ask? Sixteen. That's 16 SETS.
Another impressive feat from a mom of this century: Between 1967 to 1973, South African Barbara Zulu bore 3 sets of girls and 3 mixed sets.
