After Having Her Latest Baby, Mother Decides 15 Is Enough

MINEOLA, N.Y. —  A 43-year-old woman who took home her 15th baby Saturday says she is calling it quits.

“Enough is enough,” Mary Mikowski of New Hyde Park said before she left Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola with her new son, Julian.

Julian, born last weekend at 8 pounds, 15 ounces, joins nine brothers and five sisters at home, from the oldest, Arthur, 22, to Christine, 4.

They all live in the family’s two-story house on Long Island, sharing its seven bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. Mikowski and her husband, Arthur, agreed that they never intended to get the house quite that full.

“We just love children. Both of us were only children,” said Mary Mikowski, who has been married for 24 years.

Arthur Mikowski, a Suffolk County policeman who moonlights at part-time jobs to make ends meet, said baby No. 15 was a welcome addition. The thrill of having a child “never wears away,” he said. “They’re like a gift.”

Mary Mikowski’s week in the hospital gave her a short vacation from her duties at home, which run from chauffeur to chef.

And one duty that never gets easier, even though the children go to Catholic schools where they are required to wear similar uniforms, is the laundry. “There’s just so much of it,” she said.