Kim Kardashian has opened up about the health complications she faced during and after her two pregnancies while reflecting on her journey to motherhood.
The KKW Beauty mogul discussed her experience in a new video for her shapewear line Skims, where she revealed that she had to undergo multiple surgeries after giving birth to her second child Saint.
“When I was pregnant with my daughter North, I had a condition called preeclampsia or toxemia, which is basically when the mom’s organs start to shut down,” Kardashian said. “The only way to get rid of that is to deliver the baby.”
According to the mother-of-four, she gave birth to North, now six, after going into emergency labour at 34 and a half weeks.
“North was four pounds. She was almost six weeks early,” Kardashian recalled, before revealing that her placenta grew inside her uterus instead of coming out - a condition that can be dangerous to mothers.
Despite the risks, Kardashian wanted to have more children with husband Kanye West, so she froze her eggs.
“I was able to get pregnant through that with my son Saint, and then I had two embryos left. I had the same condition, same awful delivery that I had with my first daughter,” she said in the video. “After that, I had to have five different operations within a year and a half to fix the damage that all of that did on the inside.”
According to the 39-year-old, who has previously discussed the struggles she faced during her pregnancies, on the “outside” she continued to film her reality show and participate in photo shoots while undergoing the procedures.
After giving birth to Saint, now four, Kardashian wanted to have more children, but her doctors refused because of the risks associated. "They were like, 'We won't even put an embryo in you - that would be like malpractice,'" she recalled.
At that point, Kardashian said she turned to surrogacy for the births of her children Chicago, one, and Psalm, seven months.
“I’m so thankful for my beautiful kids, no matter how they came to me - they came to me,” Kardashian said, adding that she loved growing up with a big family and that she would go through the “same pain and back” all over again for her babies.
“It was all worth it,” she concluded.
In response to the video, Kardashian received an outpouring of support from fans, who applauded her strength.
“I had no idea. You’re strong,” one person wrote.
Another commented: “Thank you so much for sharing your experience.”
The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star shared her journey to becoming a mother as part of her shapewear brand’s new holiday campaign, which features the stories of nine women, and the causes that “inspire them”.
In the caption of the video, Kardashian revealed that, as part of the campaign, she made a donation to the Bail Project, a non-profit organisation that pays bail money for people in need.
