Princess Beatrice has revealed she had sleepless nights ahead of the premature birth of her second daughter.
The princess welcomed her little girl, Athena, in January but well before that her doctors had said her pregnancy would need extra monitoring and told Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, to prepare for their child to arrive ahead of their due date.
Writing in Vogue magazine, Beatrice reveals that she often lay awake at night, checking that her baby was still moving and asking herself ”what if this happens?”
(Photo credit: Edo Mapelli Mozzi via PA Handout)
And she said after Athena’s safe arrival on January 22 that ”it took more than a few weeks for the tears of relief to dry and for life with our healthy baby to feel real.”
Now, Princess Beatrice wants to improve maternity support to help others facing similar situations. The princess writes of the extensive medical support she was able to access and says ”I was very fortunate to be monitored closely by a medical team and I’m extremely aware of how lucky I am. This is a driving force in me to do as much as possible to help where I can.”
Following the birth of Athena, Princess Beatrice announced she is becoming patron of Borne, an organisation that aims to end premature birth.
(Picture by Stephen Lock / i-Images)
And she’s calling for a wider debate and more support for all women’s health issues, noting that ”in many ways, for the longest time, women’s health has been left off the agenda” and she said that ”what I learnt in this process has been humbling.”
The princess was pleased to share that her second daughter, whose full name is Athena Elizabeth Rose Mapelli Mozzi, is now doing really well and the family, which includes Beatrice’s elder girl, Sienna, and her stepson, Wolfie, are now happily settled into their new lives together.
The full interview is available to read in Vogue.
