Dancing With The Stars pro Witney Carson provided more details of the difficult labor she endured to welcome her son Leo on January 3.
The 27-year-old dancer revealed to Us Weekly on Wednesday that throughout the course of the grueling 24-hour process, Leo got ‘stuck underneath [her] pelvis,’ which caused his heart rate to soar, prompting an emergency C-section.
‘I pushed for two and a half hours. I was fully dilated and the baby just did not want to come out,’ she shared, calling the whole experience ‘traumatic.’
‘Traumatic’: DWTS pro Witney Carson, 27, provided new details of son Leo’s ‘traumatic’ birth to Us Weekly sharing that he ‘wasn’t coming out,’ prompting an emergency c-section on January 3; pictured February 6
A terrifying reality for any mother – let alone a first time mom – Carson said she was not ‘prepared’ for the C-section, previously calling it ‘the hardest day of [her] life.’
‘He just was, like, stuck underneath my pelvis for so long. His heart rate started going really high. So we had to do an emergency C-section and obviously, we did whatever was right for the baby,’ she said.
Above all Carson said, ‘We’re just really happy that he’s healthy. That’s the most important thing.’
She added that the reality of giving birth was definitely nowhere near what she expected.
‘I think I just went in with such high expectations. I’m going to have a great birth. I’m going to recover so quickly. I’m going to bounce back. And it just was the complete opposite of what I thought.’
Tough labor: The whole labor process took 24-hours, and she shared that she was not ‘prepared’ for the emergency c-section following two and a half hours of pushing; pictured January 3
Family support: She welcomed her son Leo with husband Carson McAllister, calling him ‘an actual angel’ throughout the process; pictured January 3
Getting candid about her postpartum journey she told the publication her body has been ‘slower to recover’ following the surgery, but with regards to breastfeeding she feels ‘totally fine.’
‘It is just so weird to me. My body’s used to that extreme, push it to the limit, 24 hours a day, all day. Like, I don’t feel any pain. I feel like the milk let down, which is a little bit painful, but nothing I can’t handle,’ she shared.
Throughout her labor husband Carson McAllister was holding her hand as she called him ‘an actual angel,’ adding, ‘even though it was so rough I loved this day so much & would do it all over again.’
She also shared that two weeks after giving birth she was ‘still in a diaper,’ calling labor ‘no joke.’
Happy family: Speaking about her postpartum journey on Instagram she said it was ‘anything but glamorous’ saying that she cried at one point and thought to herself ‘I’ll never recover from this’; pictured February 7
False expectations: ‘It was just was the complete opposite of what I thought,’ she said about the whole experience of giving birth
Providing an update on Instagram over the weekend she told her 1.3M followers, ‘my post partum journey has been anything but glamorous.’
‘I remember the day after I had the c-section, and the nurses were getting me out of the hospital bed I cried & thought to myself, “I’ll never recover from this!”‘
She continued, ‘Even though that thought was so scary for me, I was and am SO proud of this body, that it protected and nurtured this little human. Our bodies are truly amazing..here’s to the women!!’
Overall she said that Leo – who is named for his grandpa – has been ‘really good from day one.’
Being parents has also brought she and her husband of four years closer, as she told Us, ‘Watching him be a father is, like, the most amazing thing because it’s just been us two for years. It just melts your heart and you just love him that much more.’
Growing closer: She told Us that being parents has brought she and McAllister closer adding that watching him be a father ‘melts her heart’; pictured February 11