Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova has spoken for the first time about her “difficult” labour.
The 40-year-old welcomed son Bodhi, which means enlightenment in Sanskrit, on November 15 last year at home in the Dominican Republic.
The child, who she shares with her entrepreneur husband Benjamin Larretche, was born six weeks premature and delivered by emergency C-section.
She told Hello! magazine: “We had always planned for our baby’s arrival to be as natural as possible without drugs, and we ended up relying on modern medicine to save our baby and we could not be more grateful.
“We had been hoping for everything natural and we had a completely different deck of cards to deal with.
“You want something one way but then you have to go with what the universe brings to you.
“They brought him to me so I could see his little cute face and smell him and give him my love but I could not do skin-to-skin as they had to take care of him being so premature.
“Seeing him with all the tubes everywhere, the constant noise of the machines, and all the injections he had, that was very difficult. But Benjamin is so strong, calm, and always so positive.
“Now he is thriving, he is very happy and so loved. He is super healthy and strong and he has grown so much. We are so grateful, and we are in such a happy place now.”
Nemcova, who has modelled for Sports Illustrated and Victoria’s Secret, survived the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that killed her then fiance Simon Atlee.
She subsequently set up the Happy Hearts Fund which helps in countries that have suffered disaster.
“That experience will always be a part of my life,” she told the magazine.
“It definitely shaped my outlook in many ways. It is still part of who I am, but this is definitely a new and beautiful chapter for me.”
Larretche said seeing his wife and son together brought him “so much joy”.
He added: “These two survivor beings are truly unique.
“Petra is a natural born mother who has taken care of others most of her life and now it makes me content to see that she has the opportunity of taking care of our child.
“Waking up in the morning and seeing Bodhi’s smile is a true blessing, it fuels my day.”
Read the full article in Hello! magazine, out now.