Meet the "Table for 12" Family

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Meet the "Table for 12" Family

Though their family is now the subject of TLC's new reality program *Table for 12*, Betty and Eric Hayes never imagined they'd have a big enough family to warrant their own TV show. First, they had twins. Next came another set of twins, and then came the surprise news during Betty's next pregnancy -- she was expecting sextuplets! "You know, you're driving back from the doctor," Betty relates about that moment. "There's a little shock, a little crying, a little laughing ... and a little 'Holy Mackerel! What are we going to do?'" With a total of six boys and four daughters, it's not uncommon for Betty to do up to eight loads of laundry in one day -- in addition to all the cooking and cleaning that comes with having 10 children. Eric explains how they deal with the stress of raising a large family. "You just can't sweat the small stuff," he tells Rachael. "Everything's going to be there tomorrow, we just move on. The dirty clothes, the dirty dishes -- you know what? They're going to be back tomorrow. A hole in the wall, crayon on the counter ... whatever!" "So you have a very Zen approach to this," Rachael comments. Eric smiles, "You have to." One of the challenges the family deals with on a daily basis is the special needs of their daughter Rebecca, who was born with cerebral palsy. "If anything," Betty says, "it makes everyone real compassionate. Not everybody wants to have a special needs child, it's a very challenging time, but it does bring everyone a lot closer." The couple says that it took a while before they were convinced to let cameras into their lives. "We gave it a lot of consideration and discussed it," Betty says. "For people to see and understand people with special needs, and then just for the experiences for the children, we'd thought maybe we'd try. it. We told them all, at any time if they're uncomfortable or they don't want to do it anymore or they're embarrassed, I'm out." Watch the video above to hear what the kids have to say about being on television, including a comment from 10-year-old Meghan that has Rachael in stitches!

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