A home birth may not have been in the cards forEmilie de Ravinwhen she delivered her first child with fiancéEric Bilitch, but her second was a different story.
Opening up about her two experiences onDr. Berlin’s Informed Pregnancy Podcastthis week,the formerOnce Upon a Timeactress recalled her concerns that she might have to go to the hospital to give birth again like she did with daughter Vera Audrey, now 3, after she sufferedextreme back pain during that labor.
“It was a vaginal birth. It was all fine,” says de Ravin, 37, of transferring to the hospital for her first child’s birth. “I got out of the hospital as soon as they could let me escape from the room and Vera was fine. I was fine.”
The star admits that while “it wasn’t my idea of my perfect birth,” she was just thankful everyone was okay — and she learned a lot during the process about how others “diminish women’s emotions” in everyday life.
With her sonTheodore “Theo” Kubrick, now 3 months old,theLostalumdecided to try again — and ultimately had success in delivering in her bedroom, “off the side of the bed,” with some help from her husband after first spending time in a birthing tub.
“It felt like I was pushing for so long. Actual [productivity]. Him coming out was, apart from obvious pain, it was a really cool experience,” she recalls. “It was … the main part of why Ididn’t want to ever be medicatedif I [could] help it. With Vera too, which I had to be.”
“It was so nice to be able to just feel what your body is doing and what it can do and going through it with him, even though I know I was going through it with [Vera],” de Ravin adds. “Just being able to have … the physical and emotional connection at the same time. As opposed to just looking in a mirror, like I was with her.”
“It’s insane and then you look at pictures and you’re like, ‘How can your vagina do that?’ ” she muses. “I didn’t tear with my daughter either, at all, and I didn’t tear with him. But how? It’s still fascinating to me. It really is.”
The Australian actressannounced Theodore’s birthon Instagram in December, alongside a sweet photograph of her fast-asleep newborn.
“Welcome to the world beautiful boy!” de Ravincaptioned her post. “We’re so excited you’re finally out here to play with us! We love you so so much Theo xoxoxo.”
source: people.com
