Tori Roloff, one of the stars of the hit TLC show “Little People, Big World,” had announced that she was having a second child due in November 2019. Many fans were interested in the details following the birth and wanted to know which parent the child would take after—Tori, who is a person of normal stature, or her husband, Zach Roloff, who has dwarfism.
The couple’s first child, Jackson Kyle Roloff, now two-and-a-half years old, is a little person delivered by C-section, a common practice for children with achondroplasia, the medical term for dwarfism.
“I freaking love it. I am so thankful and blessed by kiddos.”A mother of normal stature like Tori having children with achondroplasia is completely normal according to the Little People of America (LPA), a non-profit advocacy organization. As the LPA explains, “[...] more than 80 percent of children with dwarfism have average-height parents and siblings.”
While some of Tori’s fans wondered whether she would try for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean section), the mom of two said, “It’s not that I couldn’t have a vbac but just most likely it would have ended in a c section so we just skipped ahead.”
The abdominal surgery required for the procedure makes postpartum recovery more difficult, but Tori told her followers that she was feeling resilient. Despite writing that her time in the hospital was difficult, Tori said, “I feel like I’ve recovered a lot faster this time around.”
“I often forget that my son is any different than yours,” Tori wrote. “I forget that he has shorter legs, because he can get around and run just like any other 2 year old. I forget he has short arms, because he can still reach everything around the house.”
In addition to the physical limitations, Tori admitted there were aesthetic ones too. “Plus there are jiggles in places that are honestly just hard to come to terms with,” she said. Tori adds that she is concerned about how Jackson and Lilah will be treated by others, who don’t know how to deal with their difference.
She is spending the first few months after birth to enjoy the company of her new daughter and help her own body to recover. Just three weeks after giving birth, Tori wrote to her Instagram followers about the difficulties of bouncing back from pregnancy and a C-section. “Having major abdominal surgery is difficult for me because I hate being restricted,” she explained.
Despite the transitory hurdles and tribulations, she encouraged other postpartum mothers to love themselves. “We all have our days and that’s okay,” she said.
