Mandy Moore recently gave a more in-depth recounting of her “harrowing” birth in February with son, August Harrison.
The In My Pocket singer and This Is Us star welcomed her first child with husband, Taylor Goldsmith, at the end of February.
She had previously shared her journey through a difficult pregnancy and her disappointment in letting go of her plan for a home birth after finding out her platelet levels were too low.
Not the vision she had for her birth
Low platelet counts during pregnancy affects around 8 percent of all women and can lead to blood clotting issues and excessive bleeding during birth if levels reach more dangerously lowered levels.
In a recent episode on Informed Pregnancy Podcast, Moore opened up about how difficult her birth really was.
“I’m like diving into this wave as it’s coming at me. It was crazy….I think that’s what was so wild to me about just the concept of labor. Trying to imagine what it would be beforehand, and then when you’re in the throes of it … I guess I’d taken all these classes and we talk about breathing and you talk about the techniques that your husband’s going to help you with and the different tips and tricks.”
She continued, saying, “My plan was to do an unmedicated home birth. And then things had to shift and I was getting to go to the hospital and still have midwifery care, which was really a huge priority for me and I was really grateful for. But I still wanted to have an unmedicated birth.”
“But while I was in the car on the way to the hospital, I was like, ‘Taylor, I’m getting an epidural. I don’t want you to be mad at me, but that’s what’s happening when we get to the hospital.’ We live pretty far away, it was almost a 40-minute ride to the hospital at 3 o’clock in the morning.”
At too high a risk for any labor anesthesia
Due to her platelet levels, the anesthesiologist ended up denying Moore access to any sort of labor anesthesia, as the risk of complications was too great. After pushing for three hours, Moore divulged that doctors grew concerned with the baby’s dropping heart rate.
“It was crazy. The OB was just literally like, ‘Okay, show’s over.’ Seven people walked in and he’s like, ‘So this is a vacuum and I’m going to attach this to the top of his head. And when I tell you to push, I want you to push harder than you ever have. And I’m going to pull at the same time and your baby’s going to come out.'”
“And I was just like, what?…. It all happened so quickly. It was, one second everything was fine and then the next second it was like, this is happening. And literally, I pushed harder than I had. And it went from no baby to a full body out in seconds”
“My husband was crying. I was like, this is not the way … I didn’t even have a concept of — this is not the way I expected to feel. I just remember going, I’m so confused right now. And quickly that transitioned into being emotional too. And I just couldn’t believe that it was over because it happened so quickly.”
Aside from a whirlwind few months with the end of her pregnancy and challenging birth, Moore and Goldsmith also recently mourned the loss of their friend, and Goldsmith’s band manager, after he was killed in a freak surfing accident last weekend.
Gerry G, as he was affectionately known, was killed after crashing into another surfer while riding down a huge wave in Rincon Point. He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead not long after.