In her new memoir, Unqualified, Anna Faris opened up about her terrifying experience of giving birth to son Jack two months early and the difficulties that followed.
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After a year of trying, Faris 35, finally got pregnant with then-husband Chris Pratt. But while there were no complications in the first 30 weeks of her pregnancy, that all changed one morning.
The CBS sitcom star recounts the moment everything changed, revealing in her memoir that her son was ready to come out much earlier than expected.
“For those of you who haven’t had babies, let me assure you: you can’t really mistake your water breaking for peeing,” she write. “They are entirely different sensations. But when you aren’t due for two more months and you’re taken by surprise by a sudden burst of fluid, you will pray that it’s urine, and you’ll go as far as sticking your nose in it if necessary.”
Faris reveals she was pumped with magnesium at the hospital in an attempt to stop the labor. However, even though it worked, she was advised to not leave until her son was born, ultimately putting her on bed rest.
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After seven days of bed rest, Faris went into labor — one so painful, she could “barely speak.” Doctors soon informed her that after the newborn’s birth, the new mother would not be able to hold him just yet.
“That’s where the unexpected nature of this whole fiasco really hit home,” she writes. “When you have a healthy pregnancy, you never wonder if you’ll get to hold your son right after he’s born. It’s a given. I was terrified, but I also knew I had to be a soldier.”
Things did not get easier for Faris as she endured more pain, both physically and emotionally, recalling that for the next month, her body went through it all.
“For the next four weeks, I spent all day there, pumping milk for my baby until my nipples were bleeding and blistered, because it felt like the only thing I could do to help him. He was fed the milk through a tube up his nose,” she wrote.
Four days after welcoming Jack, a pediatric neurosurgeon told the new parents that their son had severe brain bleeding. With that concern, they were informed that there was a possibility he would be developmentally disabled, but unaware of its severity until he was 18 months old.
“Chris and I did what we could, which was hold hands and hope and face it together,” she writes.
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Eventually, Faris and Pratt were able to take Jack home, despite him weighing only four pounds, three ounces. The infant had daily doctor appointments with brain, heart and eye specialists, as well as physical therapists.
Despite Jack being all right today, he still struggles with minor leg muscle and vision issues. But Faris says, “We count ourselves extremely lucky.”
“We know how fortunate we are to have a happy ending,” Anna writes. “So the fact that we have a charming and outgoing and athletic kid who loves dinosaurs and introducing himself to people, Chris and I are both grateful every day.”
Photo credit: Twitter / @ohmypnd
