Traumatised Olivia Bowen has opened up about nearly dying while giving birth to her second child with her husband Alex, after losing a huge amount of blood.
The Love Island stars, who are already parents to their three-year-old son Abel, announced they had welcomed a baby girl named Siena Grace in August.
However, at the time the couple also hinted that the birth hadn’t been smooth sailing, as they added that it ‘wasn’t an easy ride’.
Soon after a source close to the pair revealed that Olivia, 31, had a very close call during the birth, needing an emergency C-section and a blood transfusion after losing nearly three litres of blood due to her tearing her uterus in two places.
She had planned a home birth but after a severe bladder prolapse she was rushed to hospital and taken to surgery.
And now in a candid interview with The Sun she has recalled the horrifying details of what happened after her little one was delivered, saying: ‘I thought I was going to lose my life’.
Traumatised Olivia Bowen has opened up about nearly dying while giving birth to her second child with her husband Alex, after losing a huge amount of blood
The Love Island stars, who are already parents to their three-year-old son Abel, announced they had welcomed a baby girl named Siena Grace in August
After Siena has been delivered she was left slipping in and out of consciousness as her husband Alex looked on in horror as the colour drained from her face.
Olivia told the publication: ‘They passed her to me and I remember her laying on my chest and then the room just changed. I don’t know what happened…’.
Alex added: ‘The atmosphere in the room just changed. I saw the colour drain from Olivia’s face, it was the scariest thing I’ve ever had to witness.’
Olivia then explained: ‘For me to be lying on the table with no idea what was going on behind that curtain. I kept saying to Alex ‘am I alright? What’s happening? Am I going to be okay?’ because I genuinely thought in that moment I might lose my life.
‘I do remember thinking ‘what have I done? I’ve left Abel at home and now I’m going to lose my life, it was honestly the scariest thing.’
Olivia then had months of recovering at home which she said was made harder by having to also look after her older child.
Just after the birth source told The Daily Mail of what happened: ‘Olivia could have died during birth if it wasn’t for the incredible team at her local hospital.
‘She lost nearly three litres of blood needing an urgent blood transfusion and emergency c-section.’
Olivia, 31, had a very close call during the birth, needing an emergency C-section and a blood transfusion after losing nearly three litres of blood due to her tearing her uterus in two places
Sharing her birth news on Instagram in August, Olivia wrote: ‘I can’t even find the words other than to say our beautiful girl Siena Grace is here, and we are all bursting with love.
‘It wasn’t an easy ride but every second worth it a thousand times over. I love my babies.’
Both Olivia’s pregnancy and difficult birthing experience are covered in the couple’s ITV2 reality series.
The couple revealed in March that they had been expecting twins, but sadly lost one of their babies eight weeks into the pregnancy.
Olivia broke down in tears on Loose Women as she recalled her excitement at finding out they were having twins just before Christmas, when they attended an early six week scan.
She said: ‘We had that two week period we were looking at cars, looking at car seats, planning bedrooms… and something happened called vanishing twin syndrome.’
She explained: ‘One of the babies just basically didn’t have a heartbeat but I’d had no symptoms, no pain, no bleeding to tell me that was what we were walking into. We were floored, we were expecting to have these two little babies.’
Vanishing twin syndrome occurs when one twin passes away in the womb and ‘vanishes’ and studies suggest happens in roughly 36 per cent of twin pregnancies.
Olivia heartbreakingly revealed that ‘the one beautiful part of it’ is that the babies do ‘absorb back into your body’ and that’s what the couple have been ‘holding onto’.
The reality star continued: ‘We were floored but talking about it helps, every little part is becoming easier by speaking to other women.
‘I haven’t seen many men talk about it and we want to change that perception of not being able to talk about miscarriage openly.
‘The baby had completely absorbed into my body at 14 weeks, just completely gone which is tremendously sad knowing they’re still in there.
‘I am so lucky to have experienced that moment of possibly having twins, it’s something that not everyone gets to feel so even having those two little babies at that time.’
Now in a candid interview with The Sun she has recalled the horrifying details of what happened after her little one was delivered, saying: ‘I thought I was going to lose my life’
Alex then emotionally chimed in with: ‘I built this scenario up in my mind, I was thinking of the future.
‘I thought it was 100% happening and I had come to terms with it. I never really had a big family, I’m an only child and have no contact with my dad so it was an amazing thing for me.’
Olivia and Alex met on season two of the popular ITV dating show in 2016, finishing as runners up, and have become one of the show’s biggest success stories.
Olivia announced they were expecting baby number two in February with a heartwarming video of the pregnancy so far and wrote in the caption: ‘A moment, a love – baby no2 – we’re waiting for you.’
