While several celebrities show the public the glamorous, effortless side of pregnancy, many are increasingly opening up on the hardships faced during this time. Parents-to-be Bipasha Basu and her husband Karan Singh Grover are the latest celebrities to have opened up on the difficulties of pregnancy, as they await the birth of their first child.
Bollywood celebrities who opened up about difficult pregnancies
1. What Karan and Bipasha said about the difficulties of pregnancy
Taking to Instagram, Karan lauded his wife Bipasha for powering through the excruciatingly tough times she’s going through right now: “Every step of the way witnessing what a lady goes through during this time, just witnessing the infinite, unspoken, unexpressed and sometimes unnoticed hardships that she goes through for this unfathomable miracle to happen inside of her…it’s just for me the truest explanation of what unconditional love is, what god is, what a creator is. I just catch myself wondering through the chaos of these months, that how come we all just don’t talk about this all the time?”
Image credit: Instagram.com/iamksgofficial
Earlier, Bipasha had also spoken to Mid-day about the downsides of being pregnant, “No one talks about how horrible it can be. It’s not morning sickness, it’s all-time sickness. I was vomiting all day. It was as if I was possessed. I used to look up at God and shout, ‘Why are you doing this?’”
Image credit: Instagram.com/bipashabasu
2. Dia Mirza had bad infections and underwent surgery
Image credit: Instagram.com/diamirzaofficial
In an interview with ETimes, Dia shared how she had a near-death experience during her pregnancy: “I had to go in for an appendectomy in the fifth month of my pregnancy. I was in and out of hospital subsequently because of an acute bacterial infection that could have led to sepsis while I was in my sixth month of pregnancy. My baby had to be delivered because my placenta had started to haemorrhage. It was a tough time and I’m grateful for my gynaecologist who saved our lives.”
3. Sameera Reddy opened up on how pregnancy takes a toll on the body and mind
People tend to have a uni-dimensional view of childbirth and motherhood as this easy-peasy, beautiful thing. While some aspects of it are beautiful, it definitely isn’t easy for many people. Sameera Reddy got very real about it, and took to Instagram to share her experiences during both her pregnancies. She talked about the post-pregnancy pain she felt, and the changes that happen in one’s body.
“It’s really damn hard on the body when it’s a c section because the stitches hurt like mad. Nothing can ready you for the sleepless nights of endless feeding and your body just feels so out of whack it can really get you down. The tummy swelling takes a while to go and this is day 5 post delivery. I’m thrilled to have my daughter in my arms but I can’t help but feel hormonally challenged because of all the changes,” she wrote.
Image credit: Instagram.com/reddysameera
However, Sameera’s account of postpartum depression was the most significant. A largely taboo subject, PPD is rarely discussed in India. Sameera got real about what she faced due to this: “For me postpartum stress was hard and I did not act fast enough because I was unaware it existed. The pics I shared in this post was me at my lowest. I couldn’t feel happy however hard I tried after the birth of my first child.”
Image credit: Instagram.com/reddysameera
4. Sonam Kapoor Ahuja got real about the exhaustion and nausea
Image credit: Instagram.com/sonamkapoor
In an interview with Indian Express, Sonam was frank about how tired and sick she felt during her pregnancy, “This journey to motherhood has been rather tough, particularly the first three months. They were difficult in ways I wasn’t expecting. No one ever tells how challenging this journey would be. My body is changing every day, in addition to nausea and exhaustion. It has also affected my sleep routine, such as sometimes I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and then there are days when I can’t get out for 10-12 hours straight.”
Even when she appeared on Koffee With Karan, Sonam opened up on how tough it had been.
5. Celina Jaitly talked about the bodily changes during pregnancy
Many don’t know that people can develop conditions they previously did not have during pregnancy. This happened to Celina. She also talked about how she couldn’t breathe because her body was too small for the babies. Even her bones were affected!
Celina’s post detailed it thus: “I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in both my pregnancies due to twin baby hormones, I had to really watch what I ate and went through extremely strict restrictions throughout both pregnancies. Being tiny my bones were affected and the babies pressed on my heart so breathing was great difficulty.”
Image credit: Instagram.com/celinajaitlyofficial
While many might think of such statements as scare-mongering, the truth is that people overwhelmingly have the opposite view, that pregnancy is easy-breezy, lovely, and all good. There is a serious lack of education on what it can do to the pregnant person’s body. Till all the women who choose to have babies are not given the full picture of what it truly is like to be pregnant, spreading awareness on this matter should remain the order of the day.
Lead image credit: Instagram.com/bipashabasu, photo: Prasad Naik, Instagram.com/diamirzaofficial
