Kim Kardashian and Kanye West welcomed their third child into the world on Monday, January 15.
Though it was a joyous event, the 37-year-old felt compelled to explain why she made the decision not to carry her baby girl, Us Weekly reports.
"I have always been really honest about my struggles with pregnancy. Preeclampsia and placenta accreta are high-risk conditions, so when I wanted to have a third baby, doctors said that it wasn’t safe for my — or the baby’s — health to carry on my own," the reality star wrote on her website and app.
With preeclampsia, pregnant women experience high blood pressure and risk damage to their other organs, often the kidneys or liver. Placenta accreta is a pregnancy condition in which blood vessels, as well as other parts of the placenta, grow too deeply into the uterine wall.
The mum-of-three revealed that she and the 'Gold Digger' rapper examined many options before deciding to use a gestational carrier.
She clarified that this is the proper term for the woman who gave birth to their child, as a traditional surrogate donates her egg and is artificially inseminated with the father's sperm. A woman who carries a child she is not biologically related to is referred to as a gestational carrier.
Kim admits that she has used the term surrogate in the past, but she prefers the term gestational carrier now since 'we implanted my fertilised egg in our gestational carrier, our baby is biologically mine and Kanye’s'.
"Having a gestational carrier is definitely different, but anyone who says or thinks it’s the easy way out is completely wrong," Kim added.
People may assume that mothers decide to use gestational carriers to avoid the physical downsides of pregnancy, including delivery, but for Kim 'it was so hard to not carry my own child, especially after I carried North and Saint'.
"I’m so grateful for modern technology and that this is even possible," the TV personality shared.
"It’s not for everyone, but I absolutely love my gestational carrier and this was the best experience I’ve ever had. Our gestational carrier gave us the greatest gift one could give."
"The connection with our baby came instantly and it’s as if she was with us the whole time. Having a gestational carrier was so special for us and she made our dreams of expanding our family come true."
And the most important thing?
"We are so excited to finally welcome home our baby girl."
Congratulations to Kim and Kanye on the safe arrival of their little bundle of joy!
