Serena Williams gave birth to Alexis in September 2017, but she didn’t form a connection with her baby girl until the day she was born.
In a personal essay for Elle, Serena explained: “I was nervous about meeting my baby. Throughout my pregnancy, I’d never felt a connection with her. While I loved being pregnant, I didn’t have that amazing ‘Oh my God, this is my baby’ moment, ever. It’s something people don’t usually talk about, because we’re supposed to be in love from the first second.
“Yes, I was a lioness who would protect her baby at any cost, but I wasn’t gushing over her. I kept waiting to feel like I knew her during pregnancy, but the feeling never came. Some of my mom friends told me they didn’t feel the connection in the womb either, which made me feel better, but still, I longed for it.”
However, Serena’s attitude changed as soon as her daughter was born. The Olympic gold medalist – who is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian – shared: “When I finally saw her – and I just knew it was going to be a girl, that was one thing I knew about her before we even had it confirmed – I loved her right away. It wasn’t exactly instantaneous, but it was there, and from that seed, it grew.”
Despite this, Serena’s pregnancy experience was far from straightforward. The tennis legend recalled suffering a coughing fit that led doctors to discover life-threatening blood clots in her body.
“In the US, black women are nearly three times more likely to die during or after childbirth than their white counterparts. Many of these deaths are considered by experts to be preventable. Being heard and appropriately treated was the difference between life or death for me.”
