Kids & Family

Baby Boom: Lake Elsinore Mom Gives Birth to 17th Child

The Cason Crew has grown to 19 with the birth Tuesday of Vaughn Robert Dallas Cason at Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta. Vaughn came in at a healthy 8 pounds and 6 ounces, and is the couple's 10th boy.

A Lake Elsinore couple who have been featured on various television series due to their unusually large family has just welcomed another child to their brood.

The Cason Crew has grown to 19 with the birth Tuesday of Vaughn Robert Dallas Cason at Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta. Vaughn came in at a healthy 8 pounds and 6 ounces, and is the couple’s 10th boy.

It marks the 17th natural birth for 42-year-old Christi Cason, who had two children before she married David Cason 22 years ago.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Everything went really well...just looking at him, we can see a number 18,” Cason told Patch in a phone interview Thursday as she and her husband, a 46-year-old network engineer, were packing up to leave the hospital and head home to introduce Vaughn to his 16 siblings.

Nathaniel, who turned 3 years old on Sept. 1, is no longer the baby of the family. Then there are—from youngest to oldest—Sawyer, Laura, Morgan, Walker, Trevor, Rebekah, Emma, Harper, Kaylee, Gage, Bailey, Austin, Dalton, Jessica and Chad.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Christi said they don’t follow a certain religion, nor do they have anything against birth control. Saddened by a series of miscarriages after turning 40 years old, Christi, a grandmother to one, she said she visited her longtime OB/GYN. She was prescribed a hormone-stimulating medication that aided her ovulation, she explained. Though she said probably wouldn’t go that route again, they are not opposed to having another child.

So how do the dynamics of such a large family work? That exact question landed the Casons in a 2007 episode of TLC’s “Kids by the Dozen.” They also were later featured on BBC’s “Inside the Human Body." 

And in 2012, as part of National Geographic’s documentary series on “Megafamilies" around the world, the Casons divulged how they survive on one salary. Their move from a rented duplex to a five-bedroom home was also chronicled.

Camera crews aside, it takes a lot of teamwork, Christi said.

The oldest son, Chad, 23, can agree. He told Patch he enjoys cooking for the family, and is especially good at making spaghetti. It requires three pounds of hamburger and four boxes of his mom’s favorite spaghetti mix from Stater Bros., he said. Chad also helps drive his younger siblings to and from school and extracurricular activities.

“It is fun, it is cool I guess,” Chad said. “I would probably go insane if I was one of only two or three kids. With this, there is always someone to wake up at 2 in the morning to talk to. You always have a friend, that is the best thing.”

There also comes the challenge of naming each child as it comes along.

"The way we come up with names is that for the most part, we try to use less common names," Christi said. "Dave always hated being a David since there were alway so many around. His dad made him promise not to name any kids after him as his name was Homer."

Christi said they also use middle names to honor people, such as family members or friends.

"Vaughn's name (Vaughn Robert Dallas) came from three people we lost in recent years," she said. "Vaughn was the middle name of a boy who was very good friends with the kids who was killed three years ago, hit by a car on his bike. Robert is after my uncle Robert who died last year, and Dallas was our neighbor who had become very close to us who also was killed in a traffic accident."

As for disciplining their children, Christi said it is on a case-by-case basis.

“Every situation is different,” Christi said. “So say if a child lies to us, we say, ‘If you tell us the truth right now your punishment is going to be less severe.’ We also teach them that no matter what the group is doing, they have to make the decision to do the right thing.”

The family's blog can be followed at Thecasoncrew.blogspot.com.


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