Dr Emily Andre has opened up for the first time about the terrifying ordeal she faced after giving birth to her youngest daughter, Arabella.
The NHS doctor, 35, who shares three children with husband Peter Andre -Millie, 11, Theo, eight, and 15-month-old Arabella- became visibly emotional as she recalled the experience during an appearance on Happy Mum Happy Baby, the podcast hosted by Giovanna Fletcher.
Emily, who is also stepmother to Peter’s older children Junior, 19, and Princess, 18, from his marriage to Katie Price, said the traumatic experience has ‘cemented’ their decision not to have any more children.
‘I haven’t really spoken about her birth and what happened afterwards because it was so hard and awful,’ she said. ‘It was tough. I was really unwell after she was born, there was quite a lot of complications.’
Just a week after Arabella’s birth, Emily was rushed back into hospital for emergency surgery, after developing a rare and potentially life-threatening type of hernia.
‘Basically part of my bowels were kind of in the wrong place,’ she explained. ‘It was quite large, and the type of hernia it was can strangulate quite easily, which makes it an emergency.’
‘All the consultants I’ve seen have said, “We’ve never seen this in our whole career,” and then I think, “For God’s sake, why did it have to happen to me?”’
Emily said she knew something wasn’t right almost immediately after giving birth. ‘I had a big, huge lump in my tummy sticking right out,’ she said.
A week later, a surgeon confirmed the seriousness of the situation. ‘He looked and said, “You need to come into hospital now.”’
Shocked, she pleaded to go home to prepare and express milk, saying the thought of being separated from newborn Arabella was unbearable. ‘I was breastfeeding, so I thought, “My God, how am I going to feed her if I’m on the operating table?”’
Despite being in severe pain, Emily said the worst part was handing Arabella over to her mum before surgery. ‘I was a right mess, it was really hard.’
In a bittersweet twist, she recalled one moment that brought a smile during the chaos: Learning that she was in the same operating theatre where Peter once had surgery performed by her father, a urologist. The couple met through Emily’s father.
‘The porter said, “You know, I brought Pete here into this theatre. This was exactly where he lay and this is the room where he met your dad.” It was just such a nice moment and it took my mind off everything.’
The recovery was slow and painful, involving extensive stitching and internal repairs. Emily spent several days in hospital but was thankful to recover on a midwife ward, which allowed Arabella to stay with her.
‘That was all I was thinking about – “Don’t take my baby away from me.” I do find it really hard [to be away from her]. I’ve got quite good at the daytime, but there’s something about the night and putting her to bed…’
Now, more than a year on, Emily says she feels ‘pretty much back to health’ and praised Peter, her parents, and the medical staff who supported her through the ordeal. But she said she hasn’t made a complete emotional recovery.
She hasn’t spent a night apart from Arabella since the surgery and says the experience has made it crystal clear that their family is complete.
‘It’s a definite no from me, we’re not having any more. It’s absolutely cemented now,’ she said. ‘We always said it would be the last anyway. Five’s enough – we don’t have any more bedrooms in the house for starters!’
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