For the first time since the birth of her beautiful baby son, Adrienne Bailon-Houghton is opening up about what it was like to become a mother after six years of trying.
In an interview with ESSENCE, the former Cheetah Girl and TV personality admitted that becoming a mother was something she wanted for a long time. “Six years trying, and everyone told me it is going to be so much better than you imagine,” she shared. “I felt like because the desire was so great, I knew what this was going to be like – like I knew I’d love him to an obscene amount.”
She continued: “Now, I just look at him and I’m like you are a miracle and I’m just so grateful every day that I get to love on someone and get to see the world through his eyes. Him looking at me is the greatest feeling in the world. Six years was a struggle, but that just makes becoming a mom that much more special.”
She further disclosed that while being a mom is the most rewarding job she’s ever had; it can be exhausting – but she doesn’t let sleepless nights get in the way of caring for her son in the best way she can.
“I feel like the luckiest person to be exhausted from caring for my son. Also, I’ve stayed up later and been more tired from dumber things back in the day. If I went clubbing in my 20s, I can stay up all night to stare at this child,” she said.
The 39-year-old has been quite open about her journey to fertility on her Faith and Familia episodes on YouTube, but she hasn’t spoken up much about surrogacy, chromosomes and all the other scientific stuff that can come into play when trying to conceive.
“What kept me going was this desire that was in my heart and me feeling like if this love and this desire is there, it must be for a reason. I really do believe that faith played a huge role. I know a lot of people and some friends in fact that don’t want to have kids – it’s not a desire for them. I completely respect that! For me, becoming a mom was the first thing I thought of when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I thought of when I went to bed.”
She said that now that she has experienced what it was like to bring life into the world, she believes it is now her responsibility to share her journey with others to inspire and bring hope to those who may be going through what she once faced.
“I had to trust that me sharing my journey was going to bring hope to someone else. That everything I went through actually served a purpose and being able to share that journey on Faith and Familia was really important to me. And again, it was there to encourage somebody to tell somebody, and it didn’t even end up being the way I imagined it. Like I absolutely dreamt up and had the desire in my mind to breastfeed and have stunning maternity photos and have a natural water birth for myself and it didn’t turn out that way but that didn’t make it any less beautiful.”
She concluded: “I think that I love my journey to motherhood more than anyone’s because it’s mine and it ultimately led me to my son. I just look at him and I’m reminded of the miracle that he is. He’s something I’ve prayed for such a long time. And so there were a lot of learning lessons there, and I think also recognizing that what you imagined, and the desire in your heart and how you get there, may not end up being what you imagined, but that does not mean the desire is not real and that it won’t come to fruition. It absolutely has for me. I am a mother and that was the ultimate goal.”
