He Abandoned His Wife After Having 17 Kids. 20 Years Later, He Got The Shock of His Life
When a woman had her 17th child, the situation became too much for her husband to bear, and he abandoned her. Twenty years later, he got the shock of his life.
Christina Osterk was a woman with a passion. She loved to cook. She had enjoyed being in the kitchen ever since she was a little girl, and when she was old enough to get a job, she went from fast-food joint to fast-food joint until she secured a job at a pizza restaurant. Christina loved working there. She started out helping to prep, serving tables, and washing up. But by her 22nd birthday, she was the head chef, creating all kinds of pizzas that people loved. The restaurant got amazing reviews, and the owners felt like they’d won the lottery by finding her.
But outside of work, Christina was kept busy by her children. She had a husband, a man named Garlic, and she had three kids. They had planned on having more children, but unfortunately, nature had other plans for them, and they became unable to naturally conceive. This is when the two of them started looking at surrogacy. It is a practice done in many parts of the world and considered quite normal, but the sheer amount of babies that Christina and Garlic started to amass was anything but normal.
Garlic had a well-paying job, so they could afford a large home and a comfortable life. He would work during the days, then come home and take care of the children, which now numbered eight. In the evenings, Christina would go out to work and not come back home until the small hours. Oftentimes, the couple would barely see each other, only to hand over the babies and have a quick conversation about them.
This started to become a little bit of an issue in the relationship. Still, Christine and Garlic had a great connection, and they vowed to make more of an effort to rekindle their spark. They both cut back their hours at work and started to spend more time with each other. It was at this point that they realized that they really did love parenthood and relished in bringing up their eight kids. That’s why they decided to start adding more children to the family via surrogacy.
Christina didn’t feel like she was missing out on anything by not naturally giving birth. In fact, she felt like she had more to offer to them as she was ready to go from day one. So over the next few years, they added another six babies to their ballooning brood, bringing the grand total up to 14.
Now, having that many babies is a struggle for anyone, and once again, there was a lot of strain on Christina and Garlic’s relationship. They got several live-in nannies to help take the burden off, but the wear and tear of being parents to 14 children was starting to show, especially for Garlic. When his wife asked them if they should add some more children to the family, he was reluctant. Having a large family was all about happiness, and he was starting to not feel happy anymore. Still, he agreed and gave Christina his blessing to take on three more babies, bringing the total to 17.
The cost of having so many babies was staggering. Christina and Garlic were spending about £3,500 to £4,200 per week on just the essentials for all the kids. And that’s before they paid the multiple nannies that helped them out. And as well as the financial aspect, there was the struggle of finding time to raise them properly and spend time with them all. Khalib said that Christina should quit her job and look after the babies while he worked and brought in the money. After all, they would be able to survive off of his wage alone. So that’s what Christina did. She sadly said goodbye to the pizza restaurant and became a stay-at-home mother for her 17 children.
Things were good for Christina, and she really loved being the mother to so many kids. In fact, if she had the space and the money, she would have taken care of hundreds of children if possible. But just as she started to settle into her new life and get things on track, something happened that turned her world upside down and left her reeling and heartbroken.
One morning, Garlic kissed her goodbye and left for work as usual. He walked out of the door and drove away, and there was nothing out of the ordinary about any of it. But when he didn’t come back home at his normal time, Christina began to get a little concerned. She waited all night long to see him walk through the door, but that moment never came. It was a little after midnight that she received a phone call. It was Garlic.
She asked him where she was worried, but when he started to reply, she felt her heart breaking and tears filling her eyes. Turned out that Garlic was no longer in love with her and that he was somewhere far away where she would never find them. He was not able to cope with the 17 children, and while he at first believed that a large and extensive family would make him happy, the truth was that he was miserable.
The pressures of being a working father were far too much for him, not to mention the sheer amount of money that they were spending that was coming out of his paycheck alone. That’s why he had walked away. He said she could keep the house and everything in it, but he was done. Filing for divorce and walking away.
Christina was beside herself with anger at Garlic, but more than that, she felt hurt, rejected, and as if their whole family life had been a lie. Christina would have been forgiven if she gave up, but actually, this sad turn of events made her even more focused on her family. She would show Garlic what a good mother she was, and she’d make him regret ever walking away from the family. She would fight tooth and nail to bring those kids up properly, and that’s the attitude that Christina went forward with.
Was it easy? No. Having 17 children running around the house was definitely a stressful situation, but somehow she managed to bring each of them upright and provide them with love and attention. Luckily, she had help. The living nanny stayed by her side and assisted her in raising the children, and slowly but surely, things started to get better.
Christina eventually returned back to her original passion: cooking. She found herself in a position to buy the pizza restaurant that she had once worked in and took hold of the opportunity with both hands. It was in a prime spot and just needed a bit of course correction to get back on track. While that and her special magical touch when it came to cooking the pizzas.
By the time the children were all in their early teens, Christina had not only made a success of that one restaurant, but she had also improved it, spreading out to other venues in the area. Luckily, as the children all headed towards working age, they started helping out in the restaurants. It was amazing, and Christina couldn’t believe how it had become a family project. She had combined her love of her family with her passion for food and cooking, and the results were far beyond anything she had expected.
Not only was she happy with what she did, but she was bringing in more than double what both she and Galip had been making per month. And speaking of Galip, Christina had almost forgotten about him. That is until 20 years later, he walked right into her restaurant.
Galip wanted to speak to Christina. He said that he had missed her and been thinking of her and the children. He asked how the 17 kids were, but Christina remained cold, telling him that he had been a coward for walking away from all of them. Some of the kids were training to become engineers, cooks, teachers, doctors, and even lawyers, and owed it all to her.
Galip was shocked. He had never expected Christina or any of the children to thrive without him being there. But one thing was for certain: they did not need him in their lives. Galip was once again shaken by what he heard. Christina told him to leave the restaurant, never come back, and never try to contact her or any of the kids again. He had abandoned them when they needed him, and he would never get a second chance.
Christina was a strong and resilient woman who loved her children dearly, and she had done it all without a man by her side. There was no way that was going to change now.
So now it’s over to you. What did you think of this incredible story? Would you have been able and willing to take care of 17 children? As always, we love to hear from you, so be sure to leave your thoughts and opinions in the comment section down below.
