Tennis legend Serena Williams has opened up about her childbirth experience and not feeling a connection with her daughter during pregnancy.
In a personal essay for Elle Magazine, Williams writes, “I was nervous about meeting my baby. Throughout my pregnancy, I’d never felt a connection with her,” Williams wrote in her essay. “While I loved being pregnant, I didn’t have that amazing Oh my God, this is my baby moment, ever. It’s something people don’t usually talk about, because we’re supposed to be in love from the first second.”
She continued, “Yes, I was a lioness who would protect her baby at any cost, but I wasn’t gushing over her. I kept waiting to feel like I knew her during pregnancy, but the feeling never came. Some of my mom friends told me they didn’t feel the connection in the womb either, which made me feel better, but still, I longed for it.”
Olympia was born in September of 2017. Her birth was not an easy one for the prize-winning athlete. Serena Williams had to be rushed into an emergency c-section and after her delivery, due to complications, she opened her c-section. This led to doctors discovering multiple, life-threatening blood clots in her body.
Yet, despite all, upon the birth of her daughter, the bond that she longed for with her child finally came. “When I finally saw her — and I just knew it was going to be a girl, that was one thing I knew about her before we even had it confirmed — I loved her right away,” Williams wrote in her essay. “It wasn’t exactly instantaneous, but it was there, and from that seed, it grew. I couldn’t stop staring at her, my Olympia.”
She added, “I spent the night in the hospital with my baby in the room. When I woke up, she was nestled in my arms. The rest of my body was paralyzed. I couldn’t get out of bed because my legs were still numb, but it didn’t matter. Alexis and I sat there, alone with our new baby. It was surreal to feel the presence of this third person in the room.”
After her daughter’s birth, Williams told People Magazine in an interview, that she was truly lucky to be alive.
“My whole life I’ve been physically pushing my body to the limits,” she said. “And this is the one time where I couldn’t control anything. I couldn’t push my body. My body pushed to its maximum. That was so hard.”
Now, going on five-years-later, we cannot get enough of the mommy/daughter duo as they twin constantly in public and on Instagram, brining joy to not only their relationship but to everyone around them as well.
