Recovering.
Caring for older children.
Learning the personality of the newest member of the family.
In other words, parenthood.
More Than a Story About Genetics
It would be easy to tell Charli and Cullen's story entirely as a medical story.
But doing so would miss its most important dimension.
Genetics influenced their pregnancies, but genetics did not create their family relationships.
Their children are not probabilities on a chart.
They are children growing up in a household with parents and siblings.
This is one reason Charli's decision to share her family's everyday life attracted such a large audience.
People who initially arrived because they were curious about dwarfism could see something much more familiar.
A tired mother.
A proud father.
Siblings growing together.
Family photographs.
Parenting challenges.
Medical appointments.
Celebrations.
Uncertainty.
Love.
These experiences do not belong exclusively to average-height families or families affected by genetic conditions.
They belong to families.
Why Representation Matters
Public understanding of disability and genetic difference is often shaped by what people see.
When the only representations of dwarfism come from entertainment, stereotypes or medical textbooks, it is easy for audiences to forget that people with dwarfism lead ordinary and extraordinarily varied lives.
They date.
They marry.
They work.
They become parents.
They argue about household responsibilities.
They worry about their children.
They celebrate birthdays.
They get exhausted.
They experience the same spectrum of emotions as everyone else.
Social media has its disadvantages, particularly when families become targets of invasive questions or cruel comments. But it can also allow people whose lives have traditionally been misunderstood to represent themselves.
Charli's account gave her the ability to tell her family's story in her own words.
That did not mean every follower would agree with every decision.
It meant they could at least see the human beings behind those decisions.