The 34-year-old model, Ashley Graham, shared her harrowing near-death experience when she gave birth to her now four-month-old twins, Roman and Malachi, with her husband, Justin Ervin. Graham revealed that she lost liters of blood and could not walk for a week after she gave birth in January.
In her personal essay which was posted in Glamour Magazine, she shared that she hemorrhaged during the delivery of the twins. She had her contractions at 2 AM in January, but at 3 AM, just when her doula was arriving, Malachi came out.
Losing liters of blood
Two hours later, she had Roman, the second twin in her apartment bathtub, admitting that she did not have enough time to blow up the birthing tub since the twins came out faster than expected.
The next thing that she knew she told the midwife that she does not feel good and she just needs to lie down. She remembered blacking out after and feeling a light touch on her cheek. Later, she learned that somebody was smacking her cheek, someone was also holding her hand, and her husband was talking in her ear. She also remembered someone jabbing her with a needle in her arm, as per IOL.
When she woke up, she saw everyone and they just kept on saying that she was fine.
The midwife did not tell her, however, that they had to flip her and press the midwife's finger above her vagina bone to stop the bleeding. The doctor also had a problem as the vein in her arms kept collapsing and they could not find a vein to administer Pitocin. They eventually put it in her hand. When she woke up, she literally saw blood everywhere. Her response was a loud cry.
Later, her midwives asked her if she could stand up and walk to her bed, a thing that she was not capable of doing then. So they got a twin-sized bed and rolled her into the guest room. She lay in the bed for four straight days and she could not walk for a week.
The midwives checked on her every day. She would later on assure them that they all saved her. God saved her and what happened during her birth was a "true miracle."
She admitted to shaking, and not feeling herself physically and emotionally. She initially planned to get back to work after eight weeks but she could not as she felt that she still looked pregnant.
She also revealed that she had a miscarriage before she had twins.
Motherhood is revealing yourself
Before giving birth, she thought she could go back to work by February with no problems. But with her recent birth incident, the timeline was postponed further.
She said that she used to be a sex symbol but now she is a "baby-making machine with stretch marks up to my belly button." Despite being a body advocate, she admits that on her down days she is disturbed by the said marks noting that it is not what a lingerie model should have. But she reminds herself that she has never been the norm of what a lingerie model should be, Yahoo! Life reported.
Inspired by the journey, she now leads a new campaign called Reveal Yourself, in the hope that women speak more openly about their experiences, and vulnerabilities and be proud of it.
