Logan mother Caroline Langguth expecting her 14th child after breaking hospital record

An Aussie mum who has 13 children and is pregnant with her 14th has revealed her family’s mind-blowing grocery bill. It’s a cost-of-living must-read for any family.

Before Caroline Langguth got married, she told her fiance that due to a medical condition she probably couldn’t have children – now they have 13, and No. 14 is due in a matter of weeks.

Life in the Langguth household, in a seven-bedroom, one-bathroom Queenslander on 2ha in Logan, is anything but quiet, but Caroline has become a master of money-saving, chore delegation and keeping her tribe off social media.

“It’s very chaotic but we get there,” she says.

The 43-year-old – who holds the record for having the most babies at Mater Mothers’ Hospital in South Brisbane – says she and her childhood sweetheart Alex Langguth have never deliberately tried for children.

“People say, don’t you have a TV? They think we must be at it like rabbits, but mostly we are so exhausted we just go to sleep.”

And to think, at age 20, Caroline, who had been told she had Type 1 diabetes which would make pregnancy difficult and childbirth potentially impossible, conceived her first baby within a few weeks of their 2001 marriage.

That little bundle of joy was Tom, now 22, and in swift succession came Sam, Will, Bridie, Felicity, Suzannah, Celina, Kateri, Charlotte, Andy, Rita, Evie and Joseph, currently the youngest at age 3.

The names roll off Caroline’s tongue like the alphabet – and next in the brood will be Martin or Philomena, due into this world on August 1.

“We are devout Roman Catholics so we consider abortion murder, and we made a promise to God and said, ‘we will leave our marriage right up to you, and if you give us no children we will accept it, and if you want to give us 87 we will accept that too’,” she says.

At a time when Queensland is in the grip of a cost of living crisis, feeding two kids can be tough, let alone a veritable rugby league team.

But Caroline – who puts the weekly grocery bill at just $400 – has devised hacks to live simply on the wage of her 48-year-old painter-handyman husband and some government assistance.

Caroline Langguth at home with kids Bridie 17, Felicity 16, Suzannah 15, Celina 13, Kateri 12, Charlotte 11, Andrew 9, Rita 8, Evelyn 6. Joey 3. Caroline is expecting her 14th child in August and as you can expect has a very busy life. Pics Adam Head

They op-shop, collect free leftover bread on Thursday night from a local bakery, buy veggies in bulk, and run a herd of around a dozen Dexter cattle.

“You can’t buy meat without being a squillionaire,” she says, “so when we slaughter a cow it will feed our family for three to four months, in curries, stews and soups.

“I ration a kilo of meat per meal, and throw in a lot of vegetables.”

The Langguths have two freezers, one fridge and no dishwasher – “we have 13 dish washers, they’re called children,” Caroline laughs.

Milk is rationed to three litres per day, and treats reserved for birthdays – including that of their second born, Sam, who tragically died at five months but would be turning 21 this Tuesday.

“There is a massive hole in your family for the rest of your life, no-one replaces them,” Caroline says.

“Sam is something you read about but never think will happen, then it happens. He pulled a pillow down on himself and suffocated.”

The family has celebrated Sam’s birthday, on July 2, every year since.

Right from the beginning of her marriage to Alex – whom she met through their parish at St Philomena School in Park Ridge – Caroline knew she would be a stay-at-home mum.

“I don’t understand why you would have a child and pay someone else to raise it,” she says.

“It might be good for the government to have mothers back working and paying taxes and also getting the taxes of daycare workers, but no one is going to raise your children as well as you can, so you learn to live within your means.

“We do get some family assistance and some people go, you’re a leech, but how many families are torn apart and children raised in an unstable environment and don’t know how to hold down a job and be productive members of society?

“You can look down your noses all you like and say I’m a leech on society – and that the only reason we’re having children is to get more money – but that is wrong.”

Caroline is one of nine children and Alex is one of 10 so big families, you might say, are in their blood.

Caroline Langguth at home with kids Bridie 17, Felicity 16, Suzannah 15, Celina 13, Kateri 12, Charlotte 11, Andrew 9, Rita 8, Evelyn 6. Joey 3. Caroline is expecting her 14th child in August and as you can expect has a very busy life. Pics Adam Head

“When you have three children you think you have motherhood done and dusted,” she says, “and then you have seven or eight and realise Mother was right, it’s not that easy.

“The older ones are not old enough to help. When they can’t reach the clothes line, that’s when it’s hard.”

These days, the older siblings ably support the younger, supervising homework at the kitchen table, checking teeth have been cleaned, putting on loads of washing, and helping pack breakfast and school lunches the night before.

“I tell them, you guys are responsible for feeding yourself, you’ve got arms and legs and please, for the love of Pete, can you clean up the bench,” Caroline says.

“I also have to keep an eye on showers due to being on tank water – three minutes is what I like to see.

“The problem with that is all my girls have long hair so will try to sneak in an ‘I have to wash my hair’ shower if at all possible. Girls! Who’d have them?”

When it comes to social media, Caroline is adamant – it’s a no.

“I have it but my kids don’t. Social media and growing minds is a disaster,” she says.

Caroline uses parental monitoring app Qustodio to monitor phone usage while the family computer is in plain sight on a communal desk in the lounge room.

“My three oldest have phones which they surrender to me at night and my phone is always in control and tells me what sites they’re accessing,” she says.

A typical day in the Langguth home begins at 6am when the kids roll out of bed – Tom and Will, the envy of the others, in their own rooms downstairs, and little Andy and Joseph in bunk beds next door.

The eight girls are also in bunks, split across three upstairs bedrooms.

Whichever child is the “most ready” will help the others along and just after 7am, they pile into the family’s Toyota HiAce van and head to mass.

Breakfast follows – a cold toasted cheese sandwich, or Vegemite and cheese on crackers (“the 95c cheeky brand, not the $4 Saos”) – and off they go.

The children attend St Philomena School, founded in the 1990s by a group of parents who sought help from the Society of St Pius X, an international fraternity of priests widely regarded as anti-modernist.

Caroline Langguth at home with kids Bridie 17, Felicity 16, Suzannah 15, Celina 13, Kateri 12, Charlotte 11, Andrew 9, Rita 8, Evelyn 6. Joey 3. Caroline is expecting her 14th child in August and as you can expect has a very busy life. Pics Adam Head

Among the most significant founders were Caroline’s grandparents, Sicilian immigrants Dr Felice and Marie Zaccari, who donated the school’s 4.5ha plot of land.

While Caroline and Alex never set out to have 14 children, they are full of hope for their new arrival – which they expect will also be a natural birth.

“Last year we thought we were done because we’ve never had more than a 2.5 year gap (between children) – and I said to Alex, ‘I’m getting old, what if I put the cot that’s been in our bedroom forever out on the kerbside collection?’

“We were about to do it and then I had a pregnancy test in December, and Alex was more excited with this one than the first,” Caroline says.

“He is a wonderful husband and father and the man by which I measure all others.”

As Caroline battles anaemia as well as her Type 1 diabetes, also by her side will be midwife Annette Parry.

Caroline Langguth, mum of 14 kids and midwife Annette Parry pictured Mater Hospital, Brisbane 25th June 2024. Photo: Josh Woning.

“She has been there for the births of all my children and is so kind and thorough with making sure my diabetes is under control,” Caroline says of Ms Parry, who recently notched up 35 years of service at Mater Mothers’ Hospital.

Reflecting on her motherhood journey, Caroline says the challenges are many but the rewards immense, including seeing the development of young adult minds “with that wit and logic coming through”.

“I am very tired, every single day, and in bed by 8.30pm, but it’s important to have a good sense of humour – you have to laugh or you’d cry.

“Without trying to sound morbid, the idea of being dead in my coffin is appealing,” she jokes.

“For the first time in my adult life I will be able to sleep for a very long time and say, I’m done, someone else can find your shoes!”

Originally published as Logan mother Caroline Langguth expecting her 14th child after breaking hospital record