A 24-year-old woman, originally from Russia who's now living in Batumi, Georgia, had 21 babies in a single year through the help of surrogates.
Kristina Öztürk is married to millionaire Galip Öztürk, age 57. The couple have paid £138,000 ($185,841.84 USD) to surrogates for babies over the past year and two months. They also spend $96,000 a year on 16 live-in nannies for all the babies.
Kristina met Galip in Batumi when she took her first ever road trip. She was already mother to Victoria, now age six.
In March of 2020, Galip and Kristina became parents to their first son of many, Mustafa, via surrogate.
Kristina said her dream of a big family aligned with Galip:
"I've dreamed about this since childhood."
"My husband also dreamed about having a big, happy family."
"So after we met, we started to put our dream into action."
"Our romantic relationship has changed but then our whole lives have changed, not just the romantic part."
Just as you would expect 21 kids to be, it's a full time job. The babies sleep between 8pm and 6am, while Victoria, her six-year-old, sleeps until 7am.
Kristina said:
"I'm with the kids all the time, doing all the things that mums normally do. The only difference is the amount of kids."
"Each day is different, from planning staff schedules to shopping for my family. I can tell you one thing - my days are never boring."
She isn't sure it will be the biggest family in the world, but she plans to make it the happiest family.
Back in March of this year, Kristina said:
"I don't know how many they will eventually be, but we certainly don't plan to stop at ten."
And they certainly didn't.
Currently, the family doesn't have any plans for another surrogacy or a pregnancy for Kristina.
However, Kristina's Instagram bio says otherwise:
"22 children 👶🏻 at the age of 24."
"Will there be 105 children?"
They're just thankful for the clinic that made this possible:
"Our surrogacy clinic are amazed but happy to help us with our dream of a big family."
Not only do they have to pay for 16 live-in nannies, but also all the food, diapers, and clothes a baby needs. Weekly they used 20 large packages of diapers and 53 packs of baby formula.
Kristina said:
"It costs about $5,000-$6,000 per week for essentials for all the kids."
"Sometimes a little more, sometimes a bit less."
"The kids each have their own wardrobes, but sometimes they share clothes for photos."
The nannies' schedule is on duty for four days and then off for two. They live on the property and have their own kitchen.
They have plenty of room in their three story mansion. Right now they're living two or three to a room but Kristina assured they would eventually all have their own rooms as they get older.
Kristina said:
"That's while they are so small, then we will separate them later."
"For now we have three floors at home."
"In the future, maybe we will build more floors, maybe we will buy a bigger house."
"We don't have an exact plan, because right now we have enough space for everybody."
With 22 children, it's hard to believe all the kids are getting equal attention.
Here's what Kristina had to say about it:
"I'm doing my best."
"My favorite child is my husband - sometimes he is like one more kid."
"All our kids are the best children in the world, I love them equally to the moon and back."
Victoria, who's starting school this year, is supposedly thrilled about all the new siblings.
Her mom insisted she's happy.
"She is very happy to have lots of siblings now."
"She's always telling everybody about her sweet brothers and sisters."
"She is fond of playing and walking with the kids."
"Sometimes she asks to feed the babies, or read them a fairytale."
"There is no difference between Victoria and the babies, I feel exactly the same about them."
Kristina and Galip get a lot of hate for their choice to have so many kids. They don't love the judgement from others but they don't judge anyone else on their choices to build a family.
Whether it be large or small, through surrogacy or otherwise, they are happy with whatever their children choose to do when they start a family someday too.
Kristina said:
"It is life - you are who you are, my kids can choose to make their future family however they want."
To anyone judging their choice to use surrogates for their giant family, Kristina said:
"Don't use surrogacy if you don't want, that's your choice."
"But this is our life, and it's our choice"
Their dreams of a huge family are well underway if they continue on. Only time will tell if they hit the 100 mark.
@GregAbbott_TX/X
