While royals are typically private about topics such as childbirth, Kate Middleton is opening up about her personal experiences!
In a revealing interview on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast with author Giovanna Fletcher, the momma of three discussed why she “really quite liked” her labor experience, how she prioritizes her “emotional wellbeing” as a mother, and more!
Related: Kate Middleton & Prince William Are Prepping Their Kiddos For A Normal Life
As you may already be aware, Kate was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum — a severe form of morning sickness — during each pregnancy, but you’d never know from her appearance how sick she really was:
“I got very bad morning sickness, so I’m not the happiest of pregnant people. [It was] utterly rotten! I was really sick – I wasn’t eating the things I should be eating – but yet, the body was still able to take all the goodness from my body and to grow new life, which I think is fascinating.”
Luckily, her suffering led her to discover the hypnobirthing method:
“It was through hyperemesis that I really realized the power of the mind over the body because I really had to try everything and everything to try and help me through it.”
For those unaware, the hypnobirthing method involves different relaxation and self-hypnosis techniques to calm the body down before and during labor:
“There’s levels of it. I’m not going to say that [Prince] William was standing there sort of, chanting sweet nothings at me. He definitely wasn’t! I didn’t even ask him about it, but it was just something I wanted to do for myself.”
She continued:
“I saw the power of it really, the meditation and the deep breathing and things like that – that they teach you in hypnobirthing – when I was really sick and actually I realized that this was something I could take control of, I suppose, during labor.”
Some new mothers talk about missing pregnancy, despite wanting to forget the actual labor. But not Kate! She added:
“It was hugely powerful and because it had been so bad during pregnancy, I actually really quite liked labor! Because actually it was an event that I knew there was going to be an ending to! But I know some people do have really, really difficult times, and it’s not for everybody.”
That’s surprising!
Related: Kate Middleton Talks About Her Struggles With Motherhood
The Duchess of Cambridge was appearing on the Saturday episode to promote her new survey “5 Big Questions on the Under Fives,” as part of her focus on early childhood development. The questionnaire — which has been taken by over 200,000 individuals — aims to spark a conversation about the early years of life.
Through her work, and discussions like this one, she’s discovered what she would have done differently with her pregnancies:
“I feel huge responsibility because what I’ve learned over the last few years is so fascinating and I definitely would have done things differently, even during my pregnancy, than I would have done now.”
Hey, maybe we’ll be getting another royal baby! She added:
“I found it fascinating to see the wellbeing of the mother – not just physically, you know there’s so much information about making sure you exercise and making sure you have a healthy diet and things like that, which, yes, is definitely important — but the emotional wellbeing of the mother directly impacts the baby that you’re growing. It’s difficult, and also with life’s challenges and everything like that, it really is hard but actually just being aware of it. I was a lot more aware of it third time around than I was the first time around.”
One royal custom which has garnered mixed feelings in the past is the baby debut post-birth. Though Meghan Markle opted to wait a few days before showing off her son Archie Harrison to the world, Kate and Will followed in Prince Charles and Princess Diana‘s footsteps with an appearance on the steps of the Lindo Wing at St. Mary’s Hospital in London.
Speaking about her son Prince George‘s debut in 2013, she shared:
“Yeah, slightly terrifying, slightly terrifying, I’m not going to lie. Everyone had been so supportive and both William and I were really conscious that this was something that everyone was excited about and, you know, we’re hugely grateful for the support that the public had shown us, and actually for us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was really important. But equally it was coupled with a newborn baby, and inexperienced parents, and the uncertainty of what that held, so there were all sorts of mixed emotions.”
She recalled holding the future King for the first time:
“Amazing, amazing. It is extraordinary as I’ve said. How can the human body do that? It is utterly extraordinary actually. And he was very sweet. And I was also sort of relieved that he was a happy, healthy boy.”
And it might surprise you she and her husband did not find out his gender until birth! Miz Middleton added:
“I didn’t know, no it was a surprise. But also seeing… you know your husband, William, and things like that. Seeing the pure joy of his face it was really special.”
You’d never know it from the first look we got at the little royal, but the then-31-year-old had a difficult night post-labor:
“Everything goes in a bit of a blur. I think, yeah I did stay in hospital overnight, I remember it was one of the hottest days and night with huge thunderstorms so I didn’t get a huge amount of sleep, but George did, which was really great. I was keen to get home because, for me, being in hospital, I had all the memories of being in hospital because of being sick [with acute morning sickness] so it wasn’t a place I wanted to hang around in. So, I was really desperate to get home and get back to normality.”
Just before departing from the hospital, the new dad swiftly placed his son’s car seat in their vehicle. While it may have looked smooth to onlookers, the Duchess of Cambridge recalls being scared they would make a mistake:
“We were like ‘What do we do?… in a swaddle?’ ‘How’s this supposed to work?’ We’d even tried to practice with a little baby, like a little doll, at home but you know it just never works out the way you planned it so it was quite hard to do that on the world’s stage, but no, he did a very good job.”
So sweet!!
But swaddling wasn’t the only thing the couple underestimated:
“Particularly with your first-born baby, you think everything is going to go back to how it was. I totally underestimated the impact and the change it had on our lives from that moment really and I think, unless you’ve got children, you don’t realize. No amount of planning and preparation can get you ready for that moment.”
Insinuating that the tiny future monarch was a bit on the fussy side, she concluded:
“It wasn’t that quiet in our household! William was like ‘Oh my gosh is this what parenting is going to be like?’ It took us a bit of time to get ourselves settled and going again but that’s the beauty, I suppose, of having a newborn baby. You are pulled to your toughest and most unknown places that you hadn’t necessarily even thought about before.”
We absolutely loved hearing Kate open up so much!!
What do U think of everything she shared, Perezcious readers?! Sound OFF (below) in the comments and let us know!!
[Image via Wheatley/WENN.]
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