EXCLUSIVE: In an emotional first interview, Dame LauraKenny31 opens up about her agonosing baby losses, as she urges women not to suffer in silence
Dame Laura Kenny is bravely breaking down stigma around baby loss. The world’s most successful female cyclist speaks for the first time about suffering a devastating miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy within three months of each other - and says women who are under 12 weeks pregnant shouldn’t feel conditioned to suffer in silence like she did.
“Deep down I wanted it to be Prince William if I could pick any royal other than the Queen,” says Laura, still giddy from the ceremony last month that also saw Jason knighted for his services to cycling. “Will said to me that he thought the honour had been a long time coming for Jason and me. He also said he’d seen my Instagram post about my miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. That was very emotional – I wasn’t expecting that at all.
Laura and Jason, 34, who fell in love in the velodrome before the London Olympics in 2012, kept their news to themselves, not even telling their parents. Instead, they intended to announce the pregnancy after 12 weeks when the risk of miscarriage falls significantly. At the Track Champions League the next day, Laura was on her feet commentating for three hours and was going through sanitary towels every 10 minutes. By the end of the day, her stomach pain was excruciating and she was forced to confide in a cycling friend who took her to hospital.
After three agonising days apart, she was reunited with Jason and Albie at their home in Knutsford, Cheshire, where she heartbreakingly passed the baby later that day. “I had 10 minutes of being in absolute agony,” she says. “I was bleeding at an unbelievable rate then my stomach really started to hurt and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I think I’m actually going to pass the baby’ – and then I did. It was horrific.
Despite one in five UK pregnancies ending in miscarriage, stigma around baby loss is rife with many women feeling guilt and shame, as though it’s their fault, and therefore suffer in silence. “It’s so time sensitive because my career only lasts 10 to 12 years,” she says. “We started vaguely trying again afterwards, but it was hard after the grief. My period came on 1 January and it felt like fate as that was my cut-off. We’d have to wait until after the next Games.”
At the hospital, Laura was rushed in for a scan where doctors confirmed the ectopic pregnancy. At the time, she had little knowledge of what it meant and began googling in the waiting room outside alone, as Jason and Albie weren’t allowed in due to pandemic restrictions. She learned there were varying options for treatment ranging from taking tablets to dissolve the pregnancy to a blood transfusion in very serious cases.
“The moment they left I was put under. That was the first time I’d ever seen Jase be worried – there was a realisation that this was really bad.” Laura hopes that by sharing her story she can provide comfort to other women who have suffered baby loss and help them feel less alone.
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