Kate Ferdinand has shared more details from her daughter’s birth story.
The former The Only Way is Essex star welcomed a baby girl named Shae into the world back in July with her husband Rio.
Now, Kate has decided to share more of an insight into her baby girl’s arrival and detailed her newborn’s ‘terrifying’ health scare after she was born.
While chatting on her Blended podcast, the 32-year-old reflected on the day her daughter was born, revealing that ‘nothing went to plan’.
Kate explained, “In true Ferdinand style, nothing went to plan. It was quite emotional and quite a good thing to share with you all, like the realities of motherhood, of giving birth. It’s not always what you see in the cinema and in the movies”.
“I had a C-section booked in and I was so chilled about it because I had an emergency with Cree and I just thought everyone says it’s going to be a breeze, it’s going to be lovely so I was not worried at all”.
She went on to explain that on the day her C-section was booked, she went for a long walk and was cleaning to occupy herself until it was time for her procedure.
Ferdinand continued, “All chilled, all fine until I stepped into the theatre and I don’t know what came over me, I just started panicking. The only thing I can think of, I’ve never really experienced a panic attack, I envision that’s kind of what a panic attack feels like”.
“I really don’t know what happened and they were all trying to calm me down and obviously I had the spinal so from the waist down I just felt so claustrophobic”.
“Shae came out and she wasn’t crying. So, I’m already in a bit of a panic as it is because I’m numb and now I’ve gone into even more of a panic because she’s not crying. Now I’m freaking out even more and everyone’s trying to keep me calm. They said, ‘She’s just getting used to the world’”.
“Eventually she did cry and she wouldn’t stop, which was really good. But she was really, really cold. She was very blue so they wrapped her up really tight and I just felt very spaced out when she was given to me”.
Once in a recovery room, Kate revealed that she wanted to feed her tot as she was constantly crying but a midwife insisted on doing it instead. While the midwife was feeding her, she checked Shae’s oxygen levels, only to realise she wasn’t getting enough oxygen.
“In that moment, it’s just terrifying, absolutely terrifying because you think, ‘Are they going to live? Are they going to be okay?’. When you hear, ‘She’s not getting enough oxygen’, that just sounds really, really scary”.
After Shae was brought to the NICU and Rio went with her, Kate was eventually able to visit once she got feeling back in her legs.
“I went in a wheelchair to see the baby and I was just hysterical really because I couldn’t pick her up so I didn’t feel like I connected when she was first given to me because I felt a bit panicked”.
Kate and Shae were then able to go home after the bundle of joy was given antibiotics.
Three months after her birth, Kate admitted, “I’ve just felt a little bit more needy with Shae, like I’ve wanted to have her next to me all the time. I want to feed her a bit more, I want to be with her, no one's been able to get as close just because I felt like I didn’t have that at the beginning”.
