Pilar Sanders, the ex-wife of Deion Sanders, has remained a constant presence in her children’s lives despite their messy divorce. Now, while Shilo, Shedeur, and Shelomi are making waves in their respective fields, the proud mom opens up about the struggles she faced during childbirth.
“For me, it was absolute 10,” said Pilar, referring to the rate of pain of giving birth, during her Tuesday appearance on her son Shilo Sanders’ blog. “It was a 10 for each going into it because I needed an epidural for every one of you. I didn’t want to; I didn’t know what to expect when I was giving birth to you [Shilo]. So, I was completely against the epidural.”
Shilo was Pilar’s very first experience with childbirth. He was born in 2000, roughly four months after Deion Sanders’s and Pilar’s wedding in October 1999. Being her firstborn, Pilar openly credited him with teaching her how to be a mother and giving her “perspective and purpose” early in her adult life. However, the experience was completely new for the mother of the former Colorado safety.
“Going into labor with you, I thought that I was ready to go. And when I finally got to the hospital, or when we were almost there, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s time.’ So, we’re driving there, and we get there, and they check me, and they’re like, ‘Oh, no, no, you’re not ready.’ And I’m like, ‘There’s no way I’m not ready. I’ve been having contractions,” said Pilar.
“So, they sent me home. We’re on our way home, and I’m like, ‘Turn this car right around. I’m having this baby. I don’t care what they say.’ Your dad was driving. So, we turn around, and we go back, and we have you. I have you. And I’m like, I don’t care how many centimeters I am; I need an epidural now.”
But Shilo wasn’t the child during whose birth Pilar felt the worst pain.
“You [Shilo] were not the worst. Probably Shelomi,” added the ex-wife of Deion Sanders. “With Shedeur, the epidural only took like part of my body. So I felt labor pains on part of my body. With Shelomi, it [epidural] was like completely half. That was a good one.”
“But I felt more labor pains with her than any of you. She causes a lot of issues. No, but you latched on. Great. Shedeur did too. I did have trouble with her at first nursing her. So, she went for like 3 days and didn’t eat anything because she bit me right away, and that was just it. That’s messed up.”
Pilar gave birth to Shedeur in 2002. Throughout her pregnancy with her second son, Shedeur, her oldest son jokingly grilled Pilar on air during a Twitch stream. “You didn’t think you could get pregnant. That means Shedeur was an accident,” teased Shilo, attempting to get her to admit the pregnancy was completely unplanned.
Then, in 2003, Shelomi was born. Although her birth put Pilar into more trouble, the daughter forced her into a collaborative parenting style.
Shelomi’s birth brought a new chapter to Pilar’s life
Before raising her daughter, Shelomi, Pilar was well-seasoned in the high-energy routines of parenting her two older sons. She thought she was strictly “a #1 boy mom.” But Shelomi arrived with an independent personality that quickly earned her the family nickname “Bossy.”
“Then along came bossay!! She immediately assumed boy mini mom hence her nickname #bossy,” admitted Pilar.
At age 13, when Shelomi was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, her mother had to abandon rigid schedules to manage sudden health fluctuations. Pilar detailed the “challenge of being the mother of someone who battles diabetes” and recalled the constant stress of tracing her daughter’s hidden glucometer.
