Iris Purnell, California mom of 12, pregnant 16 years in a row, speaks out

While most mothers love their children, not all love the physical experience of being pregnant.

That is clearly not the case for Iris Purnell, 38, who spent 16 years over the past two decades pregnant with her 12 children — and if it were up to her, she’d welcome even more children into the world.

“I feel like children are a blessing,” she told Fox News Digital in a phone interview.

“And if it’s a blessing, then who am I to stop it?”

The mother of 12 explained that she welcomed her first son in 2004.

She met her husband, Cordell “Storm” Purnell, who was also a father of one, nearly half a year later.

The pair bonded over their love of battle dancing after they crossed paths at a party in New York City.

“We got together, got to know each other,” said Cordell Purnell.

“We got married and had our first son together shortly after. So, we had three children at the start of our marriage,” he said.

The couple, who are from East New York and Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, now live in Los Angeles. They said they hadn’t originally planned to have a big family.

Cordell continued to pursue work as a professional dancer under his stage name, Storm, while Iris took a pause from the choreography work she dearly loved.

“I was trying to find life at that time because I never wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. That wasn’t what I wanted to do,” she said.

“So, it was a struggle for me mentally because I didn’t know how to articulate that I wasn’t happy.”

The yearning that Iris Purnell felt led her to seek out God by the time she welcomed the couple’s daughter in 2006.

“At that time, I had been going to church and decided to get saved,” Iris Purnell said.

“I found a new life and a new meaning of purpose.”

“That’s when I was like, ‘You know what? If God wants me to have this many children, then I’ll have as many children as He deems for me to have.’”

She added, “So, that’s how we ended up having 12.”

In total, the Purnells have welcomed seven sons and five daughters.

Their children are Malikhai, 17, Cordell Jr., 17, Janai, 15, Trinity, 13, Messiah, 12, Josiah, 11, Love, 9, Seven, 8, Michael, 6, Royal, 5, Heavenly, 4, and Hope, 3.

Iris Purnell told Fox News Digital that she and her family study the Bible together.