America Ferrera felt “anxious” giving birth amid the coronavirus pandemic
The ‘Ugly Betty’ alum welcomed her daughter Lucia Marisol into the world on May 4, and has said giving birth during the current global health crisis was difficult because she was worried about getting sick, and potentially giving her newborn baby the virus too
26 May 2020
She said: “There’s the anxiety about the [coronavirus] itself which is like, you don’t want to get sick, you don’t want your children to get sick, you don’t want your newborn baby to get sick,” she said. “I try to stay away from the news cycle because I think you can drive yourself absolutely insane. I just know I have to put up my filters because I don’t have the emotional capacity to let that in.”
America - who has Lucia, as well as Sebastian, two, with her husband Ryan Piers Williams - says her anxiety worsened as she got closer to her due date, and she struggled to sleep at night.
She explained during an appearance on the ‘Katie’s Crib’ podcast: “For me, I could feel my heart rate, my anxiety, my blood pressure go up. And also not being able to close my eyes and go to sleep at night because I’m sitting there with all these news stories swirling in my head and just realising very early on I had to be very disciplined about what I let in because it just doesn’t serve you. Especially in a time where you just don’t need that added stress when you’re pregnant.”
Thankfully, America gave birth without any complications, and announced her baby girl’s arrival on Instagram earlier this month.
She wrote: "LUCIA MARISOL WILLIAMS arrived on May 4th to give me my Mother's Day hugs and kisses herself. Mama, Dada & Big Brother are over the moon to welcome her bright light to our family. (sic)"
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