Lea Michele’s pregnancy was no easy experience.
This week, the former “Glee” star appeared on Katherine Schwarzenegger’s “Before, During & After” Instagram series to talk about her first pregnancy with husband Zandy Reich.
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“I had a very, very intense, very scary pregnancy,” Michele revealed.
The couple welcomed their first child, Ever Leo, in August 2020.
“I’ve never shared my experience with anyone, which I think is something that—now that I am a mom—I see myself doing in a lot of ways, not sharing for fear of not sounding perfect or just being afraid… I withheld a lot of my experience,” Michele told Schwarzenegger.
The complications during her pregnancy were a result of her polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) diagnosis, which also made it difficult to conceive in the first place.
“I really felt like maybe this isn’t meant to be for me right now,” the actress continued, adding that it was “always my biggest fear in my entire life that I wouldn’t be able to become a mom. It’s what I’ve wanted more than anything. And, emotionally, it just started to build and build.”
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Explaining that she experienced heavy bleeding throughout the pregnancy, Michele said, “I finally announced I was pregnant, and I still was uncertain if the pregnancy was going to last.”
She went on, “Oh my god, I’m going to cry. I just woke up and I was like, ‘I just want to be a mom right now. I want this time.’ And it was horrible. It was the lowest I’ve been in my entire life.
Thankfully, though, her baby was born healthy and safe.
“My little baby is such a fighter,” Michele said. “I remember the minute I held him, the first thing I said to him I was like, ‘You did so good.’”
