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Giuliana Rancic puts marriage before baby—and that's okay

Giuliana Rancic and her husband Bill worked really hard to have a baby. After she underwent a double lumpectomy and double mastectomy and failed to conceive on her own, the couple decided to bring in a surrogate and have their child through a gestational carrier. The plan worked, and the Rancics welcomed baby Edward Duke into the world in late August.The obstacles that Rancic, 37, and her husband
Giuliana Rancic Puts Marriage Before Baby
Giuliana Rancic Puts Marriage Before BabyPaul A. Hebert/Getty Images / Today

Giuliana Rancic and her husband Bill worked really hard to have a baby. After she underwent a double lumpectomy and double mastectomy and failed to conceive on her own, the couple decided to bring in a surrogate and have their child through a gestational carrier. The plan worked, and the Rancics welcomed baby Edward Duke into the world in late August.

The obstacles that Rancic, 37, and her husband had to overcome would be hard on any marriage, but the E! News host says they made it through the trying time because they're "best friends." They'd have to be, because it requires a strong love to go through everything they did.

Still, Rancic is drawing some heat for telling Us Weekly that she and Bill put their marriage before their child. As she explains, "We're husband and wife, but we're also best friends, and it's funny because a lot of people, when they have kids, they put the baby first, and the marriage second. That works for some people. For us, I find, we put our marriage first and our child second, because the best thing we can do for him is have a strong marriage."

Rancic isn't saying that she doesn't love her baby—she is saying that she wants to make sure her husband doesn't get swept to the wayside in the middle of baby-mania. That seems like a very healthy way to look at things, as we've seen many couples become focused on their children but forget why they loved one another to in the first place.

Considering all of the hurdles this pair has crossed together, it's no wonder that the Rancics want to continue bonding as a couple. That means making time for dates and respecting one another's schedules.

"We're even stronger than we ever were before and even imagined we could be," Rancic says. "Like Oscar morning, Duke wakes up, like, twice during the night because he's so hungry and wants to eat every four hours. So Bill, like, no question, was like, 'I got it. Tonight you get a good night's sleep.' And when Bill has shoots the next day or meetings the next day, I do it. ... It's kind of amazing."

She adds: "I always say to Bill, 'You were my first baby,' because he was! He was my first love and my first baby and Duke is my second baby."

Time to add room for a "third baby" into that mix, as the Rancics announced back in October that they're going to try for a second child. By the way Giuliana is talking, she and her hubby have plenty of love to go around.

A version of this story originally appeared on iVillage.