Tori Roloff has responded to a very personal question about her second pregnancy.
By giving a very personal and candid response.
The Little People, Big World star is already a mother to a two-year old named Jackson.
And, yes, he’s a dwarf.
Jackson was born with achondroplasia, the same condition that inflicts both his father and his paternal grandparents and it means it will not grow up to be of average size.
A handful of curious social media users out around the Internet are therefore wondering whether Jackson’s sister will be the same way.
It’s not guaranteed; Amy and Matt Roloff have four children and Zach is the only dwarf among them.
Tori could easily ignore all these inquiries about the girl growing in her womb, but she has been as open as one can be throughout this process and continued to be that way when the topic was broached late last week.
“So everyone keeps asking after seeing the ultrasound of baby girl if she is a little person or average height, and the answer is we don’t know, and we won’t know until she’s born,” Roloff said in a video.
As mentioned right above, she said this after posting an ultrasound photo of her impending daughter alongside an ultrasound photo of her son from her first pregnancy.
Yes, Tori explained, she and Zach have the option of learning more about their baby-to-be.
But this doesn’t mean they’re anxious to take it.
In fact, they are choosing not to do so.
“[You] can find out through an amniotic draw if you’re having a dwarf or not, but Zach and I opted out of that just because we don’t care either way,” she continued.
“We also just don’t have a lot of risk involved with it. … We love her and we can’t wait to meet her.”
Jackson weighed in at nine pounds and one ounce and measured 20.5 inches long at the time of his birth in May 2017, both “normal” figures for a baby.
Still, he does have achondroplasia and this will affect him for the rest of his life.
“You have to encourage a dwarf child a little more because it will take them five steps to do what others can do in two,” said Zach shortly after becoming a first-time father, speaking from experience and adding:
“But I knew, dwarf or not, I was going to parent my child with the mentality that not everyone gets a trophy. You have to earn it.”
Passing along further medical information to her followers, Tori expounded:
“They do track dwarfism from 24 weeks to like 32-ish weeks. That’s when we found out with Jackson, but it’s never a diagnosis until they’re born.”
After announcing that they were expecting their first child back in 2017, the reality star confessed that they were anxious about their child inheriting the dwarfism gene.
“It’s a big deal. It is scary. No parent wants to hear that their child is different, no matter what,” Tori said during an episode of their TLC series, but she has since emphasized of course that she loves her kid unconditionally.
Fast forward to an Instagram Q&A this past October and Toru said she doesn’t put her son “in bubble wrap” because he “has to learn to navigate his world.”
She added that although the diagnosis was frightening at first, she has “the best resources at the palm of my hand and I was fortunate enough to have some background knowledge.”
As for Jackson’s future sister? We’ll just wait along with the Roloffs and see.
Tori, who has been honest about the struggles of this pregnancy, confirmed her expecting state on May 13 via the following statement:
“We are so excited to announce that Jackson is going to be a big brother! We can not wait to meet our sweet baby girl!”
Same here, guys! Same here.
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