Gemma Atkinson has opened out about the tough decision she had to make when she gave birth to her first child with Gorka Marquez.
The former Hollyoaks star, 38, and her Strictly Come Dancing pro dancer, 32, met on the show in 2017 and have two lovely children together: Mia, born in July 2019, and Thiago, born just last month.
Gemma has been sharing frank updates with followers on social media after the birth of their kid, joking about being’still intact’ after giving birth to Thiago and providing us with humorous relationship updates.
The couple has now spoken out about a more serious aspect of their birth story, discussing how Mia was delivered.
Gemma, who was still pregnant at the time of shooting, reveals in Gemma and Gorka: Behind The Lens: ‘Mia’s delivery was terrifying. It resulted in an emergency caesarean section and postpartum haemorrhage. This hospital’s staff truly saved both of our lives.
‘This pregnancy is deemed as high risk. And when you see it on paper it is a shock.
‘Because I’m under 40, I’m fit and healthy, I’m not severely overweight. So why’s it high risk? But they just do it off the previous pregnancy.’
Gorka goes on: ‘When Mia was born, we had a bit of a traumatic birth.
‘Gemma went in to labour, but she wasn’t having any contractions.
‘Mia’s heart rate was dropping very low so it was quite dangerous.
‘So I remember they pressed a button and alarms went off, doctors running in, nurses, everywhere. Six minutes was the time cap for delivering Mia.’
Because of the high-risk circumstance, Gemma was given a document concerning ‘blood transfusions’ and asked who would be rescued.
‘If one of us had to be saved, which one would it be,’ she recalled.
‘And I was trying to take all that in, and I remember looking at [Gorka] and I was crying and I remember Gorka was like face to face like, “It’s okay, she’ll be here soon,” and I was thinking, “Yeah but what state is she going to come out in?”‘
She went on: ‘With both mine and Mia’s life at risk, the decision was made for an emergency Caesarean section.’
‘You just think of the worst, what if the C-section doesn’t go to plan, what if the baby doesn’t make it? And I was like, “she might not come back,”‘ Gorka added.
Fortunately, both Mia and Gemma survived, with the mother-of-two recently disclosing that she was unable to have a vaginal delivery with Thiago after Mia was delivered through C-section.
‘Lots of you have asked if I got my much hoped for VBAC….’, she wrote on Instagram, referring to a Vaginal Birth after Caesarean, the term used when a woman gives birth vaginally, having had a caesarean birth in the past.
‘I didn’t get my vaginal birth. My waters broke and I went into labour and stayed at home for as long as possible (it helped that the Wimbledon men’s final was on!)’, she joked.
‘My contractions got down to every 6 mins or so and then slowly just stopped. We headed into the hospital 24hrs after my waters broke as they had changed colour a little. Thiago had opened his bowels. Thanks son! Already s****ing on me 🤦🏼♀️😂’, she added light-heartedly.
Gemma went on to say she was ‘given the choice of the artificial hormone to induce labour again or a section’, so she went with the latter which was ‘so much more relaxed’ after bad experiences last time.
‘It felt like somehow it was meant to be this way,’ she shared, explaining that her mum had moved in with her to lend a hand.
‘As I always do with every situation I’ve sat back and looked for a silver lining, which in this case, is after two babies, Gorka’s favourite pub is still very much intact. 😉😉’, Gemma concluded.
She’s since spoken about how their family is now complete, with Thiago having ‘slotted right in’.
Gemma and Gorka: Life Behind the Lens airs on W and UKTV Play on Wednesdays at 8pm.
Source My Celebrity Life.
