Mandy Moore is opening up about her birthing plan for the second go around. The “Candy” singer is set to welcome her second child in Oct. 2022, and due to a health condition, she says she’ll have to give birth unmedicated. Moore has an autoimmune blood disorder known as immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). “My platelets are too low for an epidural,” the This Is Us alum told NBC’s TODAY Parents in an interview in early July.
ITP is typically triggered by pregnancy and occurs when a person’s body mistakenly attacks their own platelets, or blood cell fragments that help with blood clotting, E! reports. With the condition, bruising and internal bleeding. Could occur. If doctors consider the level of platelets to be too low by the time of delivery, they will likely avoid administering an epidural for pain relief during labor to avoid the risk of a spinal hematoma, or pooling of blood.
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She also experienced the condition in her first pregnancy and was not offered an epidural. “It was awful,” she added of labor with her first son. “But I can do it one more time. I can climb that mountain again. I wish medication was an option—just the idea of it being on the table is so nice. But we’ll just push forth like we did last time.”
Moore cancelled her tour to focus on her pregnancy. “When we booked these shows, I wasn’t pregnant and although I truly thought I could power through, the way were are traveling (long hours on the bus and not getting proper rest) has caught up, taken its toll, and made it feel too challenging to proceed,” she wrote in an Instagram post at the time. “I know that I have to put my family and my health (and the health of my baby) first and the best place for me to be right now is at home.”
