When it comes to pregnancy and childbirth, no matter how much effort you put into your birth plan, sometimes things just don?t work out as expected. Ashley Graham learned that the hard way with the birth of her twin sons Roman and Malachi earlier this year. In a candid essay for Glamour, the 34-year-old model has revealed that immediately following labour and delivery, she almost died.
The mother of three wasn?t new to home births when she had her twins in January. In 2019, it was smooth sailing when she delivered her first son, Isaac, at home. ?It took six hours, I didn?t tear, and he was born smiling into the world,? she recalls in her essay.
She invited the same team of midwives from her first birth to help with her second delivery and planned another home birth. It was an unusually speedy delivery, lasting only three and a half hours. Malachi came out first, followed by Roman a little over two hours later. Both babies were healthy and the family collectively let out a sigh of relief. And then things went very wrong.
?I looked at my midwife and I said, ‘I don?t feel good. I think I need to lay down,’ and I blacked out,? Ashley recalled. She went on to hemorrhage, losing a dangerous amount of blood. Her midwives had to take drastic measures to stop it. ?One of the midwives had to flip me over, press her finger down right above my vagina bone to try and stop the bleeding,? wrote Ashley.
The blackout created a scene of chaos around Ashley that she could only va...