COVER STORY
Special Deliveries TV personality Julia Moffitt’s kids, Rylann and Aiden, are cherished Mother’s Day ‘gifts’.
www.currentincarmel.com Tuesday, May 6,2008
By Christine Bavender Current in Carmel Mother’s Day usually means a card, maybe some flowers or a little gift for most women. But for Carmel resident and WTHR-TV (Ch. 13) Sunrise anchor Julia Moffitt, it has meant receiving – not just once, but twice, the very special gift of becoming a mother. Both of her children – Rylann and Aiden – were born on Mother’s Day. “It sounds so corny, but can you think of any better gift than to become a first-time mom on Mother’s Day?” she said. “And then to have it happen with the second one ... I was just blown away.” Neither baby’s MEET JULIA MOFFITT predicted due date was Mother’s Day, Hometown – Lebanon Moffitt said. College - Indiana State “Actually with Rylann, the date Husband – Married to I was given was Barry for 14 years this Timothy McVeigh’s July (the Oklahoma City Children – Rylann, 6, bomber) execution date,” she explained. Aiden, 2 “And that always WTHR-TV (Ch. 12) bothered me.” Sunrise anchor since She actually went summer of 2004 into the hospital the Friday before Mother’s Day for Rylann’s birth, thinking her water had broken. She had to wait until the doctor came in the next morning, only to find out she wasn’t quite ready to deliver. “So I went home, and that night I went into labor and I waited so long I almost missed my epidural,” she said with a laugh. “The nurse asked why I had waited so long and I said I hadn’t wanted to be sent home again.” Aiden will turn 3 Thursday – just a few days before Mother’s Day. Rylann will turn 7 May 13th – two days after Mother’s Day. “It actually is kind of hectic because it seems party planning is all we do,” Moffitt said with a laugh. “We try to get with our own mothers and grandmothers on Mother’s Day and have the kids try to get together with their cousins ... for their birthdays.” Moffitt admits she thought briefly on the way to the hospital to give birth to Rylann that it would be funny if the baby were born on Mother’s Day. But with Aiden, she never dreamed it would happen again, as his due date was a few days past the holiday. Neither of the children understands the concept yet of just how uncommon it was that they both were born on Mother’s Day, Moffitt said. “To them, right now, it is all about the presents and the cake and they have no idea or concept of the fact,” she said. “I saved articles and stuff because I think one day they will think it’s wild. Especially when they are parents themselves.” The odds of having not one but two children born on the
same holiday are rare, Moffitt said. “I know it’s not that common, but it’s not like when I am out in public that everyone says, ‘Oh you’re the one that had both your babies on Mothers Day,’ ” Moffitt said. “It’s usually the women viewers who remember it.” Viewers watched what usually is a couple’s private experience unfold on television. “It’s weird to go through it because you are sharing something that is very special for you and your family but you are also sharing it with everyone,” Moffitt said. “But in my experience it just made it nicer. It never made me uncomfortable or unhappy. It was just extra people sending me blessings and wishing me well – just an added bonus.” A bonus for which couple did not plan, Moffitt said. “It just is something special that happened for us,” she said. As far as celebrating Mother’s Day, Moffitt said she her husband, Barry, try to do something special with the kids. “We go to breakfast and the kids love to give me their presents and little drawings,” she said. “It’s different for my husband though – he’s so grateful he goes overboard. But he always tells me, ‘look, I didn’t deliver two kids on Mother’s Day so it’s special.’” As far as celebrations, this year a cookout with the whole family is on tap. “We still try to focus on our mothers,” Moffitt explained. “No one looks at is as if I gave birth on Mother’s Day. We have to be so focused on birthdays – birthdays are far more important to a 7- and 3-year old than Mother’s Day.”