She is at an age when many Western career-driven women are just thinking about having their own family.
But Imogen Banham, 30, already has plenty of maternal experience after eight children in ten years.
She’s an example to society that all European women should follow.
She jokes that she may be Britain’s most fertile woman, having never gone more than ten months without being pregnant since first giving birth.
Incredibly, she hopes to have another two children with her husband Peter, 52, before calling it a day.
Mrs Banham said: ‘I just love having babies. All of them were planned apart from my first two. You just can’t beat having a large family.
‘I adore being pregnant and cradling a newborn. It is a brilliant feeling being a mum. I just want all my children to have each other as they are growing up. Midwives are always saying that my husband and I must be very well-matched.’
The Banhams run their three-bedroom detached home like a military operation to ensure everyone is fed and cared for.
Their oldest daughters Nyla, ten, Dulcie, nine, Oakley-Rose, seven, Nova Star, six, and Rumer, four, share the largest bedroom, sleeping in bunks and one single bed.
The couple share another bedroom with youngest daughter, ten-month-old Taysia, while their son Ephraim, three, and his sister Elva, two, sleep in cots in the back bedroom.
Mrs Banham, of Shimpling, near Diss, Norfolk, admits the house is ‘a bit of a squeeze’ and is looking forward to when they can afford to have an extension built.
In a scene reminiscent of a primary school cloakroom, her seven daughters and son each have labelled hooks for coats and bags beside the back door above large trays on the floor for their shoes.
The family spends £200 a week on food at Tesco and follow a strict budget to ensure treats like trips to the zoo and the seaside.
Everyone sits down to eat in their dining room around a large table which Mr Banham has had to twice extend.
In between four loads of washing a day and keeping her house spotlessly clean, Mrs Banham drives her children around in a nine-seater minibus while her husband follows in his Ford Ka.
Despite her enormous brood, she still finds time to help run a local mother and toddler group.
Her husband works nights, earning £43,000 a year as a maintenance engineer, meaning the only handout they receive is child benefit.
He works every night from 10pm, arriving home at 6.30am to change nappies and get the children ready for school.
Mr Banham who also has a daughter Carly, 26, goes to bed at 8am while his wife does the school run.
She said: ‘We get a lot of stares when we go out. There’s an assumption big families are on benefits – so I often point out Peter works to support us.
‘We have our own little tribe. Our house is filled with laughter, and of course a bit of arguing. I wouldn’t change it for the world.’
Her husband is usually up by 1pm to help out at home, before Mrs Banham collects from school.
The family sit down together for tea at 4.30pm and the children are usually all in bed by 7.30pm.
She was working in a cafe when she met her husband, a divorcee who was helping out as a volunteer carpenter.
They started dating in August 2008, and she became pregnant after a couple of months. The longest period between births was 19 months.
Mrs Banham’s longest time in labour was four hours and the quickest 45 minutes.
She shrugs off the 22-year age gap in her marriage, saying: ‘Peter’s a lot older but young at heart. He cycles to work and has done the London Marathon twice. I think the kids keep him young.’
Imagine how beautiful her life will be when she will be of old age, she will be surrounded by dozens of sons and daughters and nephews and nieces all loving her and singing to her on her birthday while she blows her candles from her cake. Also imagine the Christmases she will experience…
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