Chloe Radford had ‘brutal' birth with ‘dangerous' issue that caused hours of bleeding before just 9 MINUTES of pushing
Abigail Wilson, Senior Digital Writer
Published: Invalid Date,
CHLOE Radford has candidly opened up on her 'brutal' labour story, just two weeks after giving birth to her second child.
The mum-of-two, who welcomed her son Bodhi Reign into the world on 28th April 2025, explained that she experienced what midwives believed to be a very 'dangerous' issue that caused hours of bleeding.
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The blonde beauty, who is Noel and Sue 's second eldest daughter, also shared that while she was in hospital practically all day before her little darling was born, she was actually only pushing for nine minutes.
Posting on social media, the 29-year-old filmed herself whilst breastfeeding her newborn, as she shared an insight into her 'birth story'.
The content creator who stars in the Channel 5 show 22 Kids & Counting, said: 'I gave birth two weeks ago so I thought I would just sit down and film my birth story with little Bodhi.'
As she recalled the day of Bodhi's birth, Chloe, who is the third oldest Radford child, acknowledged: 'It was the 28th of April and we had got up at 6am with our little girl and set off to take her to nursery at 7:30am and on the way there, I had my first contraction.
'We'd come home, got back into bed and I had a couple more and went back to sleep until 9:30am and then woke up and it felt like I had just come on my period.
'I thought because I'd had a couple of contractions that morning, I thought maybe that was my waters.
'I looked and it was actually like I had just come on my period - there was blood on the bed, so I quickly ran to the toilet and it was all in the toilet as well.
'It was a bit panicky. I rang the delivery suite, told them what was going on and they asked us to come in. I think she was just a bit worried.'
Chloe, who works as a bakery manager at the family's Radford Pie Company, then detailed what happened when she and Jacob arrived at the hospital, as she shared: 'I had an internal examination and my waters hadn't gone yet - they said that they were bulging, so the plan was, they were gonna pop my waters for me and try and get things going that way.
'They put a cannula in my hand, I think, just so that it was in there in case anything was needed.
Britain's biggest family grows even bigger as mum-of-22 Sue Radford gets 14th grandchild
'There were a couple of conversations about c-sections, which I think just panics you, so, yeah, it was actually really quite scary looking back on it.
'They put the cannula in, she actually blew two veins and then we got it third time lucky.
They didn't actually know why I was bleeding so much, so I had to be on the monitors the whole time
Chloe Radford
'We were taken into the delivery room and we had to wait for the best time to have my waters popped, because it was really, really busy on the ward that day, so they just had to make sure that they were doing it at the best and safest time.'
Following this, Chloe, who began her relationship with her security guard boyfriend Jacob Wallace in 2021, confirmed that she was examined again, only to be told by the midwife that they believed her waters had already broken.
But Chloe added: 'All that was coming out was blood. They didn't actually know why I was bleeding so much, so I had to be on the monitors the whole time. I think they were worried about him as well.
How does family-of-22 the Radfords afford to live?
AS Britain's biggest family, it may come as no surprise that Sue and Noel Radford must have some hefty bills.
Between them, they have a whopping 22 children and seven dogs, which often has some people wonder how they manage their money.
The Radfords support themselves with the proceeds of Noel's bakery, The Radford Pie Company, which is located near their home.
On their website, it says: 'We have owned our own lovely bakery since 1999 which is how we manage to provide for (and feed) our huge and expanding family as well as for the local people of Heysham and Morecambe.'
The family expanded their business to cater to online orders placed across the UK.
The business is a family affair, with Noel at the helm, and some of their children helping out.
The older kids, who are working at least part-time, don't get a free ride as they're made to pay a small amount of rent to their parents.
"Us older ones do pay a little bit of board. Granted it's not a lot but I'm also trying to save up for my own house at the moment.' their daughter Chloe said in a video on the YouTube channel.
Sue added: "We've always said if you want to buy somewhere, renting is a bit of dead money, so we'd rather you saved that money up and stayed at home a bit longer.
'I also do believe they should pay board if they are earning. We've always been brought up by our parents that we had to pay board.'
Noel and Sue famously don't rely on benefits for their bumper brood and live off their pie shop for income.
They also revealed they make money from brand partnerships on social media.
The Radford family stars in their own reality TV show 22 Kids and Counting - which has run for four series.
Brand expert Andy Barr believes Noel and Sue have been paid less than £10,000 for each show.
He told the Daily Mail: "The typical fee per episode is going to be in the thousands rather than the tens or hundreds of thousands that people often think is the case with TV shows of this nature.
"If they continue to get commissioned for a fourth or fifth season, then they are going to be able to command a higher fee."
He estimates that the Radfords make £ 5,000 an episode.
'Turns out my waters had actually gone on their own at some point but I was still bleeding.
'I was basically bleeding the whole time that I was in labour to be honest.'
Detailing the 'brutal' contractions, Chloe admitted: 'The contractions - wow, wow, wow, wow - those contractions were brutal, absolutely brutal.
'It felt like they were every minute, they really ramped up so fast.
'I said to the midwife, 'as soon as I am able to have the epidural, can I please have it?,' because I knew things were moving fast, so I just wanted to make sure that they were there ready to go with the epidural.
'But I was progressing so quickly it turns out I didn't have time to have the epidural.'
Reflecting on the hectic day, Chloe shared: 'So this all started at 9:30am in the morning and then by 6:20pm he was actually born.
'I was only pushing for nine minutes, which was just so, so fast.
'I couldn't actually believe it. At one point they said 'we just need to move you onto your side, because he's not liking the position that you're in and we need to get him out'. And so he came out in the next push.'
How many people are in the Radford family?
Sue and Noel Radford have 22 children and 11 grandchildren.
Noel - Born December 24, 1970
Sue - Born March 22, 1975
Chris - Born May 7, 1989 - married to Nicole Spencer and have three children: Maisie (June 3, 2017), Jacob (July 31, 2019), and Oaklyn, September 21, 202 1). He is a stepdad to Nicole's four kids
Sophie - Born December 13, 1993 - married to Joe Broadley and have three children: Daisy (August 27, 2012), Ayprill (October 13, 2014) and Leo, (December 24, 201 5)
Chloe - Born July 31, 1995 - dating Jake Wallace and have one child: Mila (July 23, 2022), and due to have baby number two in 2025
Jack - Born April 9, 1997
Daniel - Born March 3, 1999
Luke - Born October 1, 2000
Millie - Born August 29, 2001 - married to Harley Passmore and have three children: Ophelia (September 12, 2020), Chester (February 20, 2022), and Elodie (September 19, 2023)
Katie - Born November 14, 2002 - dating Connor Carter and have baby Ronnie (October 8, 2024)
James - Born October 17, 2003
Ellie - Born May 6, 2005
Aimee - Born April 21, 2006
Josh - Born July 3, 2007
Max - Born December 11, 2008
Tillie - Born May 2, 2010
Oscar - Born October 22, 2011
Casper - Born October 3, 2012
Alfie - Stillborn July 6, 2014
Hallie - Born June 3, 2015
Phoebe - Born July 24, 2016
Archie - Born September 18, 2017
Bonnie - Born November 6, 2018
Heidie - Born April 3, 2020
Following this, Chloe recalled: 'The placenta actually came out at the same time as he did, so what they thought happened was that my placenta had actually started to come away, which would explain the bleeding - I think that can be quite dangerous.
'I'm just so grateful and so happy that he arrived absolutely fine.'
Moments after the birth, Chloe remembered: 'We had skin to skin when he was born for about an hour, Jake cut his cord.
'He weighed six pounds six ounces, was born at 6:21pm and he's just perfect.
'We did actually have to stay in for 24 hours afterwards just because of my blood pressure.
'Then we got to go home and he's been absolutely amazing since.'
Radford fans react
Chloe's TikTok clip, which was shared on her official account under the username @ itschloexa, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly racked up 305,800 views in less than 24 hours.
Chloe's fans were stunned by her 'scary' labour experience and many eagerly flocked to the comments to share their thoughts and well wishes.
One person said: 'Sounds scary to me, he's gorgeous.'
Another added: 'Glad you're both doing ok, sounds scary.'
A third commented: 'Oh Chloe so glad you're both safe and well. Sending so much love.'
Q&A with Sue and Noel Radford
With 22 kids, Sue and Noel have learnt a lot over the years.
Who is the stricter parent? Sue
Who is the naughtiest child? Archie
Do you prefer being parents or grandparents? Grandparents, you can spoil them more, and give them back at the end of the day!
What's one thing you can't teach your kids? Driving lessons, don't even attempt to do them with your kids, it's not worth it.
What's something you've never told your children? We've never sat down with any of the kids and told them 'this is how babies are made'. We've never had that conversation.
What's your best parenting hack? Turn chores into games - making them fun to get them involved and help out.
How do you manage arguments and disagreements? There's always someone falling out with someone else. When they get older, they have their own own opinions, and arguments get heated and last longer. We try to listen to them both, be the reasonable one, and get them to see it from both sides.
Whilst someone else wrote: 'So glad everything went well in the end.'
Meanwhile, another Radford fan asked: 'Did your mum pick Mila up from nursery then?'
To this, Chloe wrote back and confirmed: 'Yes, they had landed from holiday not long before this all started thankfully.'
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