Paloma Faith has candidly discussed her experience with IVF, saying she ‘felt like the host’ while trying to get pregnant with her second child.
The pregnant singer, 39, is expecting another baby with her partner Lehman Lahcine after six rounds of IVF treatment.
Speaking on LBC’s An Inconvenient Ruth, Paloma also discussed her struggle with postpartum depression after the birth of her now three-year-old daughter.
Candid: Paloma Faith has discussed her experience with IVF, saying she ‘felt like the host’ while trying to get pregnant with her second child (pictured in November)
During their very candid conversation Paloma and host Ruth Davidson chatted about relationships needing to be strong during IVF cycles as people do not always know at the start just how much ‘strength’ can be required.
Paloma said: ‘I do think that stuff goes on that you’re not necessarily aware of about conception and how that should be done and how you feel…
‘I don’t know ‘cos I’ve never experienced a natural pregnancy, whether you have that feeling, being pregnant, of sort of giving up your body to something else in the same way if you do it naturally.
‘But I definitely feel like with IVF, I’ve always felt a bit like I’m sort of saying… It sounds really unromantic but I feel like the host.’
Expecting: The singer, 39, is expecting another baby with her partner Lehman Lahcine after six rounds of IVF treatment (pictured in December)
The duo also discussed the practicalities of IVF, with Paloma honestly saying: ‘It’s all undignified but so is pregnancy in general’.
Paloma also reflected on what it was like during an IVF cycles, revealing that for her it was a ‘hormonal rollercoaster’
She said: ‘With IVF, like I would be working and I would like run to the toilet, do an injection, maybe like hit a vein, be bleeding, run back having done it properly and, ‘sorry, sorry’, and you’re like wincing.
‘And then you’re in this hormonal rollercoaster that’s not really real hormones, you’ve basically just injected them into yourself and then you’re like completely out of control of it.’
The singer also discussed how she’s been dealing with her emotions during her second pregnancy and admitted that she’s cried while planning Christmas.
Journey: Paloma also reflected on what it was like during an IVF cycles, revealing that for her it was a ‘hormonal rollercoaster’ (pictured with partner Leyman Lahcine in 2015)
Paloma told Ruth how her partner thinks she ‘over consumes’ as she’s been ordering lots while doing Christmas shopping online.
She said: ‘I’m like it’s Christmas, of course there’s lots of packages, I’m doing the Christmas shopping, trying not to get COVID, so I’m doing it online and he just like asked me and then a few times he was like it’s just too much, and I started crying.’
‘That’s not normal. I knew it wasn’t normal but I’m just like balling my eyes out. ‘I’m just not emotionally equipped to deal with this right now’, is what I said’.
Reflecting on why she’s decided to be so open about her second pregnancy, Paloma said that chatting about how she’s coping also helps her.
She said: ‘I think I get as much back about talking about this stuff publicly as I do feeling like it’s important to help others.
Baby number 2: Paloma recently took to Instagram to announce she has cancelled her Christmas break to attend hospital appointments for further tests for gestational diabetes
‘In a way I think with my first pregnancy I felt quite isolated ‘cos I was a bit like, ‘I’m a famous person, I don’t want to go to antenatal classes in case people stare at me’ or whatever and I felt vulnerable and it was all quite alien and I felt really isolated.’
Paloma added that this time she doesn’t ‘feel so much like that’ and credits already being a mum to her daughter for the change.
She said: ‘I think a lot of it’s to do with the fact that I’ve got a child already, I know a lot of the mums from nursery. She goes to a state nursery around the corner.
‘Everything’s a bit more normalised and after the initial reaction of people being like, ‘oh my God, that’s Paloma Faith’, it quickly moves on to like, ‘I’m exhausted, have you done sleep training yet?’ or whatever.’
To hear the full interview, tune into An Inconvenient Ruth, 9pm Sunday on LBC – on DAB digital radio, on Global Player on your smart speaker, iOS or Android device and LBC.co.uk.
Honest: The star has regularly been very open about her second pregnancy after feeling ‘fragile’ while expecting her first child