Tammin Sursok reveals how a caesarean saved her and her baby’s life
“The likelihood of survival is low.”
Australian actress Tammin Sursok has revealed how the caesarean delivery of her second daughter could have been a matter of life and death.
In honour of PANDA’s c-section awareness month (April 2023), former Pretty Little Liars’ actress, 39, took to Instagram to share a lengthy post that remembers her second daughter, Lennon’s birth; an event that was life-threatening for both of them.
The star who made her name in Home & Away, also shares the experience to commemorate Lennon’s birthdays and to raise awareness, not fear. She also reflects on her little one’s frightening arrival and her personal struggle with agreeing to a c-section over trying for a natural birth.
“ONE. One year today. I remember being so scared. Scared to have a second C Section. Scared that I hadn’t chose the right path for Lennon Bleu to enter the world. Because as a woman I thought that a natural birth was what my body was “meant” to do,” Tammin began her post.
“Our doctor had strongly recommended another C section but I fought. Fought for months even though she wouldn’t descend and kept turning face up. Two days before she were born something hit me physically in the gut. I shot up in my bed. Something said I need to get her out. Via c- section.
Tammin lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with husband Sean McEwan and their daughters Phoenix and Lennon
The believed her caesarean procedure had gone well, that was until her doctor saw her afterwards and expressed his relief.
“When the day came for us to meet everything was routine (I mean I seem to always react badly to the spinal and my blood pressure drops dramatically) that being said, we were ok and I’d never felt my heart love something so deeply (other than her sister). The doctor came to me after he stitched me up. He looked relieved.
“I asked him what was the look on his face and then he told me one of the most chilling things I had heard. Lennon’s face had almost ruptured through my scar. She was hours away from ending up in my stomach. The likelihood of survival of that situation is low. For both of us. There are no symptoms.”
Frighteningly, the doctor revealed how mum and bub were close to being in grave danger but Tammin is quick to reassure her followers that she is not sharing this story to scare others, rather for mother’s to trust their gut instinct and to take away the stigma associated with caesareans.
“He said that if Phoenix had jumped on me, or I had laughed too hard or gone into labor that would be that.
“I’m sharing my story, not to scare anyone as birth is the most natural and beautiful thing but as a conversation to be had surrounding birth. If I didn’t trust my gut AND my doctor we would be in a very different situation today. ‘
“My C section saved us. And many others. We did not fail. We chose what was best for us. Mothers need to be celebrated for EVERY choice they make. Happy 1st birthday Lennon. Thank you for letting us love you. You are our world. ❤
Tammin has been open about her multiple miscarriages. “They’re so common, and we don’t talk about it.”
Tammin and her director husband, Sean McEwen are also parents to Phoenix, nine. Tammin has been candid about the multiple miscarriages and her struggle to conceive Lennon.
“When we decided to have a second child, I got pregnant really fast again – and we lost that baby in the doctor’s office,” she revealed on Channel Seven’s The Morning Show.
“It was pretty far into my pregnancy, so it was quite shocking. When things like that happen, you never think it’s going to happen to you.
“But they’re so common, and we don’t talk about it. And then I had another miscarriage before Lennon, so two back to back.”
The South African-born mum-of-two was traumatised by the March 2023 school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her family. She knew that the shooter was near her children or near the children’s school and shared a heart-wrenching post about having to buy her kids bullet-proof backpacks.
