Actress and mother, Teresa Palmer has opened up about her heartbreaking second pregnancy, which had the potential to become cancerous.
After having her first child, Bodhi, Palmer and her husband Mark were desperate for another.
In her blog, the 30-year-old revealed that she was never afraid of having lots of small children.
“I figured I’d be pregnant most years and have kids about 18 months apart,” she wrote. “I welcomed and became excited at the idea of “2 under 2” and “3 under 5” Bring. It. On.”
As she realised, falling pregnant wasn’t going to happen as quickly as she hoped.
Look at some of the beautiful things Teresa gets up to. Images via Instagram. (Post continues after gallery.)
The life of Teresa Palmer.
“They say it’s fun to try, well not so much for us. It became stressful, confusing, sad, disappointing and down right unsexy.
“Legs in the air, pillows under butt, maybe legs propped up to chest is better? How about the time my husband carried me upside down from the couch, down the stairs and on to the bed so I could go to sleep post sexy time but without gravity ruining our chances to make a babe.
“It got a little wild in our household, Mark was feeling the pressure, we fought about it and soon it had been a year of us trying to get pregnant with number 2.”
After spending almost a thousand dollars on trying to fall pregnant, Palmer did. She described her second pregnancy as the three “most blissed weeks of my life”.
Despite not making it to the 13 weeks, she wanted to tell everyone about it.
What came next for was truly devastating; she had a Molar Pregnancy.
“…We went to the doc for our heartbeat ultrasound. Bodhi was with us, we filmed with excitement. “I’m so sorry but there is no baby”. I stared at the screen, willing to see something.
Watch Teresa talk about the things she learnt from giving birth. (Post continues after video.)
“My husband, Bodhi and I looked around that little room and all cried together. A Molar Pregnancy. Never heard of it. Basically everyone drops a crappy egg at one point in their life and my body did and of course it was the month we finally conceived.
“So you have the symptoms of being pregnant but really it’s just a potentially cancerous tumor that grows, no baby. The word Chemotherapy got thrown at me as I was whisked in to an operating theatre. It was all a blur. I soldiered through the only way I’ve known how, I cried myself to sleep for a few days…”
All the people Palmer had excitedly told she was pregnant had to be “sheepishly texted” that the baby was no longer coming.
Within a week, the actress had to fly to Berlin to film, and she had no other choice but to move on.
“I had to be monitored weekly with blood tests to check to see if the tumor would grow back but thankfully my HCG numbers dropped rapidly enough and I didn’t need any chemo. One blessing there.”
Palmer also explained how she was still breastfeeding her toddler and the impact it was having on her fertility.
Initially, she decided she wasn’t going to sacrifice breastfeeding Bodhi on the chance of falling pregnant.
But, after two months Palmer had a change of heart.
“I decided to wean [sic], one week of doing that and I was pregnant!
“We have seen our sweet little guy a bunch of times now during the ultrasound and by the time you are reading this I will be 14 weeks pregnant! I couldn’t be happier AND I had secretly wanted another little boy, I feel overjoyed and blessed. What a journey it has been.”
You can read more of Teresa’s work at her blog, Your Zen Mama.
Top Comments
My first pregnancy was molar - it mimics pregnancy even down to the morning sickness which is horrific. I was told by well-meaning doctors that this was a good sign because morning sickness means pregnancy hormones are high. An ultrasound at 10 weeks revealed the news. I hope Teresa is okay.
This is exactly what happened with me, except with my first pregnancy. My husband and I were devastated after attending our 12 week scan and discovering that I had miscarried. Following d&c the results showed a molar pregnancy. My hcg levels took a few months to level out, and we were banned from trying to conceive again until my hcg had sufficiently dropped. I am now pregnant again (9 weeks) and unfortunately due to the events of last pregnancy I have found it really difficult to experience any joy over being pregnant, only fear. Hopefully once I reach 12 weeks and see my baby still happily growing will I begin to release the anxiety and move forward without fear. My heart goes out to anyone who has miscarried (molar or otherwise), I never could have imagined the level of grief I have felt xx