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Kristen Alderson (ex-Starr, ONE LIFE TO LIVE; ex-Starr/Kiki, GH) and her fiancé, Taylor Crousore, became first-time parents on January 29, 2024 with the birth of their daughter, Kiera Skye Crousore. She opened up to Digest about her “fairy tale” transition to motherhood.
Soap Opera Digest: Congratulations on baby Kiera!
Kristen Alderson: Thank you so much. I’m feeding her right now. I’m obsessed!
Digest: What is the feeling of her holding her in your arms — is it what you expected?
Alderson: It’s literally a thousand times more than I could have expected. Everyone is like, “There’s nothing like it, you’ll never love anyone more in your life, and it’s all true! Everything is 100 percent true. It almost feels like I’m a crazy person because I literally just look at her and cry. I can’t even tell you the amount of times my parents have walked into the room and I’m hysterically crying, singing to her or talking to her with happy tears. I’m just so in love. I had a C-section and I’m not getting much sleep and I’m like, “I don’t care about any of that! I’m great! I have her and I’m in love. I’m on cloud nine. I’ve always wanted to be a mom and I’m so glad that I’m doing it at my age, you know? I was fully ready for it and I have the most amazing fiancé, and it feels like everything about life right now just aligned perfectly. Sometimes I get really worried like, “Oh, gosh, everything is too perfect!” At the end of my pregnancy, I was like, “I just want her to be here and be happy and healthy.” And she is! And I never take a second of it for granted.
Digest: Tell me about her birth. Was it a planned C-section?
Alderson: Well, my due date was January 30th, and my doctor said that I was showing signs of going into labor on a Thursday. Well, Taylor, my fiancé, works every weekend January to April doing these boat shows, so he was going to be in Detroit, MI the week of her due date from Wednesday to Sunday. The week beforehand, when I was showing signs of maybe going into labor, my doctor was like, “You’re going to go into labor when he’s away and he’s going to miss it.” She said, “You’re 39-and-a-half weeks [into your pregnancy]; I could see if they’re available this weekend for you to get induced. It’s completely safe, and if you want him to be there for her birth, [that’s how to ensure it]. He was going to be home that week from Sunday to Wednesday, so that gave us four days to get her out [laughs]. But I was like, “I don’t want to play God and make this happen before it’s supposed to.” I was thinking, “I want to have the movie moment where my water breaks in the middle of a store or something. My doctor was like, “Yeah, but that’s not gonna be so fun when your fiancé can’t make it home!” And I was like, “Yeah, true.” So I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do and on Saturday morning I woke up and I was crying and I was praying about whether I should go and get induced the next day or not. I fell back asleep and when I woke up, I got a call from the hospital saying, “Hey, we’re actually available tonight. I think you should come in because we’re fully booked this week at the hospital.” And I was like, “You know what? I prayed for a sign and they called me and said to come in. Okay, I think I’m gonna do it!” I started [on the induction medication] and I was in labor for 48 hours before, before having to have a C-section because I couldn’t get past five centimeters dilated. I had an epidural but it was starting to wear off and I’d had a full day of contractions. I was glad I had a little taste of both! Having a C-section was really scary for me, but the doctors and nurses were literally the most insanely amazing people.
INSTAGRAM/ALDERSON
So Happy Together: Alderson with her “incredible” husband-to-be, Taylor Crousore.
Digest: Since Kiera was born, what has it been like for you to see Taylor as a dad?
Alderson: Oh my God, he’s the best. He was in the room the whole time for the C-section, and when you have a baby that way, it’s really the dad who gets to spend a lot of time with the baby right off the bat. He just snapped into dad mode instantly. She came out and they were like, “Dad, come with us to cut the umbilical cord.” When he held her, he was like, “Hi, honey, welcome to the world.” He was just immediately talking to her like he had known her for 50 years, you know? He’s just been the best. For the first three or four days after the surgery, we were in the weeds. He was helping me walk to the bathroom and he was changing all the diapers and I was feeding her all the time but I couldn’t lift her out of the bassinet, so he had so many duties. He was incredible. It’s just so cool to not only be engaged to your best friend but then to watch your best friend become a dad. It was really special.
Digest: And what rating would you give to your brother, Eddie Alderson (ex-Matthew, ONE LIFE TO LIVE), as an uncle thus far?
Alderson: Oh, he has been so cute. He cried when he met her and his fiancée was making fun of him because the day she came home from the hospital, he was like, “Do you think I could, like, take her to school dances and stuff?” And she was like, “What? Don’t be a creep. No, Taylor will be taking her to those.” Everyone in my family is so in love. Taylor and I moved in with my parents and they’ve just been the biggest help ever and just the best grandparents. It’s really been like a fairy tale. I mean, there are ups and downs in life and it’s definitely been hectic but since she’s come into the world, it just feels like this fairy tale. I’m very, very grateful.
