Jill Johnson/JPI; Instagram/Grimes
In a 2022 interview with Soap Opera Digest, Camryn Grimes (Mariah, Y&R) confessed, “Ever since I knew I could be a mom, I’ve wanted to be one. Can’t wait. It’s a miracle I haven’t already had a baby.” That long-cherished dream came true on December 13, 2023, when the actress and her fiancé, voice-over actor Brock Powell, welcomed their first child, a son they named Bridger Elias Foster. Digest chatted with Grimes about the highs, lows and funny moments of first-time motherhood.
Soap Opera Digest: Let’s go back to last December when Bridger was first born. How was your birth experience?
Camryn Grimes: He came at 37 and a half weeks; he was early but not, like, crazy early. I was hoping to do an at-home birth but between the time my water broke and the time I ended up getting to the hospital, it was like a span of an hour, and I went from having contractions every 15, 20 minutes to roiling contractions, so it was happening too quickly. We got to the hospital and turns out when my water broke, he just dropped down before my cervix was fully dilated. My body was saying, “Push him out!” but I was only four centimeters dilated and that wasn’t going to work. I had an epidural to slow the process down, so my cervix could catch up with what my body was already doing. Brock and I spent the rest of the night into the next morning sleeping and then waking up and watching a movie and then talking and laughing and we just had such a lovely time. The morning of the 13th, they said, “Hey, you’re fully dilated, are you ready to go?” I spent a couple of hours laboring and then he was here at 8:15.
Digest: How did you react when he was put into your arms?
Grimes: When they put him on me and he cried, I was doing the same thing [I did] after Brock proposed to me; I was just going, “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.” It was all I knew to say. It’s kind of crazy — you spend nine months of being pregnant, fully aware of everything that’s going on, but your belly doesn’t come with a window, so [giving birth] can be the most shocking thing. You could have all of the knowledge of what is happening and still the second that that baby comes out, you’re like, “What?! That was in there the whole time?!” It feels like a magic trick. I still have trouble wrapping my brain around it. I look at him now and I’m like, “You’re here because I cooked you.”
Digest: How did you choose his name?
Grimes: I really have no idea. I mean, for as long as I can remember, I’ve had a running name list in the notes app on my phone and I think I had put Bridger on the list at one point. I have sort of a unique name and my brother and sisters have unique names and I just knew I wasn’t going to do something traditional. I’ve never really heard of a Bridger and then when I looked up the name, there’s a Bridger, Montana named after this adventurer and pioneer and my dad’s from Montana, so I was like, “That’s the kind of the energy I want for my kid,” and very quickly Brock and I said, “Let’s do it.” We didn’t hem and haw for too long over it.
Digest: What was the best part about the first few weeks of motherhood?
Grimes: Oh, the best part is that it was at Christmastime, so it was just so magical. His due date was after Christmas and as we got closer, I really wanted him to come before Christmas and I just felt like he was going to, anyway. And so it felt like this very natural period of time where everybody was home, everybody was off of work, everybody’s celebrating, and everybody’s resting. For anyone getting pregnant, I highly suggest getting pregnant in March, so you have a December baby. I had my last day of work the Friday before and so it was kind of perfect timing. I was already on vacation, technically, and it just was this really peaceful period of time where his family was in town and together and then we got to have Christmas Eve with him. It was so calm and lovely and it gave you this little extra time before the world started back up again in January.
Digest: What was the most challenging part of adjusting to being a mom?
Grimes: The hard part, and it happens to some women, is that my milk dried up pretty quickly. I was pumping and doing everything that I could and it just didn’t happen for me, which I never thought would happen. I would have happily boob fed my baby until he was ready to be done, but you can’t win them all. You never know how your body is going react postpartum. I try not to, but I carry a lot of like guilt and shame, but there’s nothing I could have done, so that sucks. I had to mourn that, but also give myself the grace of knowing a fed baby is a happy baby.
Digest: Who were the first people from the show to meet your baby?
Grimes: Five weeks after I gave birth I started back [on Y&R], so everybody who was there that day got to meet him. First, your friends and family have been so excited and then you get to experience that all over again with your second work family, who are also waiting in anticipation. It hits a little different because I’ve grown up on the show and so many people saw me as a kid and have known for so long that I’ve wanted to be a mom. So, it felt incredibly joyous and everybody was really, really excited and they still get excited when I bring him in. Mel [Thomas Scott, Nikki] saw him and she stopped me in the makeup room, got very serious and said, “Your baby is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.” I was like, “Oh, thank you so much!” And then she said, “No, I’m serious.”
JPI
Digest: Has Bridger met Hayley Erin’s (Claire) twin daughters, Juno and Maude?
Grimes: Yes, he loves them! We’ve done a few get-togethers now and she’ll tell me before we go over, “The girls have been asking about him and saying, ‘Where’s Bridger?’ ” They’re so cute with him, so we’ve had some really good dinners and hangs with them.
Digest: How does your TV wife, Cait Fairbanks (Tessa), like being around Bridger?
Grimes: Cait gets a little nervous but she’s been great. Whenever we’ve had scenes with Aria, I was always telling her, “You’re good. You don’t have to be nervous. You’re great with them [the twins playing Aria].” So she has more confidence and she’s great with kids.
Digest: Was it hard going back to work or you were ready?
Grimes: I was so, so, so excited about going back. Last year was probably the year I worked the least out of all of my years of being back on the show, so I was really ready. Brock asked, “Are you sure? Five weeks [off] is pretty soon!” But looking at the schedule, I would be working once a week on average, so that was very doable. I needed things that made me feel like me because if I’m not going to be the best for my kid if I’m not being authentic to myself, and one of the most authentic things to me is the joy and love I have for my job and working. So, it’s a benefit to everybody that I get to go in and have a moment that’s kind of just for me.
Digest: Do you bring Bridger every time you work?
Grimes: Just every now and then. It kind of works out wonderfully where the days that I’m scheduled to work, Brock books out so that they won’t schedule him any voice-over sessions, so he takes over on those days I’m working. Any days that I don’t work, he can schedule his work or take meetings or have, have his time, so we kind of just do this wonderful hand-off. But every now and then, a session can’t be moved, so I’ll have somebody come with me to work to help with Bridger when I’m on set.
Digest: How would you describe your son’s emerging personality?
Grimes: I can’t go anywhere or interact with anyone who doesn’t say, “That’s the happiest baby I’ve ever seen.” It’s everyone’s comment and it’s not untrue. He’s got FOMO [fear of missing out], so he wants to be a part of the conversation and he wants to be involved. If he ever gets loud and screechy, that’s just sort of like, “Hey, I’m still here, too!” All he wants to do is look at you and talk to you. He’s deeply curious and sometimes a little obstinate and makes stubborn noises, which is par for the course, being my son! He takes everything in stride. He’s really excited about life and just happy to be here. And he’s loving [solid] food. That is such an exciting new chapter for him. And he wants to move, so now I’m getting the sense of, “Oh, when this kid starts walking, I’m going to be in trouble.” He’s already so independent.
Digest: How would you describe your parenting skills thus far?
Grimes: Not a lot of parenting goes into this period of time. There’s just the interaction and no discipline. It’s just providing for them and feeding them. Basically the parent thing at this point is “Just stay alive, for the love of God!” I’m not an “anxiety” parent. I definitely do my research to make sure I’m informed on everything, so I don’t scare easily. Brock is a little bit more cautious and anxiety-ridden, whereas I tend not to worry too, too much. Or at least I try really hard not to worry too much. I want Bridger to assess and feel out situations for himself and I don’t want his risk assessment to come from us. I want him to develop that for himself.
Digest: Is there anything about motherhood that is different than what you expected?
Grimes: Well, it’s all different because you can never understand it. I could have read every book, but you just don’t know until it happens. I’m sort of open to every experience that comes and I try to take that in and think about it. I think the one thing that sticks out to me, the “nothing day” does not exist anymore, or at least it won’t exist for a long time. So there’s no day that I, or anyone who is a parent, gets to go, “You know what? I’m just not feeling it today. I’m going to watch a show all day and I’ll get to my to-do list tomorrow.” Sometimes I wish I could do that, to be perfectly honest, but as a parent, there’s something to do not just every day, but every hour. You don’t have the luxury of choosing to opt out of a day but I’m aware of the choice I made and I’m totally okay with that. I think it’s normal to have a little grief over that.
Digest: What kind of dad is Brock?
Grimes: Oh, my gosh, I’ve never seen anyone just become an instant father. It’s crazy to see. It’s one thing to think that your partner might be a good parent, but you truly have no idea what kind of co-parent you’re getting and that can be really scary. I’m so lucky that any fears that I could have had were immediately assuaged because Brock is so loving, so good. We each have our strengths as a parent and Brock is better at play. He’s so engaged, and it’s lovely to have a partner who I don’t worry about. I can go to work or to a lunch or I can go have social time and he’s not “babysitting,” he’s being a dad. I have utter confidence that he can tackle a day totally solo.
Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
Digest: And what are your parental superpowers?
Grimes: I’m great at organization and managing ounces and bottles and this and that. I’m on top of the stuff we need for the next step [of Bridger’s life] and I’ve ordered this and I’ve done all the research here and I’m on top of all of that. There’s a nice thing going that we sort of naturally fell into.
Digest: How has becoming parents deepened the bond you have with Brock?
Grimes: It’s true what they say that you fall more in love. The second that baby is born, you’ll be more in love with your partner than you’ve ever been in your life. Those first few weeks were like a love-fest between all three of us. You’re just so swept up in all of the emotion and then that bond deepens and it grows, but the first year of life with your kid is going to be the hardest on your relationship, for sure. As wonderful as I’m making it sound because it is so joyful, at the same time, we find that you both are spinning more plates than ever before. And the one that can get the least attention is you as a couple, so you have to be incredibly mindful with finding time for each other. And not that it has to be like a [formal] date night, but we’ve had to put systems into place that give us time to connect and talk about things other than Bridger. I get how this can be really tough on couples and how there can be a little bit of mourning for what was, while also have excitement for what is going to be. You’re not only defining yourselves as individuals, you have to make a new definition for each other as a couple.
Digest: Did Bridger say “Mama” or “Dada” first?
Grimes: He hasn’t said anything yet. He’s just babbling right now. He’s kind of said “Mama” a couple times but not intentionally. He’s just kind of figuring out the volume of his voice. He has been screeching at the top of his lungs like a pterodactyl [laughs].
Digest: What is one thing you’ve learned about yourself since becoming a mom?
Grimes: I’m so much more capable than I thought and there’s so much more life ahead of me than I had initially thought, especially with the burnout of Covid. There’s a future and I think I’m more ready for that than I thought that I was and I’m excited.
Digest: You happily postponed your wedding in light of your pregnancy. Have you set a new date?
Grimes: Oh, God, we’re just trying to get through the first year. I think we’re hoping for next year but honestly, our initial ideas for the wedding have changed. So, we just are like, “It’s going to happen when it happens.” We’re not really worried about it.
